Abstract
Ekbatana Hill, with a length of 1,000 meters and width of 500 meters is located in the north east of Hamedan city. According to both Iranian and foreign archeologists and historians, Ekbatana Hill is the remains of ruined imperial palaces of ancient Hamadan belonging to the Median, Achaemenid and Parthian eras. The remains found on the hill and some gold and silver tablets indicate that it flourished during the Achaemenid era. Hamadan was to all appearances, the summer capital of pre-Islamic government; therefore the palaces built on the hill were decorated with precious things of the time, which have been plundered during wars. This research is an approach to the study of the historical hill, which is now located in the center of Hamedan city. It is certainly not expected that the hill has any position in the new current civil functions, but its occupation during recent decades needs a substantial review. On the other hand, the hidden layers might sometimes endanger the hill, due to lack of facilities. It is in need of a new observation, in order to properly share parts of the existing remains of the hill, especially the fortification wall, in the current civic life and assign it as a part of the city edge. So, the study of historical traces on one hand and urban renovation theories on the other can be an effective approach. Keywords: Ekbatana; historical hill; restoration; renovation; historical wall 1. Introduction Hamedan. Since human beings started to live in small and large The earliest appraisal of Ekbatana refers to the civilized urban and rural communities, urban records Assyrian tablet (1100 B.C.) which named the city, and the appearance of communities can be seen in Amadana. After the immigration of Indo-European Hamadan. According to this, Hamadan is considered as families to the Iranian plateau, this city was erected as one of the oldest cities in Iran as well as in the world. the first capital of the Iranian Empire (a branch of Iran, Using prehistoric remains, including earthenware, called Median). gold and stone tablets, archeologists have identified It seems that the city was built on a great hill with some shepherd communities on the hillside of Alvand soft soil. Also, the imperial palaces and treasury were Mountain — situated in the western part of Hamedan located on the high hills of Alvand Mountain. The other city — dating back 5000 years. walls accommodated administrative, martial, military, In the 2nd millennium B.C. Kasians, who were civil, and religious sections. The common people lived shepherds, lived in separate groups in the western in the last enclosure or outside of the fortresses in their regions of Iran and in organized communities in the sun-dried mud brick houses as usual, while expensive Zagros Mountains. Because they had the greatest cypress wood and pine — evenly coated with silver influence on the central parts of the Iranian plateau, and gold — were used in the palace buildings. historians believe that words like Ghazvin, Kashan and Khazar may have derived from the word Kasi. As 2. Origin of Ekbatana stated in the Torah, Ahmata is the Hebraic name of T h e t e r r i t o r y o f M a d w a s n a m e d M a d a i n Achaemenid tablets, Mazya in the works of Greek historians, Amaday in Salmansar the Third's tablet *Contact Author: Asghar Mohammad Moradi, dated 835 B.C. and then Matay and Maday in Assyrion Associate Professor, Architect, Unit 4, No. 4, 10 meter street, works and in Mesopotamian inscriptions. It was called Ne'mati Avenue, Hekmat, Gheytariye, Tehran, Iran Maday because it probably refered to the north western Tel: +98-912-179-2655 Fax: +98-212-220-6212 region of Iran, Oman Maday, where Diyox unified the E-mail: m_moradi@iust.ac.ir Iranian nations and installed a government in the 8th ( Received October 8, 2007 ; accepted June 5, 2008 ) Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering/November 2008/154 147 century B.C. Historians differ on how the city was through seven enclosures, each overlooking the other. developed and by who. The walls are distinctly colored in white, black, blue, Ketsias, the Greek historian and personal physician sapphire, red and orange and there are gold and silver of the Achaemenid emperor, Ardshir the Second, walls as well..." (Jacksen, 1978). attributed the establishment of the city to the Assyrian One can imagine the hierarchy and the style of color queen, Samiramis: in the hill. "Having seen the site, Samiramis, built a palace on P o l y b i u s , t h e r o m a n h i s t o r i a n , ( 2 0 4 - 2 2 2 B . C . ) it, but as the site dried, she ordered the building of a thought that Ekbatana was the Median