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HAMADAN : aka Ecbatana PDF Print E-mail

Alternate name: Ecbatana, Persia. Source. altitude 6,000 ft.  The trade center for a fertile farm region where fruit and grain are grown is known for its rugs, leatherwork, textiles, chemicals, and wood and metal products.

"Under its simple brick dome there are two graves with some Hebrew inscription up on the plaster work of the wall. Two exquisite wooden tomb-boxes are also to be seen, one of which is of an earlier date and bears an inscription in Hebrew. The original structure dates to the 7th Century A. H. [13th Century AD] and it might have been erected over other and more ancient tombs. The exterior form of this mausoleum, built of brick and stone, resembles Islamic constructions, and the monument consists of an entrance, a vestibule, a sanctuary and a Shah-ni-shin (King's sitting place). Some believe that the mausoleum is the resting-place of Esther, the Achaemenian Queen and wife of Xerxes (Khashayarshah) and the second tomb belongs to her uncle, Mardocai." Source with photo [October 2000]

"The so-called tomb of Esther and Mordechai is probably the tomb of a much later Jewish queen, Shushan-Dukt, of the fifth century C.E. Esther and her uncle are more likely to have been buried at SUSA." Source: Freedman, Warren. World Guide for the Jewish Traveler . NY: E.P. Dutton Inc, 1984. Extracted by Bernard Kouchel: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it [March 1994]

Reburied in the Jewish cemetery is Rashid-al-Din Hamadani. (1247-1318), Jewish physician and historian.  Source [January 2010]

photos. "...the shrine has also been attributed to a much later Jewish Queen of the Sassanid period who persuaded her husband Yazdegerd I to establish a Jewish colony in Hamadan in the early 5th century AD. The construction is a simple brick building on a square plan that dates from some time between 13th and 17th century. The architectural style reflects that of Islamic shrines but bears inscriptions in Hebrew from the Torah and the Ten Commandments. Situated alongside the tomb is a synagogue and a Jewish cemetery." source [January 2010]

Last Updated on Saturday, 16 January 2010 14:26