Ach'itob ('AxtrwjS), the Graecized form (1 Esdr. viii, 2 ; 2 Esdr. i, 1) of the name of Aiiitub (q. v.).
Achlamah. See Amethyst.
Ach'metha (Hob. Achmetha', xn^nx, Ezra vi,
2 ; Sept. 'AuaSd, Vulg. EcbatancC), the Ecbatana of classical writers (to. 'Ek^utuvu, 2 Mace, ix, 3; Ju- dith xi, 1 ; Tob. v, 9; Josephus, Ant. x, 11, 7 ; xi, 4, 6 ; also, in Greek authors, 'liyfidrava and Ay/3oroj'«), a city in Media. The derivation of the name is doubt- ful (see Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 70) ; but Major Bawlin- son (Geogr. Journal, x, 134) has left little question that the title was applied exclusively to cities having a fortress for the protection of the royal treasures. '1 he ancient orthography of this name is traced by Lassen (Jud. Biblioth. iii, 36) in the Sanscrit airadhana, i. e. 'iirwooTaoia, stable. In Ezra we learn that, in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, the Jews petitioned that search might be made in the king's treasure-house at Babylon for the decree which Cyrus had made in fa- vor of the Jews (Ezra v, 17). Search was according- ly made in the record-office ("house of the rolls"), where the treasures were kept at Babylon (vi, 1); but it appears not to have been found there, as it was eventually discovered " at Achmetha, in the palace of the province of the Medes" (vi, 2). Josephus (Ant. x, 11, 7 ; xi, 4, 6), while retaining the proper name of Ecbatana, yet (like the Sept., which adds the generic name jroAic) employs the word ftapa; to express the Chaldee Xr"P2, Birtha' ("the palace"), which is used as the distinctive epithet of the city (Ezra vi, 2).
In Judith i, 2-4, there is a brief account of Ecbatana, in which we are told that it was founded by Arphaxad (Phraortes), king of the Medes, who made it his cap- ital. It was built of hewn stones, and surrounded by a high and thick wall, furnished with wide gates and strong and lofty towers. Herodotus ascribes its foundation to Dcjcccs, in obedience to whose com- mands the Medes erected "that great and strong city, now known under the name of Agbatana, where the walls are built circle within circle, and are so construct- ed that each inner circle overtops its outer neighbor I y the height of the battlements alone. This was effect- ed partly bjr the nature of the ground — a conical hill — and partly by the building itself. The number cf the circles was seven, and within the innermost Avas the palace of the treasury. The battlements of the first circle were white, of the second black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth blue, of the fifth orange; all these were brilliantly colored with different pigments ; but the battlements of the sixth circle were overlaid with silver, and of the seventh with gold. Such were the palace and the surrounding fortification that De- joecs constructed for himself; but he ordered the mass of the Median nation to construct their houses in a circle around the outer wall" (Herodot. i, 08). It is contended by Rawlinson (Geogr. Jour, x, 127) that this story of the seven Avails is a fable of Sabaean origin — the seven colors mentioned being precisely those employed by the Orientals to denote the seA'on great heavenly bodies, or the se\'en climates in which they reA'olve.
This Ecbatana has been usually identified with the present Hamad in (see Journal of Education, ii, 305), which is still an important town, and the seat of one of the governments into which the Persian king- dom is divided. It is situated in north lat. 34° 53', east long. 40°, at the extremity of a rich and fertile plain, on a gradual ascent, at the base of the Elwund mountains, Avhose higher summits are coA-ered with perpetual snoAV. Some remnants of ruined Avails of great thickness, and also of to Avers of sun-dried bricks, afford the only positive evidence of a more ancient city than the present on the same spot. Although still declining, it has a population of about 25,000, and contains excellent and Avell-supplied bazaars, and nu- merous khans of rather a superior description — it be- ing the great centre Avhere the routes of traffic between Persia, Mesopotamia, and Persia converge and meet. Its oavii manufactures are chiefly in leather. Many JeAvs reside here, claiming to be descended from those of the captivity Avho remained in Media. Benjamin of Tudela says that in his time the number Avas 50,000.
ACHMETHA 5
Rabbi David dc Beth Hillel (Travels, p. 85-87, "Madras, 1832) gives them but 200 families. The latest authority (J. J. Benjamin, Eight Yearn in Asia and Africa, Han- over, 1859, p. 201) reckons them at 500 families. They are mostly in good circumstances, having line houses and gardens, and are chiefly traders and goldsmiths. They speak the broken Turkish of the country, and have two synagogues. They derive the name of the town from "Hainan" and " Mede" and say that it was given to that foe of Mordecai by King Ahasuerus. In the midst of the city is a tomb, which is in their charge, and which is said to be that of Mordecai and Esther. It is a plain structure of brick, consisting of a small cylindrical tower and a dome (the whole about twenty feat high), with small projections or wings on three sides. An inscription on the wall in bass-relief de- scribes the present tomb as having been built by two devout Jews of Kashan, in A.D. 714. The original structure is said to have been destroyed when Hama- dan was sacked by Timour. As Ecbatana was an- ciently the summer residence of the Persian court, it is probable enough that Mordecai and Esther died and were buried there (see Kinneir's Persia, p. 126; Mo- rier's Second Journey, p. 264 sq. ; Southgate's Tour, ii, 102 sq. ; Buckingham, Assyria, i, 284 sq. ; M'Culloch's Gazetteer, s. v. Hamadan). — Kitto, s. v.