capital, and costly canal in order to convey the water of the lake described it as an excellent city. He says the city did beyond the Alvand Mountain to the site" (Jacksen, not have any fortification walls, but it was located on 1978). a huge platform. He also steers readers away from In the "Torah" the founding of the city has been exaggerated descriptions of the city by historians. attributed to Arfkshad. Some architectural properties Western historians attributed the foundation of the of the city have been described in this book, which city to Samiramis, Arfkshad and Diox, but eastern also mentions that Nabkodnasr, the Babylonian king, historians named others as the founders of ancient destroyed the city between 562 and 604 B.C. (Jacksen, Ekbatana. For example Toos Salmani, Ebne Faghih and 1978). Khazraji cite Dara as the city founder, for Hamedan Shahrdara was the son of Dara (Hamedani, 1970). Yaghoot Homavi [2] believed that Hamedan was named for Hamedan Ebn Flooh Ebn Sam ebn Nooh and the founder of the city was Kermis ebn Halimoon. Regarding the situation of the city, several Islamic scientists have noted some of its characteristics in their books. By studying historical documents, archeologists' c o m m e n t s a n d d i s c o v e r e d r e l i c s o f E k b a t a n a (Hegmateine) one can acquire an unclear image of the ancient city, the earliest capital of Iran, as follows: Although according to Assyrian tablets, Ekbatana was founded in the late second millennium B.C. there is no clear evidence of this era. Based on descriptive reports, Ekbatana was erected on the hillside of Alvand Mountain and had seven huge fortification walls as Fig.1. Site Plan of the Present-day City of Ekbatana, high as those of Athena, while the interior walls were Scale: 1/20000 (Survey Organization, 1996) higher than those in Athena, so that the significance Herodotus, the famous Greek historian, named Diox and firmness of seven encircling fortresses could be as the founder of Ekbatana. Diox the first emperor clearly seen from a distance. As seen in engravings of Median ordered the building of Ekbatana Palace on Assyrian tablets, Eilam's enemies were constantly following alliance of the Median tribes. This palace plundering Made (a neighboring country of Eilam) was described by Herodotus as follows: forcing the Medians to make fortresses as firm as "…so Diox developed the Ekbatana, with huge possible in their capital. These citadels were even and strong fortification walls around one another. more reinforced than their other cities, like Khar-khar The palace design is such that each wall is taller than (with one fortification wall) and Kishsum (with several the next one by the amount of its indention only. fortification walls). Although this topographically suitable hill is somewhat appropriate to the aforesaid arrangement, in general 3. Architectural Characteristics the work of art itself has made it effective. The number In the existing boundary of Ekbatana Hill, which of walls is seven. …" [1] Thus he introduces these has been excavated and studied by archeologists, walls: white, black, red, blue, orange, gray and yellow, the remains of an ancient city have been discovered respectively. F i s a g u r e s ( 6 t h c e n t u r y B . C . ) i s a n o t h e r G r e e k historian who gives a glorious description of the city. "The Moghan Ekbatana" is a village on the peak of a high mountain which is visible from a far distance, like luminosity and is distinguishable from other places. When the sun rises to meridian it glitters as a glowing p o i n t i n t h e s k y. T h e c l o s e r y o u g e t t h e s t r o n g e r illusion you will have. To reach there you must pass Fig.2. A View of the Existing Boundary of Ekbatana Hill 148 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi located alongside a fortification wall. The natural A s u r v e y o f t h e a r c h i t e c t u r a l s y s t e m o f t h e and geographical factors are the most substantial ancient city regarding the establishment of pathways characteristics of this site. Historical studies beside indicates that the discovered pathways established g e o g r a p h i c a l c o n d i t i o n s i m p l y t w o c o n s i d e r a b l e communication between people in a northeast to environmental factors which have definitely been s o u t h w e s t d i r e c t i o n . A l s o , t h e r e i s n o e v i d e n c e taken into consideration by its constructors: Alvand r e g a r d i n g h o w t h e i n h a b i t a n t s o f a n c i e n t c i t i e s Mountain and Nazarbeik River. communicated with each other. The first had a pivotal role in fortress resistance