Hamadan

Hamadan (hämädän`), city (1991 pop. 349,653), capital of Hamadan prov., W Iran, at the foot of Mt. Alwand. Located at an altitude of 6,000 ft (1,829 m), it is the trade center for a fertile farm region where fruit and grain are grown. The city is noted for its rugs, leatherwork, textiles, chemicals, and wood and metal products. In ancient times, as Hangmatana or Agbatana, it was a capital of Media. It was known to the Greeks as Ecbatana. In the 7th cent. Hamadan passed to the Arabs, and it was later held by the Seljuk Turks (12th–13th cent.) and the Mongols (13th–14th cent.). The city has had a Jewish colony for many years; the reputed tombs of Mordecai and Esther (see Esther, book of the Bible) are there. Avicenna, the physician and philosopher, is buried in Hamadan.

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Hamadan, Hamedan

city in W central Iran, at an altitude of over 1830 m (6000 ft.): changed hands several times from the 17th century between Iraq, Persia, and Turkey; trading centre. Pop.: 508 000 (2005 est.)

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Hamadan 

a city in western Iran. Population, approximately 136,000 (1975). Hamadan is a highway junction and the principal commercial center of western Iran; it manufactures textiles, food products, wood products, and rugs.

First mentioned in the 11th century B.C., Hamadan (ancient Ec-batana) is one of Iran’s oldest cities. The capital of Media in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., it was the summer residence of the Achaemenids after 550 B.C. Under the Seleucids, Parthians, and Sassanids the city was an important stop on the trade route from Mesopotamia to other countries of the East. Hamadan was conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century A.D. and by the Oghuz in the 11th century. From 1118 to 1194 the city was the capital of the Iraqi Sultanate of the Seljuks in western Iran. It was destroyed by the Mongols in 1220. From the 16th to 18th centuries the city was controlled by the Safavids.

Hamadan’s architectural landmarks include the mausoleum of Gonbad-e Alaviyan (12th century and 1309–16), which is decorated with ornamental brickwork, stucco, and carved terra-cotta. More recent architecture is represented by the mausoleum of Avicenna (1952, architect H. Seyhun) and the tomb of Kemal al Molk (1950’s, architect H. Seyhun). Hamadan is a rug-making center.