Achmetha

Biblical Text

Achmetha is a place name that appears only once, in Ezra 6:2. It was a city in the province of Media during the Persian (Persia) period. The King James Version renders the verse: "And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written."

The account is set during the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem after the return from exile. As the work progressed, Tatnai, governor of the region west of the Euphrates, and his associates questioned the authority for the project and wrote to King Darius (Ezra 5:3-17). Darius ordered a search of the archives in Babylon (Ezra 6:1), and in the palace at Achmetha a scroll was found containing the decree issued in the first year of Cyrus. The decree contained three provisions (Ezra 6:3-5):

• The temple was to be rebuilt.
• The costs of construction were to be paid from the royal treasury.
• The gold and silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken were to be returned.

On the basis of this decree, Darius ordered that the work not be hindered and that its expenses instead be paid from tax revenues (Ezra 6:6-12). The temple was completed in the month Adar, in the sixth year of King Darius (Ezra 6:15).

Background

The name "Achmetha" transliterates the form found in the Aramaic text. In Greek and Latin tradition the city is known as Ecbatana. Its Old Persian name was Hagmatāna, commonly interpreted as "place of assembly." Because Ezra 4:8 through 6:18 is written in Aramaic, this place name occurs within the Aramaic portion of the book.

Achmetha was originally the capital of the Median kingdom. It came under Persian control when Cyrus conquered Media in the mid-sixth century B.C. Thereafter it became one of the cities, along with Susa and Babylon, that the Persian kings used as royal residences. Ancient Greek writers report that the kings stayed there during the summer. The city is generally identified with modern Hamadan in western Iran.

Wider Biblical Significance

The scroll found at Achmetha shows that the decree of Cyrus recorded in Ezra 1:1-4 was preserved as an actual royal document. It also provided the occasion for completing the rebuilding of the temple, which had been halted by opposition.

The Book of Ezra records that the temple was finished according to the commandment of the God of Israel and the decrees of the Persian kings (Ezra 6:14). The passage reflects a perspective of divine providence, in which God works even through the administrative procedures of a foreign king. This perspective connects with Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1, which describe Cyrus as one appointed by God. The passage is also read alongside the prophetic ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged the people during the same period (Ezra 5:1; 6:14).

Interpretation and Issues

• Relationship between the two decrees: The decree in Ezra 1 is written in Hebrew, while the document in chapter 6 is in Aramaic, and the two differ in form and content. They are commonly explained as a proclamation addressed to the people (chapter 1) and a record kept in the royal archives (chapter 6). Conservative and critical scholars differ in their views on the relationship between the two documents and on their historicity.
• The Cyrus Cylinder: This artifact records Cyrus's policy of returning the images of gods and the inhabitants of conquered regions to their original places. It is therefore frequently cited as background material for the Book of Ezra, although it does not mention Judah or Jerusalem directly.
• Place of discovery: The text does not explain why the document was found at Achmetha rather than in Babylon. Some have conjectured that Cyrus was residing at Achmetha in the first year of his reign, but this has not been confirmed.
• Noncanonical literature: Ecbatana also appears in Tobit, Judith, and 2 Maccabees. The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church accept these books as deuterocanonical, while Protestants classify them as part of the Apocrypha.
• Later tradition: In Hamadan there is a site traditionally regarded as the tomb of Esther and Mordecai. This is a later tradition and has no basis in the biblical text.