both T h e r e a r e t w o v i e w p o i n t s c o n c e r n i n g s u c h physically and metaphysically. The second, Nazarbeik communication: River, played the role of a natural moat in the fortress A hierarchical system of pathways was accomplished so as to make it impossible to penetrate the castle. in the form of one-way distribution from the main The city is formed by an orderly pre-designed plan pathway (adjacent to the wall) to secondary pathways. which has no similarity to any other ancient type in There were other arterial pathways parallel to the Iran. In studying the other types in the world we could pathway adjacent to the wall, which has not been hardly compare it with Tel-Al Emarne (Mouris, 1989) discovered as yet and the secondary pathways (the [3]. pathways between houses) linked these two main The city has parallel neighborhoods and equal pathways to each other. pathways, which are located at a distance of 35 meters Although this system of mesh distribution and from each other. The pathways are 3.5 meters wide and availability of pathways along with increasing the two attached houses with dimensions of 17.5 x 17.5 l e n g t h o f s u b s i d i a r y p a t h w a y s d o e s n o t s e e m t o meters are flanked by them. The pathways are oriented function properly, it is justified by the discovery of the in a northwestern-southeastern direction (Fig.3.). Only aforesaid pathway, and by taking account of the fact seven paths have been discovered so far, one of which that this fortress was a military defensive stronghold. is 17.5 meters to the adjacent one. Therefore the city However, accepting the Herodot theory of seven has two architectural areas (Sarraf, 2001). fortresses around Ekbatana and assuming that the location of the Median fortress is the Sar-ghal-eh Hill of Ekbatana, the perimeter of the city's biggest fortress was about 4,000 meters which was, according to Herodot, the same size as the Athena wall. The radius of the external wall at the most reaches to 600 meters and other walls were set at regular intervals in the form of concentric circles. On the basis of the above accounts, the distance between each wall was 65 meters, so that with regard to the relative thickness of the walls, the distance between them would be different by from 40 to 50 meters (Saeednia, 2001). Fig.3. General Plan of the Historical City and its Fortification In this case, the probability of the existence of Wall, Scale: 1/600 (Cultural and Heritage Organization, 2001) another pathway is eliminated, so the next fortress is The first includes two rows of adjacent buildings and substituted for it.With regard to the floor brick, which the second one row of buildings. is found only in pathways with a water ditch, what we In architectural style, even the dimensions of the can say about the quality of the pathways is that they houses in the two regions are the same. One of the had probably been covered by some materials ruined developed urban facilities is its water supply system as time passed. discovered in water supply canals in the form of a Considering the architecture and style of the houses water ditch constructed of brick and gypsum, with lime between these pathways we can say that they are all mortar behind the wall and also in one of the pathways. It seems that the city's architects accomplished the distribution of water in the city precincts in a planned network. A small pond with dimensions of 1.5 x 1.5 meters and one huge well at a distance of 2 meters were discovered in part of the ditch, but the well does not seem to be an old one. (Zarehyee, 2000). Regarding the water supply canals, it seems as though this stream drained out of the lake on the other side of Alvand Mountain, or it is likely that this canal was built for disposing of the city's drainage water and Fig.4. The Probable Entrance to the Wall of one of the Towers. The watercourse in depth of the wall which was probably used sewage. for water distribution to the city, Scale: 1/500 (Saeednia, 2001) JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi 149 the same and that the architects did not make an effort show two different periods of architecture, which may to build houses with different plans in any of the have resulted from the destruction of the upper parts eastern areas. Although, some changes are observed in due to invasions and quick renovation. Small and big a pathway with brick floor discovered in the north part niches as well as thick layers of plaster and lime on the of hill, according to the evidence these changes around earthen walls, which confirm three different periods of the aforesaid pathway are in order to