Hamadan ( ; , ) is a mountainous city in western Iran. It is located in the Central District of Hamadan County in

Hamadan Hamadan ( ; , ) is a mountainous city in western Iran. It is located in the Central District of Hamadan County in Hamadan province, serving as the capital of the province, county, and district. As of the 2016 Iranian census, it had a po ...

province, serving as the capital of the province, county, and district. As of the 2016 Iranian census, it had a population of 554,406 people in 174,731 households. Hamadan is believed to be among the oldest Iranian cities. It was referred to in classical sources as

Ecbatana Ecbatana () was an ancient city, the capital of the Median kingdom, and the first capital in History of Iran, Iranian history. It later became the summer capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenid and Parthian Empire, Parthian empires.Nardo, Do ...

(

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

). It is possible that it was occupied by the

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

ns in 1100BCE; the Ancient Greek historian,

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

, states that it was the capital of the

Medes The Medes were an Iron Age Iranian peoples, Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media (region), Media between western Iran, western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, they occupied the m ...

, around 700BCE. Hamadan is situated in a green mountainous area in the foothills of the 3,574-meter Alvand Mountain, in midwestern Iran. The city is 1,850meters

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. It is located approximately southwest of

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. The old city and its historic sites attract tourists during the summer. The major sights of this city are the Ganj Nameh inscription, the

Avicenna Ibn Sina ( – 22 June 1037), commonly known in the West as Avicenna ( ), was a preeminent philosopher and physician of the Muslim world, flourishing during the Islamic Golden Age, serving in the courts of various Iranian peoples, Iranian ...

monument and the Baba Taher monument. The main language in the city is

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

History

According to

Clifford Edmund Bosworth Clifford Edmund Bosworth FBA (29 December 1928 – 28 February 2015) was an English historian and Orientalist, specialising in Arabic and Iranian studies. Life Bosworth was born on 29 December 1928 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now ...

, "Hamadan is a very old city. It may conceivably, but improbably, be mentioned in cuneiform texts from ca. 1100BC, the time of Assyrian King

Tiglath-Pileser I Tiglath-Pileser I (; from the Hebraic form of , "my trust is in the son of Ešarra") was a king of Assyria during the Middle Assyrian period (1114–1076 BC). According to Georges Roux, Tiglath-Pileser was "one of the two or three great Assyri ...

, but is certainly mentioned by Herodotus who says that the king of Media Diokes built the city of Agbatana or Ekbatana in the 7th centuryBC." Hamadan was established by the

. It then became one of several capital cities of the

Achaemenid Dynasty The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

. Hamadan is mentioned in the biblical

book of Ezra The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible which formerly included the Book of Nehemiah in a single book, commonly distinguished in scholarship as Ezra–Nehemiah. The two became separated with the first printed Mikraot Gedolot, rabbinic bib ...

( Ezra 6:2) as the place where a scroll was found giving the Jews permission from King Darius to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Its ancient name of Ecbatana is used in the Ezra text. Because it was a mile above sea level, it was a good place to preserve leather documents. During the Parthian era,

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern ba ...

was the capital of the country, and Hamadan was the summer capital and residence of the Parthian rulers. After the

Parthians Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemen ...

, the

Sassanids The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

constructed their summer palaces in this city. In 642 the

Battle of Nahavand The Battle of Nahavand ( ', '), also spelled Nihavand or Nahawand, was fought in 642 between the Rashidun Caliphate, Rashidun Muslims, Muslim Rashidun army, forces under Caliphate, caliph Umar and Sasanian Empire, Sasanian Persian armies under ...

took place and Hamadan fell into the hands of the Muslim Arabs. During the rule of the

Buyid dynasty The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyn ...

, the city suffered much damage. However, the city regained its former glory under the rule of the

Buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...

ruler Fanna Khusraw. The

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...

launched campaigns to take the city in the 1040s, ultimately taking the final Kakuyid fortress in 1047. The Seljuks later shifted their capital from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

to Hamadan. In 1220, Hamadan was destroyed by the

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

during the

Mongol invasions of Georgia The Mongol invasions of Georgia ( ka, მონღოლთა ლაშქრობები საქართველოში, tr), which at that time consisted of Georgia proper, Armenia, and much of the Caucasus, involved multiple invasi ...

before the Battle of Khunan. The city of Hamadan, its fortunes following the rise and fall of regional powers, was completely destroyed during the Timurid invasions, but later thrived during the

Safavid The Guarded Domains of Iran, commonly called Safavid Iran, Safavid Persia or the Safavid Empire, was one of the largest and longest-lasting Iranian empires. It was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often considered the begi ...

era.

Thereafter, in the 18th century, Hamadan was surrendered to the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

, but due to the work of

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

, Hamadan was cleared of invaders and, as a result of a peace treaty between Iran and the Ottomans, it was returned to Iran; During the early 18th century chaos in Iran, various tribal groups, including

Kurdish tribes Kurdish tribes are tribes of Kurds, Kurdish people, an ethnic group from the geo-cultural region of Kurdistan in West Asia, Western Asia. The tribes are socio-political and generally also a territorial unit based on descent and kinship, real or ...

