Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

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Argyraspid
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Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Argyraspid »

I have just returned from a tour of Iran. Hamadan was on the program but nothing pertaining to Alexander. After a serious plea, the local guide was however kind enough to make a (small) detour to see the Lion of Ecbatana, generally considered as part of a monument built for Hephaistion - if not part of his tomb.
From the bus, I was pointed to he scant remains of Ecbatana itself, apparently off limits and not open to the public. It looked nothing more that heaps of dust and sand. I had not expected to see any of the old city and was taken entirely by surprise. Back home I am trying to find some update info about the site. This is very confusing for I read that the city was destroyed by Alexander (oh yes?) who dismantled all the gold and silver that covered the doors and walls of the palace while I read the same story for the nearby temple of Anahita being destroyed by Alexander in 335 BC (impossible, of course)! So far, I cannot make sense of this all!
Any idea anyone?
agesilaos
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by agesilaos »

There were stories that on the death of Hephaistion, the cities including Ekbatana, had their walls 'shorn' presumably by removing the crenelations on the city walls, sacred fires were doused and a temple of Aiskapuleios destroyed (this is unlikely given Alexander's piety). The city was not leveled, it has, like most mud brick constructions simply crumbled over time, 'dust to dust', as it were.

The Lion of Ekbatana may be commonly connected with Hephaistion but it is an Islamic piece and thus nothing to do with him; it is also one of a pair.
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Taphoi »

agesilaos wrote:There were stories that on the death of Hephaistion, the cities including Ekbatana, had their walls 'shorn' presumably by removing the crenelations on the city walls, sacred fires were doused and a temple of Aiskapuleios destroyed (this is unlikely given Alexander's piety). The city was not leveled, it has, like most mud brick constructions simply crumbled over time, 'dust to dust', as it were.

The Lion of Ekbatana may be commonly connected with Hephaistion but it is an Islamic piece and thus nothing to do with him; it is also one of a pair.
Whereas it is true that Alexander removed the crenellations and it is also true that he did not destroy Ecbatana, it is not incredible that he ordered temples of Asclepius to be burned, because it was recorded by Arrian in his Discourses of Epictetus 2.22.17 and because Alexander was feeling a bit aggrieved by the healing arts at the time.

The lion is emphatically NOT Islamic. It was found amidst the remains of a PARTHIAN cemetery, where it had probably been re-used with a destroyed twin to decorate a gateway, because it is Hellenistic in its style. Whereas it is speculation that it is from a monument to Hephaistion, it is true that large Classical and Hellenistic lion sculptures are very strongly associated with tombs and Hephaistion was the most famous Greek to die at Ecbatana. Nevertheless, I would not give the association more than about a 20% chance of being true.