alter direction and living in the city indicate other characteristics of this this could be the reason for the existence of pathways era (Saghafi, 2000). with an opposite direction to previous pathways. The similarity between adobe bricks in Perspolis This strengthens the theory of the existence of an and those of Ekbatana and dissimilarity to the bricks arterial pathway adjacent to the wall. Houses have of other Median sites like Godin Tepe [5] and Tepe one entrance room and a rectangular yard in the back Hamekasi reveal the fact that the Median Settlement and there are 3 rooms around them, totaling 6 rooms; in Ekbatana is not clear. However it may be a sign of (Sarraf, 2001). Achaemenid presence in Ekbatana in the following The typical characteristics of house architecture in p e r i o d o r e v e n a k i n d o f i m i t a t i o n f r o m M e d i a n Ekbatana are as follows: architecture in building Perspolis by the Achaemenid - Concise plans appropriate for the cold climate of e m p e r o r w h o s e s u m m e r c a p i t a l w a s E k b a t a n a . the Ekbatana area and linked to each other from 3 sides Although proving the case is not an easy task we can - The separation of general and private spaces by see other examples of the Achaemenid's imitation of designing two general and private division spaces Median architecture in their platforms, typology of - The central yard with a veranda pattern amphitheaters with Apadana columns, Rock Tombs, - Especial architecture with minimum number of and wooden ceilings and columns, using aboriginal windows looking outside and capturing light from the materials and false windows (Mehryar, 1982). central yard. During architectural studies the archaeologists have All of these characteristics qualify the plans to be found a mass of adobe bricks with 25 meters thickness compared with the advanced typologies of Persian (Sarraf, 2001). The existence of this thickness in the architecture in the golden eras. wall could be a sign of the earthen platform, which One of the most important installations of Ekbatana was a part of this fortification wall. This pattern was was the tower and fortification around it. The thickness chiefly used in Median architecture in order to change of the city wall was 9 meters and it was built with sun- the natural slope of the land into a vertical slope and dried mud bricks. About 600 meters of this wall has building hybrid walls, which were overlooked by each been discovered up to now and some parts of it have other (Sarraf, 2001). been excavated. About 50 centimeters away from the Finding additional remains with different dimensions city wall, the watercourse was built from the southeast of adobe brick shows a reinforcing pattern for walls to northwest in definite distances from it. There are following its destabilization resulting from damage towers along the wall at a distance of 90 meters from (Diacnof, 2000). Also, the finding of different things each other and it seems that some of them are hollow during excavation of the city outskirts such as flat and some solid. As Achaemenid architecture some of seals, coins, plinths, small pottery sculptures and glass these towers are ceremonial. What can be understood etc, shows how the city functioned in different periods from the plan of the wall is that it is not circular (Saghafi, 2000). or rectangular. It is a polygon and in some parts of T h e r e a r e s o m e v a g u e p o i n t s r e g a r d i n g t h e the wall a corridor about two meters wide has been reconstruction plans of the fortification wall on the discovered, which was probably designed for moving basis of excavated trenches, which require extended inside the walls and entering the city. This may be study of Median architecture and effective civilization because of the economic feasibility of materials. The in order to complete the main lines of the wall (Fig.5.). wall has been designed in consecutive pillars and elevations, and in some parts white plaster is visible on the facade [4]. The dimensions of the discovered pillars are about 2.1 and 2.7 meters and the only remaining profile is about 4 meters long and 1.1 meters wide (Sarraf, 2001). The materials used in Ekbatana are mainly sun-dried brick. In some parts a brick foundation is used for the sun- dried brick walls and the ceiling was made of wooden beams and columns. Various sizes of sun-dried brick were used in the fortification wall. The existence of Fig.5. Archeologist's Suggested Design of the Reconstruction smaller sun-dried bricks at the bottom of the wall and Plan of the Ekbatana Wall, that seems to have some bigger bricks with irregular arrangement