, took advantage of the instability. In 1719, Kurdish tribes temporarily seized Hamadan and advanced nearly as far as

Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...

. Hamadan stands on the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, and even in recent centuries the city enjoyed strong commerce and trade as a result of its location on the main road network in the western region of Iran. In the late 19th century, American missionaries, including James W. Hawkes and Belle Sherwood Hawke, established schools in Hamadan. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the city was the scene of heavy fighting between Russian and Turko-German forces. It was occupied by both armies, and finally by the British, before it was returned to the control of the Iranian government at the end of the war in 1918.

Demographics

Language

A majority of the population speaks the Hamadani dialect of

and standard Persian, with a Turkic minority.

Population

At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 473,149 in 127,812 households. The following census in 2011 counted 525,794 people in 156,556 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 554,406 people in 174,731 households.

Climate

Hamadan has a hot-summer, Mediterranean-influenced continental climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dsa'', Trewartha: ''Dc''), in transition with a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

(

: ''BSk''). The city experiences hot, dry summers, and cold, snowy winters. The temperature may drop below on the coldest days. Heavy snowfall is common during winter and this can persist for periods of up to two months. During the short summer, the weather is hot, and mostly sunny. Lowest recorded temperature: on 7 January 1964
Highest recorded temperature: on 14 July 1989 File:Hamedan.Heydareh.jpg, Heydare, Hamadan File:Alvand 2007.jpg, Alvand Mountain File:Dasht-mishan.jpg, Mishan, a plain of Alvand Mountain File:Hamadan Topography.PNG, Hamadan spot (light blue in center) in Hamadan province topography map

Gallery

File:Mausolée Baba Taher Hamedan.jpg, Tomb of Baba Taher File:Babataher5.JPG, Inside the tomb of Baba Taher File:Aviccena 2011.jpg, The Tomb of

File:The Canon of Medicine.jpg, The handwriting of Canon of Medicine in the Tomb of Avicenna File:Hamadan - Mausoleum of Esther and Mordechai.jpg, Tomb of Esther and Mordechai, a tomb believed by some to hold the remains of Esther and Mordechai File:Tomb of Ester and Mordechai interior.jpg, Inside the structure alleged by some to be the Tomb of Esther and Mordechai File:Emamzade abdolla-Hamedn.JPG, Emamzade Abdollah Mosque File:Ghonbad-alaviyan1.jpg, Alaviyan Dome related with Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani File:Hamadan - Borj-e Qorban.jpg, Qorban Tower File:Ganjnameh inscriptions.jpg, Ganj Nameh File:Hamedan Central Square 1398122413121915319909894.jpg, Hamadan Central Square File:Ali Sadr Cave, Hamadan Province, Iran,siamak sabet.jpg, Ali-Sadr Cave

Sport

PAS Hamedan F.C. PAS Hamedan Football Club (, ''Bashgag-e Futbal-e Pas Hemidan'') is an Iranian Football (soccer), football club based in Hamedan, Iran and compete in the Azadegan League. The club was formed after the dissolution of PAS Tehran F.C., Pas Tehran in ...

were founded on June 9, 2007 after the dissolution of PAS Tehran F.C. The team, along with Alvand Hamedan F.C., is in the

Azadegan League The Azadegan League (, ''Lig-e Âzâdegân''), also known as League 1 (, ''Lig-e Yek''), is the second highest division of professional football in Iran. It was the top-level football league in Iran from its foundation in 1991 until 2001, when t ...

. Some sport complexes in this city include: Qods Stadium, Shahid Mofatteh Stadium, Takhti Sport Complex and the National Stadium of Hamadan.

Education

Before the

Persian Constitutional Revolution The Persian Constitutional Revolution (, or ''Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh''), also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar Iran, Qajar era. The revolution led to the establishment of a Majl ...

, education in Hamadan was limited to some Maktab Houses and theological schools. Fakhrie Mozafari School was the first modern school of Hamadan, which was built after that revolution. Alliance and Lazarist were also the first modern schools founded by foreign institutions in Hamadan. Some of the popular universities in Hamadan include: * Bu-Ali Sina University * Hamadan Medical University * Hamadan University of Technology * Islamic Azad University of Hamadan

Notable people

Hamadan celebrities are divided into 3 categories: pre-Islamic, post-Islamic and contemporary people.

Pre-Islamic celebrities

Among the pre-Islamic celebrities in Hamadan is Mandana, the mother of

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia ( ; 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Media ...

and the daughter of the last king of Media, Ishtovigo.

