Editing Ecbatana (section)

==Ecbatana/Hagmatana==
Historians and archaeologists now believe "the identification of Ecbatana with Hamadān is secure."  Earlier, a lack of significant archaeological remains from the Median and Achaemenid periods had prompted suggestions of other sites for Ecbatana.{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=80–84}}

[[Assyria]]n sources never mention Hagmatana/Ecbatana. Some scholars believed the problem can be resolved by identifying the Ecbatana/Hagmatana mentioned in later Greek and Achaemenid sources with the city Sagbita/Sagbat frequently mentioned in Assyrian texts, since the [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]] sound /s/ became /h/ in many [[Iranian languages]]. The Sagbita mentioned by Assyrian sources was located in the proximity of the cities Kishesim (Kar-Nergal) and Harhar (Kar-Sharrukin).<ref>{{Cite web |title=I.N. Medvedskaya, Were the Assyrians at Ecbatana?, Jan, 2002 |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-132797080.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615051317/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-132797080.html |archive-date=2011-06-15 |access-date=2007-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Medvedskaya |first=I.N. |year=2002 |title=Were the Assyrians at Ecbatana? |work=International Journal of Kurdish Studies |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_16/ai_n13810182/pg_5 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711051721/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_16/ai_n13810182/pg_5 |archive-date=2012-07-11}}</ref>

It is now proposed that the absence of any mention of Ecbatana in Assyrian sources can be explained by the possibility that Assyria never became involved as far east as the [[Alvand]] mountains, but only in the western [[Zagros]].{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=80–84}}

[[Sir Henry Rawlinson]] attempted to prove that there was a second and older Ecbatana in ''Media [[Atropatene]]'' on the site of the modern [[Takht-e Soleymān|Takht-i-Suleiman]]. However, the cuneiform texts imply that there was only one city of the name, and that ''Takht-i Suleiman'' is the [[Ganzak|Gazaca]] of classical geography. There is also the claim that Ecbatana used to be the city of [[Tabriz]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Turley |first1=Jeffrey |title=The Commentaries of D. García de Silva y Figueroa on his Embassy to Shāh ʿAbbās I of Persia on Behalf of Philip III, King of Spain |last2=Souza |first2=George Bryan |publisher=BRILL |year=2017 |isbn=978-90-04-34631-4 |location=Leiden |page=421}}</ref> which is one of the historical capitals of Iran and the present capital of [[East Azerbaijan Province|East Azerbaijan province]]. The city, which was previously called Tauris, was put forward by John-Thomas Minadoi, who cited that his identification of the city was based on data collected from modern and ancient geographers, recent travel accounts, and local informants.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siraisi |first=Nancy |title=History, Medicine, and the Traditions of Renaissance Learning |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-472-11602-7 |location=Ann Arbor |page=257}}</ref> This theory was also promoted by other historians, such as Sir William Jones and the chief French orientalists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society of Biblical Archaeology |title=Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Volume 15 |publisher=Society of Biblical Archaeology |year=1893 |location=Bloomsbury |page=426}}</ref><ref name=":12" />

Ecbatana is the supposed capital of [[Astyages]] (''Istuvegü''), which was taken by the Persian emperor [[Cyrus the Great]] in the sixth year of the reign of [[Nabonidus]] (550/549&nbsp;BC).