at the top Ambiguous Points in the Wall Corners 150 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi 4. Wall Abstraction changed at this point, the resulting joint needs more A c c o r d i n g t o s t u d i e s c o n c e r n i n g M e d i a n study. The archeologists proposed plan of this area architecture, in the first period before formation of the requires substantial review, from the military, defensive united Median, in archaeological sites and Assyrian and even architectural typological point of view. tablets discovered in the Third Thiglatpelser Palace in In a comparative studying one might consider the Khorsabad and also the Second Saregon in Nimrood, plan of the Rahmat Mountain Wall of Perspolis as t h e m a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f M e d i a n a r c h i t e c t u r e a more advanced type of this fortification wall in (fortress) can be summarized as follows: Ekbatana, as there are similarities in the projecting 1. Most of the Median cities were built on either towers, the middle passageway of the wall and the natural or artificial platforms. rhythm and elevation of the pillars. Godin Tepe, among 2. Some of the cities were built by a river and in other Median architecture also has patterns in common such cases the river acts a natural moat for the city. with Ekbatan. Especially in the towers, some of which 3 . M o s t o f t h e M e d i a n c i t i e s h a v e a d e f e n s i v e are solid and some hollow. From the typological and fortress in which people could take refuge in time of chronological point of view the architecture of the danger. Ekbatana wall can be evaluated somewhere between 4. The location of these fortresses was usually by a Godin Tepe and Perspolis. river or natural lake. An important issue in comparing the plans of Godin The Common parts of this fortress consisted of a and Nooshinjan with the Perspolis wall is the similarity fortification wall with a number of towers. of patterns in the design of warehouses, which assists 5. There were usually 7, 8 or 9, or there may have the Achaemenid imitation of Median architecture. been more towers, which were regularly positioned on In analyzing and abstracting the unknown corner the walls. of the wall we should consider that the wall typology 6. In some of these fortresses a second row of walls o f M e d i a n , M a n a y, U r a r t u r i e n , a n d o t h e r r e l a t e d was seen on the top of the first wall. civilizations shows that although the towers have 7. In the usual form of these fortresses, there were been positioned at equal distances on the wall this vertical rows of rectangular hatches at the junction of placement is approximate and may alter when there are the wall and tower. more important problems like designing the joints and 8. The upper part of the wall and tower was adorned corners. w i t h b a t t l e m e n t s f o r s h o o t i n g a t t h e e n e m y a n d In these cases symmetry would be replaced by sometimes in terms of traditional belief; a deer's antler proportion and equilibrium. Since Urarturian fortresses was set on these battlements. h a v e u n d e n i a b l e s i m i l a r i t y t o I r a n i a n o n e s , t h e 9. Use of vernacular materials. existence of towers at the corners is definite and this 10. Certain parts of the tower, which were made on fact can be investigated in polygon fortresses. Studying top of the wall were wider and had two rectangular t h e s e w a l l s a n d o t h e r M e d i a n e x a m p l e s , w e c a n hatches. eventually present alternatives concerning the unknown 11. There was at least one arched entrance in the corner (see Figs.6.-9.). To achieve an imaginary plan of lowermost part of the defensive wall and sometimes the Ekbatana wall elevation, there is a need to compare also in the lower part of the second row of the wall. other similar walls. Historical studies show that the 1 2 . U s i n g s u n - d r i e d b r i c k , b r i c k a n d e n g r a v e d influence of Urarturien civilization on the formation overlays in interior decoration. of Median fortress architecture is greater than that of 13. Using decorative windows on some parts of the others (Sarfaraz, 2001). building facade. 14. Using wooden beams and a flat cover for the ceiling. 