Best wishes,

Andrew
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

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That Alexander should have cut off his hair in honour of the dead man, I do not think improbable, both for other reasons and especially from a desire to imitate Achilles, whom from his boyhood he had an ambition to rival. Others also say that Alexander himself at one time drove the chariot on which the body was borne; but this statement I by no means believe. Others again affirm that he ordered the shrine of Asclepius in Ecbatana to be razed to the ground; which was an act of barbarism, and by no means in harmony with Alexander’s general behaviour, but rather in accordance with the arrogance of Xerxes in his dealings with the deity, who is said to have let fetters down into the Hellespont, in order to punish it forsooth. But the following statement, which has been recorded, does not seem to me entirely beyond the range of probability —that when Alexander was marching to Babylon, he was met on the road by many embassies from Greece, among which were some Epidaurian envoys, who obtained from him their requests. He also gave them an offering to be conveyed to Asclepius, adding this remark: “Although Asclepius has not treated me fairly, in not saving the life of my Companion, whom I valued equally with my own head.”
Polybios X 27 has
27 1 Media is the most notable principality in Asia, both in the extent of its territory and the number and excellence of the men and also of the horses it produces. 2 It supplies nearly the whole of Asia with these animals, the royal stud farms being entrusted to the Medes owing to the excellence of the pastures. 3 On its borders a ring of Greek cities was founded by Alexander to protect it from the neighbouring barbarians. Ecbatana is an exception. 4 This city is situated in the northern part of Media and commands that portion of Asia which borders on the Maeotis and Euxine. 5 It had always been the royal residence of the Medes and is said to have greatly exceeded all the other cities in wealth and the magnificence of its buildings. 6 It lies on the skirts of Mount Orontes and has no wall, but possesses an artificial citadel the fortifications of which are of wonderful strength. 7 Beneath this stands the palace, regarding which I am in doubt whether I should go into details or keep silence. 8 For to those who are disposed to recount marvellous tales and are in the habit of giving exaggerated and rhetorical reports of certain matters this city affords an admirable theme, but to such as approach with caution all statement which are contrary to ordinary conceptions it is a source of doubt and difficulty. 9 The palace, however, is about seven stades in circumference, and by the magnificence of the separate structures in it conveys a high idea of the wealth of its original founders. 10 For the woodwork was all of cedar and cypress, but no part of it was left exposed, and the rafters, the compartments of the ceiling, and the columns in the porticoes and colonnades were plated with either silver or gold, and all the tiles were silver. 11 Most of the precious metals were stripped off in the invasion of Alexander and his Macedonians, and the rest during the reigns of Antigonus and Seleucus the son of Nicanor, 12 but still, when Antiochus reached the place, the temple of Aene alone had the columns round it still gilded and a number of silver tiles were piled up in it, while a few gold bricks and a considerable quantity of silver ones remained. 13 From all the objects I have mentioned sufficient was collected to coin money with the king's effigy amounting to very nearly four thousand talents.
So he attributes the stripping of the Palace to Alexander but the temple remained intact, or at least sufficiently intact for Antiochos to collect about 120 metric tonnes!

Arrian mentioning a story in the Discourses, does not vouch for its veracity only its usefulness for the point he is making; he clearly had his doubts in the historical work 'Anabasis'.

Parthian not Islamic, oops! There was a longer tradition of twin beast gateways of course, Ninevah and Persepolis provide examples.
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Taphoi »

Arrian is careful in both instances to state that Alexander ordered the temple of Asclepius to be razed, but not that he actually perpetrated this act. It would fit what we know to suppose that the king ordered it whilst distraught, but that he countermanded the order before it was enacted when he had recovered his composure. The Macedonians in general were pious people and would not have been enthusiastic about destroying temples in peacetime. Although Arrian's Alexander is rather inscrutable, the much more believable Alexander of the Cleitarchan Vulgate is a highly emotional individual as well as being, as you say, quite pious.

Best wishes,

Andrew
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

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For his nature is to love nothing so much as his own interest; this is his father and brother and kinsfolk and country and god. At any rate, when the gods seem to hinder us in regard to this we revile even the gods and overthrow their statues and set fire to their temples, as Alexander ordered the shrines of Asclepius to be burnt when the object of his passion died.
Book II xxii. Far from being careful to permit the possibility that Alexander's orders were not carried out the example would be pointless if the destruction had not been assumed to have taken place; which is no guarantee that it did, of course. Examples given by rhetoricians are not so nuanced.
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Alexias »

Heredotus says that the city had seven concentric walls, although whether he means the palace or the fortress is unclear. Jona Ledering says here http://www.iranchamber.com/history/ecba ... batana.php that this may have been a mistake for a ziggurat. Lindsay Allen in 'The Persian Empire A History', suggests that Alexander may have ordered the gold and silver plating removed from the sixth and seventh walls, rather than actually damaging the walls, and that the walls surrounded the palace and the treasury.

Allen says
Ctesias ...placed the building of Ecbatana in a period before Achaemenid rule. (ie. by the Medes) ...the semi-mythical figure of Queen Semiramis was said to have constructed the palace...
Allen also says that column bases resembling those at Persepolis were found on the side of Tappeh-ye Hekmataneh, a mound to the north of the town centre, although excavations have revealed later mud-brick buildings. The higher Mosalla hill has been considered as the site of the palace but no remains other than fragments have been found. She suggests that like Susa, the palace may have been sited by the river, and that the palace and fortress were separate entities. This map shows the two hills and the location of the stone lion to the south east of the town centre.

