My trip to Ecbatana (Hegmatana)

Two days ago I went to Hamedan, a large city in the west of Iran, to visit Hegmatana Hill (Ancient Median City of Hegmatana) and especially something which is called "Qabr-e-Eskandar" (Tomb of Alexander).

A view of Hamedan from Hegmatana Hill

Unlike the tombs of Baba Tahir (a Persian poet), Avicenna (a Persian physician) or Esther (Jewish queen of Xerxes), it was too difficult to find "Tomb of Alexander" in Hamedan, the instersing thing was that some people also called it "Qabr-e-Eskandari" which means "Alexandrian Tomb", so it was possible that it was a tomb which was built by Alexander, not the tomb of himself, anyway we know there was a stone lion on this tomb which is already in the square of the same name in south-east Hamedan.

As you read here, Heinz Luschey, German archaeologist and art historian of Iran, believed that the lion stone of Ecbatana belonged stylistically to the group of classical Greek lion monuments and erected by Alexander the Great to the memory of his friend and general Hephaestion (see "Der L�we von Eckbatana, " AMI NF, 1, 1968, pp. 115-22 with Plates 45-50).

Therefore "Qabr-e-Eskandar" or "Qabr-e-Eskandari" which has been mentioned by Yaqut Hemavi and some other muslim historians as one of the most famous buildings of Hamedan, could be in fact a tomb or a monumental building for Hephaestion, after some hours searching, I finally found this building but unfortunately it was not better than this:

As you see some houses have been built above it!

Wouldn't that be a temptation for someone's kid, to be looting an ancient tomb found in the back yard, quite literally under your basement?  On another thought, I guess modern Iranians look back on the Macedonians as invaders who humiliated their people and destroyed one of their ancient dynasties in the process, so having someone's family move in on top of one of their burial sites is a sort of poetic justice for them.  Still, it's kind of sad to see how such significant elements of a nation's history are being neglected in such a manner.

The situation of Hegmatana Hill was a little better, a large part of the ancient city of Ecbatana was under your feet! I mean there is a wooden bridge (not very safe!!  ) where you can walk across it and watch the ancient buildings and streets of this city.

Edited by Cyrus Shahmiri - 24-Apr-2008 at 15:45