15. Appearance of ceremonial architectural patterns and columned auditorium with regular wooden pillars. As mentioned before, some parts of the Ekbatana wall with a length of 260 meters have been discovered. It is not known whether this wall is the innermost or outermost wall of the city. All we know is that the wall has a polygon geometry and the two clear towers on it are 90 meters apart from each other. On the other hand, within the 260 meters there are some lines which are invisible and we can complete them by extending the lines and existing rhythm. By studying the remaining Figs.6-9. Different Alternatives for Unknown Corner of Wall, parts of the wall, it seems that the most important According to Comparative Studies with Median, ambiguity is in the breakage of the wall's path (on the Urarturian and other Related Examples northwest corner). Since the direction of the wall has JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi 151 M e a n w h i l e , n e i g h b o r i n g c i v i l i z a t i o n s , s u c h a s In perusing other tablets remaining from Urarturian Manian and others like Assyria, Babel and even Ilam architecture, more characteristics will be added to these who were enemies of the Median emperor affected findings which include: this formation. To this end, after providing some - The wall geometry as a polygon. architectural characteristics of Median fortresses, a - Using rectangular entrances instead of arched ones revision will be carried out concerning the architectural in some of the walls c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f w a l l s b e l o n g i n g t o v a r i o u s - Reducing the wall thickness while increasing its civilizations in which they have imitated each other. height. 4.1 Manian fortification walls - Using rectangular battlements in some of the walls. According to field observation in Hasanloo Tepe - Height equality in towers and walls. a n d a l s o t o M a n i a n e n g r a v e d t a b l e t s , t h e m a i n 4.4 Ilamian walls characteristics of Manian walls will be summarized as I n s p i t e o f s o m e d i f f e r e n c e s , t h e e l e v a t i o n follows: o f b a t t l e m e n t s i n I l a m i a n w a l l s , h a v e c o m m o n - Equal distribution of towers on walls. characteristics with Median fortresses. Rectangular - Arched entrances. hatches cannot be found in Ilamian towers, as there - Using rectangular windows in towers and not in is usually an arched entrance in the center of the first walls. tower (Sarfaraz, 2001). In some Ilamian walls, the - Covering platforms and floors with brick or sun- lower part of the towers is wider than the upper part. dried bricks. Feasibility of the abstract form of the wall and 4.2 Babylonian and Assyrian Walls possibility of a resemblance between these walls and The most important characteristic of these walls was the Hegmatane wall is necessary before any plan can that they were thick enough for the armies and horses be proposed. Some quantitative information such to move on top of. They were usually built with two as dimensions, color, number and size of the gates, separate internal and external walls which were filled windows and other parts of the elevation is needed. with small stones, while the external one was mostly All the authors have as documents are some historical built to be more resistant (King, 1987). r e p o r t s , w h i c h s h o u l d b e a d a p t e d t o t h e e x i s t i n g Their proportions were usually higher and wider trenches in the site and eventually three alternatives for i n c o m p a r i s o n w i t h M e d i a n o n e s . O n e o f t h e the fortification will be drawn. characteristics of Babylonian walls is the vertical Jacksen, quoting from the Torah gives some of the furrows and height difference in the entrance using historical reports as follows: steps. They also had circular windows instead of "He built walls with the stone which measures 3 rectangular hatches. In these walls, battlements and cubits wide and 6 cubits long and also a wall with a p r o j e c t e d b u i l d i n g s a r e f o u n d o n t h e t o w e r s a n d height of 70 cubits and width of 50 cubits all around sometimes two different materials were used in the Ekbatana. And on its gates he made towers with a base and upper parts of the wall — adobe and brick height of 100 cubits [6] and width of 60 cubits. And respectively. he built gates for them with a height reaching even 70 4.3 Urarturian walls cubits and a width of 40 cubits, so that his strong army Perhaps the most important picture that shows the could pass through it and his infantries could march on characteristics of Urarturian wall elevations is the it in a line." (Jacksen, 1978). bronze plaque in the picture (Van Loan, 1960). The As noted in Albaladan: most important finding of this picture is the form of " B o k h t o n n a s r, t h e h e a d o f t h e a r m y w h o h a d the battlements, the rectangular windows, the arched surrounded Hamedan, wrote to him: 'I got to a crowded entrance and upper projection