HAMADAN

Situation and access: Altitude 1,800 meter. 400 km S-W of Tehran on a good road, via Qazvin. 190 km E of Kermanshah on a good road. 530 km N-W of Esfahan on a good road with short stone-scattered passages, via Aligudarz. 330 km W of Qom, via Arak, on a good road with one stone-scattered passage.

A large central roundabout with six avenues running into it, this is what a simplified plan of modern Hamadan looks like. Nothing is left of ancient Ecbatana, the Medes' capital before they formed a union with the Persians. The poet Ferdowsi says it was founded by Jamshid, a king who was maybe somewhat hastily described as legendary. There are not even a few old stones in any museum, and there is not much to be said for a misshaped "lion" similar to those which decorated the tombs of Parthian officers. A more interesting sight for tourists who may not have seen any before are the Cuneiform rupestral inscriptions engraved on a cliff at the bottom of a green valley about 10 kilometers west of the city, the site is called Ganj_e Nameh.

"The tomb of Avicenna"

While lacking antique vestiges, Hamadan, has several monuments worthy of interest. They are usually mausoleums. Their exterior was recently renewed by constructions inspired by the spindle - shaped structure of Mongol towers, to the exclusion of all other features of these towers. The best one covers the Tomb of the famous Ibn Sina called Abu Ali by the Persians and Avicenna by the Western world.

"A small pottery factory in Lalegin"

Another poet is honored in Hamadan Baba Taher, who lived during the same period as Ibn Sina. Hamadan's most curious monument is a Jewish mausoleum reputed to contain the Tombs of Esther and Mordecai. Esther was a young Jewish girl who came to as Xerxes for just treatment and protection for the people of Moses.