Image

The temple of Anahita is believed to be Selucid (ie post-Alexander).
Argyraspid
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Argyraspid »

Thank you all for your precious thoughts, research and evaluations in quoting the ancient texts about Ecbatana. Based on all the available information, it seems to me that little or nothing has been excavated at Ecbatana, leaving the location of the city, the citadel and the palace an open question. Some remains have been found but none are conclusively tied to one place or another. Personally, I think that as long as none of these buildings have been located with any precision it is hard to bring them in the context of the ancient texts - could we?
Ecbatana was a wealthy place covered in gold and silver, yet based on the above we still don’t know whether these precious plates covered the walls of the palace and/or the city walls (if there were indeed any as mentioned by Herodotus) and/or the citadel walls.
Their presence on the walls of the nearby Anahita Temple seems however very probable. But I am not entirely certain that this Temple of Anahita is the very temple of Asclepius mentioned by Arrian as Jona says (on what base does he say so?)
And this temple is believed to be Seleucid? So far I found that Dr Kaveh Farrokh http://kavehfarrokh.com/articles/endang ... struction/ thinks that it was built during early Parthian occupation, at some time between 248 BC and 224 AD. Yet others (The Zoroastrian Education Institute http://www.zoroastrian.org.uk/vohuman/S ... ita-00.htm) mention that it was built by Artaxerxes II between 404 and 359 BC based on the shape and carving of the columns which is similar to those of Persepolis and Susa. I would put a big question mark to this publication since in their article they add that the temple was plundered by Alexander in 335 BC which is utterly impossible. From what I saw there personally (but I am not a scholar) the remains definitely showed Hellenistic influence, and should therefore be dated either to the Seleucid or the Parthian era.
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by Argyraspid »

Thank you all for your thoughts, research and evaluations in quoting the ancient texts about Ecbatana. Based on all the available information, it seems to me that little or nothing has been excavated at Ecbatana, leaving the location of the city, the citadel and the palace an open question. Some remains have been found but none are conclusively tied to one place or another. Personally, I think that as long as none of these buildings have been located with any precision it is hard to bring them in the context of the ancient texts?
Ecbatana was a wealthy place covered in gold and silver, yet based on the above we still don’t know whether these precious plates covered the walls of the palace and/or the city walls (if there were indeed any as mentioned by Herodotus) and/or the citadel walls.
Their presence on the walls of the nearby Anahita Temple seems however very probable. But I am not entirely certain that this Temple of Anahita is the very temple of Asclepius mentioned by Arrian as Jona says (on what base does he say so?)
And is this temple is believed to be Seleucid? So far I found that Dr Kaveh Farrokh thinks that it was built during early Parthian occupation, at some time between 248 BC and 224 AD. Yet others (The Zoroastrian Education Institute) mention that it was built by Artaxerxes II between 404 and 359 BC based on the shape and carving of the columns which is similar to those of Persepolis and Susa. I would put a big question mark to this publication since in their article they add that the temple was plundered by Alexander in 335 BC which is utterly impossible. From what I saw there personally (but I am not a scholar) the remains definitely showed Hellenistic influence, and should therefore be dated either to the Seleucid or the Parthian era.
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by delos13 »

agesilaos wrote:...... and a temple of Aiskapuleios destroyed (this is unlikely given Alexander's piety).
I was always confused by this piece. Why Persian/Median city of Ecbatana would have a temple to Greek Asklepious? True, at the time of Hephaistion's death, the city was under the Greek rule for a number of years but was it enough for the construction of the temple? Or the temple destroyed (or described as destroyed) was the one of Anahita, one of her functions was healing.

Any thoughts?
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by agesilaos »

The latter; the Greeks finding a temple of Baal, say, would notice that he controls lightning and was a chief God and call him Zeus, or if he was worshiped with child sacrifice they would make him Kronos, and mistake the name of the sacrifice - Moloch - for a different deity. The Romans followed suit being great religious amalgamators :wink:
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Re: Ecbatana and the nearby temple of Anahita

Post by sean_m »

Yes, people in the ancient world often called a minor or foreign god by the name of a major or familiar one. In the hands of advanced thinkers this could drift in the direction of monotheism but I suspect that most people were just trying to sort out which gods were really important and which they did not have to worry about. I just read an article talking about cases of this in Mesopotamia where people (often people with offices from a powerful temple) argued that another god was just an aspect of theirs and that that other god's property should be held in safekeeping by their god's temple.
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