of the tower, which casts and wide city where its walls are high and strong and a shadow on the building (Fig.10.). its entrances are very wide. The city extended from the mountain domain to the village named Zinooaban.' And he built a great palace in that city and named it Saroogh. The workers hurried to build the city and made three hundred special places to hide all the money and treasures in the palace." They built seven iron gates for the city, each with two door leaves. Each leaf was 12 meters high, and then he built another palace for relatives and family and for keeping the money. He hired 12 watchmen to protect the city (Hamedani, 1970). According to Herodot: Fig.10. An Engraving of the Profile of Urarturian Walls shows the Details of Battlements, Decorations and Hatches "So Diox built Ekbatana city with 7 solid and huge (Van loan, 1960) towers side by side all around it. Each of the towers 152 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi was designed to be taller than the other by as much 3- Distribution of pollution, caused by dispersion of as the height of a battlement. There are 7 walls with unconsolidated soil of the ancient remains white, black, red, blue, orange, silver and golden colors 4- The haunt of addicted men and criminals and respectively" (Evans, 1964). misuse of the ruined ancient sites Regarding the authors' findings and knowledge 5- Lack of social security regarding the history and architectural patterns of 6- Education to counter the old and unsuitable form Ekbatana Hill, it is possible to abstract the following of this historical place. designs for it. However, it is noteworthy that the negative points Finally, according to the fact that the authors have of this historical hill are the result of wrong urban the history and architectural patterns of Ekbatana Hill, policies, which have turned this valuable national we may imagine its design as shown in (Figs.11.-13). treasure into a serious problem and an insecure part of the city. T h e r e f o r e , c o n s i d e r i n g a l l t h e f a c t o r s a b o v e , including the obvious hereditary value of this land, a n e w a p p r o a c h i n u r b a n r e n o v a t i o n , d e s i g n a n d Fig.11. A View of the Imaginary Restoration; the First Alternative rehabilitation should be implemented. The authors conclude that: This ancient city in its present situation suffers from so much damage that by reconstructing some parts Fig.12. A View of the Imaginary Restoration; of it, especially those for which sufficient documents the Second Alternative exist, such as the fortification wall, we could at least rehabilitate a certain part of the city face. In this renovation, we should always follow two great objectives: 1- Preserving the trenches and documents found in Fig.13. A View of the Imaginary Restoration; the Third Alternative historical sites. 5. Conclusion 2- Activating of the historical site in the city. R e v i e w i n g t h e h i s t o r i c a l i n f o r m a t i o n a n d Two types of functions seem to be effective in architectural characteristics of Ekbatana, especially sharing the hill in today's city life: the fortification wall, as well as observation of the - Educational and investigatory activities in the field destroyed ground level remains has led the authors of archeology. to form a mental image of this wall. In respect to - Tourism activities for the purpose of notifying restoration principals, it is prohibited to reconstruct people of the site in order to preserve the national the wall as it was before. In addition, the existence of historical cultural values of the country. the hill in the central area of the city and its situation With respect to the different historical layers in the in the current urban development of Hamedan, create hill and lack of certainty in drawing the ambiguous two positive and negative potentials regarding the parts, we should consider certain basic foundations for rehabilitation process as follows: taking practical measures in reconstructing the place: A- Positive potentials of the hill in the city: A- Protecting all historical layers 1- Settlement of the original site of the city in the B- Composition of the existing layer pattern and mentioned hill new architectural ideas 2- The role of the hill as an inclination point in C - R e s t o r a t i v e r e n o v a t i o n b y u s i n g c u r r e n t c o n t i n u i n g t h e u r b a n m o v e m e n t s i n c e i t s o r i g i n t e c h n o l o g y, w h i c h r e s p o n d s t o t h e n e c e s s i t y o f (Fig.14.) resistance against earthquakes 3- Conservation of different historical layers and D- Combining the