Ecbatana accounts, and local informants. This theory was also promoted by other historians such as Sir William Jones and the chief French orientalists. Ecbatana is the supposed capital of Astyages ("Istuvegü"), which was taken by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of Nabonidus (550/549 BC). "Please update as needed." Ecbatana Ecbatana (; "Hagmatāna" or "Haŋmatāna", literally "the place of gathering", , in Aeschylus and Herodotus, Akkadian: "a-gam-ta-nu" in the Nabonidus Chronicle) was an ancient city in Media in western Iran. It is believed that Ecbatana is in Hagmatana Hill (Tappe-ye Hagmatāna), an archaeological mound in Hamedan. According
Medes knew of or reached during their expansion until the beginning of the 7th century BC. In Achaemenid sources, specifically from the Behistun Inscription (2.76, 77–78), the capital of Media is Ecbatana, called "Hamgmatāna-" in Old Persian (Elamite:"Agmadana-"; Babylonian: "Agamtanu-") corresponding to modern-day Hamadan. The other cities existing in Media were Laodicea (modern Nahavand) and the mound that was the largest city of the Medes, Rhages (present-day Rey). The fourth city of Media was Apamea, near Ecbatana, whose precise location is now unknown. In later periods, Medes and especially Mede soldiers are identified and portrayed prominently in ancient archaeological sites such