Ekbatan Ekbatan Ekbatan Town ( ) is a planned town in western Tehran, Iran. It is located approximately five kilometers west of central Tehran. The town is named after Ecbatana, the capital city of the ancient Median Empire around 700 BC. It was the first capital of ancient Iranians to be established in Western Asia, and is the ancestor of the modern city of Hamedan. The word "Ekbātān" is a variant of "Ecbatana" ( ) which derives from Old Persian "Haŋgmetana", meaning "place of gathering". The construction of Ekbatan was started in 1975, for the purpose of mass housing. It 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.