historical perception and original aspects of its civilization pattern of the wall with education regarding it, using 4- Adjustment to the old texture and active bazaar of new methods the city (Fig.15.) E- Presenting a way to educate people using old 5- The distinguished topographical situation of the materials hill in the city F - Observing the recyclability principle in building 6- The tourist attractions the new layer 7- The valuable ancient treasures existing below its G- Using a light structural system in order not to historical layers damage the lower layers B- Consequences and reflections of the negative H- Ambiguity concerning patterns of restoration and aspects of the hill in the city its application 1- Ruined and deserted and having no life as a Thinking and imagination in reconstruction of the historical natural hill in the city real nature of the structure 2- Unsuitable city face I- Increasing people's responsibility regarding JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi 153 3 Tel-Al-Emarne is a city between Cairo and Alghasr with just some h i s t o r i c a l s i t e s , w h i l e m i n i m i z i n g p h y s i c a l part of it located on the east shore of the Nile River. The city was manipulation formed in society with reformation aims and was deserted after 2 J- Accepting different but complementary identities years. in the nature of critics This confirms the historical tradition of the existence of the White Fortress with a round wall with four gates. Name of a Place. A cubit is a measure of length equal to +0.45-0.56 cm. References 1) Diacnof, M. (2001) Historical Median. Translated by Keshavarz, Karim, Cultural Heritage Organization, p.176. 2) Evans, A. G. (1964) Herodots history. Translated by Mazandarani, Vahid, Tehran, p.79. 3) Hamedani E. F. (1970) MOKHTASAROLBALADAN. Translated by H, Maoud, Tehran, p.110, p.65 and p.113. 4) Jacksen, E. V. (1978) Jacksen's travels, Iran in the past and present, translated by Amiri Manouchehr and Badrehyee Fereydoun, Tehran: Kharazmin, p.17, p.129, p.175 and p.178. 5) King, L. V. (1987) Historical Babylonian. Translated by Behzadi Roghayeh, Tehran: Cultural Scientific Organization. 6) Mehryar, M. (1982) Examination of the architectural factors of Ekbatana's Hill, Asar Magazine, Cultural Heritage Organization, p.80. 7) Minoreski, A. (1963) travels in Iran. Translated by Tabatayee, Fig.14. The Situation of Ekbatana Hill and other Historical and Abolfazl, Tehran, pp.66-68. Religious Places in the City. Scale: 1/20000 8) Mouris, J. (1989) Historical form of city until industrial revolution. Translated by Reza zadeh, Razieh, Tehran: Jahad daneshgahi Elmo D i v i d i n g t h e h i s t o r i c a l h i l l i n t o t w o p a r t s a n d sana'at, pp.24-25. allowing vehicles inside it has imposed heavy damage 9) Saeednia, A., (2001) Herodots Hamedan Imagination, The second on the urban vision and its historical continuity. congress articles collection of historical architectural and city planning, Cultural Heritage Organization, p.319. 10) Saghafi, A. H., (2000) Plan of affair for Ekbatana Hill, Cultural Heritage Organization. (Not published), pp.64-95. 11) Sarraf, M. R. (2001) The method of architectural and city planning of ancient Ekbatana, The second architectural and city planning congress, Arq-e-Bam, Volume 1, Tehran: Cultural Heritage Organization, p.88, p.96, p.97 and p.100. 12) Sarfaraz, A. A. (2001) Archeological and historical art age, Tehran: Efaf. 13) Va n l . , M a u r i t s n . ( 1 9 6 0 ) U r a r t i a n a r t , N e d e r l a n d h i s t o r i c - archaelogistic instraunt, Istitaunt, Istanbul, pp.38-41. 14) Zarehyee, M. I. (2000) Acquaintance with world architecture. Fanavaran, Hamedan, p.75. Fig.15. Location of the Hill, Bazaar and Old Part Adjacent to Each Other, and Closeness to the Central Point of the City. Scale: 1/20000 Close relation of the historical hill and bazaar as active elements in creating an opportunity in which these two elements define the place, can play an appropriate role in the design of a cultural historical plan for Hamedan city. Endnotes It seems that the Medians used colors in their architecture in imitation of Babylon. The Babylonians believed in colors as symbols of the seven asteroids, but the Medians simply applied an artistic imitation of these symbolic colors: 1- White 2- Black 3- Red 4- Blue 5- Orange 6- Gray 7- Yellow 2 th Early 7 century geographer. 154 JAABE vol.7 no.2 November 2008 Asghar Mohammad Moradi
Journal
Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering
– Taylor & Francis
Published: Nov 1, 2008
Keywords: Ekbatana; historical hill; restoration; renovation; historical wall