Famous names after Islam

Famous people of Hamadan after Islam are great people such as: * Baba Taher, Famous poets of the fourth century AH. * Badi'alzaman Hamadani, author of the oldest book in the art of maqam writing. * Abul Ali Hassan Attar, a great

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

and famous syntax, vocabulary and hadith in the fourth century AH. * Tomb of Esther and Mordekhai, The Tomb of Esther and Mordechai is a tomb located in Hamadan, Iran. Iranian Jews and Iranian Christians believe it houses the remains of the biblical Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, and it is the most important pilgrimage site for Jews and Christians in Iran. * Ibn Salah Hamadani,

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

of the fifth and sixth centuries AH. * Khajeh Rashid al-Din Fazlullah, minister, scientist and expert physician of the sixth and seventh centuries AH. * Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, Mystics and followers of Sirusluk of the seventh century AH. * Mirzadeh Eshghi is one of the shining stars of poetry and prose of the play during the Constitutional Revolution. * Bu Ali Sina, one of the rare

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

s and geniuses of the time, was born in 370 AH in Khoramisin, Bukhara. He entered this city in 406 AH when Hamadan was the capital of the

buyid The Buyid dynasty or Buyid Empire was a Zaydi and later Twelver Shi'a dynasty of Daylamite origin. Founded by Imad al-Dawla, they mainly ruled over central and southern Iran and Iraq from 934 to 1062. Coupled with the rise of other Iranian dyna ...

, and after a while, Shams al-Dawla Dailami made him his minister. During his stay in Hamadan, Bu Ali Sina taught at the city's large school and had the opportunity to complete many of his writings. * The tomb of Bu Ali Sina is now located in a square of the same name in Hamadan.

Significant Incident

In February 1990, the bank's central branch in Hamadan experienced a tragic robbery. The event resulted in the loss of life of the bank manager Abdulrahman Nafisi, his family, and a security guard. The bank manager, Abdulrahman Nafisi, displayed extraordinary courage by prioritizing the safety of the bank's funds over his own life. Despite being under torture, he pleaded with the robbers to take his personal belongings instead of the people's money.

Contemporary people

* Baba-Taher-e Oryan, a poet (1100 AD) *

Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb (;‎ 1247–1318; also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, ) was a statesman, historian, and physician in Ilkhanate Iran.Ein-Alqozat Hamadani (1098–1131), a great philosopher and sufist (1100 AD) Shirin-Ebadi-Amsterdam-2011-Photo-by-Persian-Dutch-Network

Shirin-Ebadi-Amsterdam-2011-Photo-by-Persian-Dutch-Network

* Abolhassan Banisadr (1933–2021), economist, politician, and the first post-revolutionary elected president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Zahedifamily

* Ahmad NikTalab (1934–2020), a contemporary poet * Aminollah Rezaei (1936–2004), poet, the Father of Iranian

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

* Amir Nosrat'ollah Balakhanlou, born in Tehran — two-time mayor and MP for Hamadan City (1950s and early 1960s) * Amir-Shahab Razavian (born 1965), film director, writer and producer Abolhassan Banisadr Hamburg Conference 6

Abolhassan Banisadr Hamburg Conference 6

Ehsan Yarshater Ehsan Yarshater (; April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of the Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Stud ...

(1920–2018), historian, scientists, and founder of Encyclopædia Iranica *

Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi Fakhr al-Din Iraqi (also spelled Araqi; ; 1213/14 – 1289) was a Persian Sufi poet of the 13th-century. He is principally known for his mixed prose and poetry work, the ''Lama'at'' ("Divine flashes"), as well as his '' divan'' (collection of s ...

, a poet (1300 AD) * Fazlollah Zahedi (1892–1963), military general * Fereydoun Moshiri, contemporary poet (originally from Hamadan, but born in Tehran) *

Hossein Noori Hamedani Grand Ayatollah Hossein Noori-Hamedani () (also Hossein Nuri-Hamedani) (born 21 March 1925) is an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja known for his conservative views. He has expressed his disapproval of Sufis and dervishes, Jews, the intellectual ...

(born 1925), Iranian Shia Marja * Hanieh Tavassoli (born 1979), actress * Joseph Emin (born 1726), a major activist in the attempts to liberate Armenia during the 18th century * Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1312–1384), poet and scholar * Mirzadeh Eshghi (1893–1924), a nationalist poet * Moshfegh Hamadani (1912–2009), writer, journalist and translator * Abdulrahman Nafisi (1948-1990), bank manager * Parviz Parastouei, acclaimed actor * Shirin Ebadi, lawyer and the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate * Samuel Rahbar, scientist * Wojtek, a bear who was born in Hamadan and would grow up to become a corporal in the Polish army during World War 2. * Viguen, known as the king of Persian pop and jazz music * Shahla Sarshar شهلا سرشار, Iranian singer “Hear Our Prayer” Patrick O Hearn * Jamshid Barzegar, Author,Journalist * Hassan Solhjou, TV presenter and producer

History

Demographics

Language

Population

Climate

Gallery

Sport

Education

Notable people

Pre-Islamic celebrities

Famous names after Islam

Significant Incident

Contemporary people

Contemporary people

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

See also

References

Bibliography

External links