History of the Jews in Iran lost tribes were expelled to the land of the Medes in modern-day Iran. The book of Tobit, which is part of the Apocrypha suggests that there were people from the tribe of Naphtali living in Rhages (Rey, Iran) and Ecbatana (Hamedan) at the time of the Assyrians (Book of Tobit 6:12). Three times during the 6th century BC, the Jews (Hebrews) of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. These three separate occasions are mentioned in Jeremiah (52:28-30). The first exile was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BC, when the Temple of Jerusalem was
Bagaran (ancient city) south of the site of the ancient city. Nowadays, a small Kurdish-populated village called Kılıttaşı partially lies on the ruins of Bagaran, on the Turkish side of the closed border. According to the Armenian historian Joseph Orbeli, the Church of Saint Theodore of Bagaran was one of the most prominent examples of early medieval Armenian architecture. It was largely intact until 1920. However, it was deliberately destroyed by the Turkish authorities. Bagaran (ancient city) Bagaran (), was a city in Ancient Armenia founded during the reign of the Orontid Dynasty. It is one of the Historical capitals of ancient Armenia.