An Ancient City Resting in the Lap of a Mighty Mountain
Hamedan — or, in its ancient form, "Hagmatana" — must rightly be regarded as the birthplace and capital of the first great Iranian empire. The German philosopher Hegel, writing of the history of civilization in Iran, observed: "The Iranians were the first to establish a law-governed empire in the world" — and by this measure, Hamedan stands as the first capital of the world's first rule-of-law empire. According to historical records, the formation of Hagmatana dates to the era of Deioces, founder of the Median kingdom; archaeologists estimate that nearly three thousand years have passed since the founding of this ancient city — a city that from its very beginning settled in the foothills of Alvand, one of the most prominent peaks of the Zagros mountain range. Alvand has spread its flanks generously, providing shelter and sustenance for the civilized and industrious peoples who have endured and made their home in this harsh and cold land since time immemorial. From another vantage, Alvand may be the most significant landmark that travelers approaching Hamedan from any direction encounter first, for from a great distance — perhaps tens of leagues before reaching the city — the summit of Alvand rises with unforgettable majesty above a continuous, unified mountain mass, so that every newcomer knows at once into whose great presence they have entered.
One must truly acknowledge that Alvand is a natural landmark before which no aware person can remain indifferent. This immense mountain, through its long winters, patiently preserves all that it possesses — the accumulation of heavy snowfall held in deep natural glaciers — until Hamedan's belated spring arrives. Then it stirs from its winter sleep and dormancy, becoming a beating heart: with each pulse it channels water into the many streams and rivers flowing from its high slopes down toward the great valleys and plains, ungrudgingly supplying Hamedan and the other settlements cradled in its lap with sweet water well into the year — water that irrigates vast fields and crops, fills green orchards, and renders the soil so fertile that Hamedan possesses the most verdant natural landscape in Iran after the coastal strip of the Caspian Sea. And so, beneath this heavenly blessing freely given, it keeps the lives of the people in its embrace in perpetual motion and striving. ... As winter ends, Alvand — simultaneously with the melting of the snows — sheds its all-white winter cloak to don spring's garb, retaining only a white skullcap upon its head, and wraps itself in a velvety, heavily pleated mantle of the deepest green
Spring on the slopes of Alvand — Painting by Master Vali Sodagar
and richly fragrant — the unrivaled emblem of life's ardor and a renewed birth in nature. By mid-spring, a visual feast of emerald meadow hues mingles with the sharp scent of wild flowers and the ash-grey granite boulders, and the countless foothills surrounding Alvand become so intoxicatingly beautiful that one cannot easily tear one's eyes away. "Alvand, though old, has pinned flowers to its breast — like a youth its slopes are full of tulips and lilies, and from its crown to its hem the clouds are in bloom." — Hamadani. Beneath such rich and beautiful nature, for centuries various nomadic tribal groups — Shahsevan, Lak, Turk, and others — have moved seasonally to Hamedan from different warm-weather regions in the west of the country at the end of winter and the beginning of spring, grazing their herds in the green and expansive pastures on the pleasant slopes of Alvand, and benefiting from the gifts of these matchless heights throughout the summer in their vertical migration. I once read that nomadic tribes, in spring, upon entering the natural domain of this sacred and bountiful mountain, would make a brief encampment at its foot and perform a traditional ceremony in tribute to all that ancient Alvand had long bestowed upon them and their forebears. The people of Hamedan have since time immemorial been renowned for their civility, hospitality, and generosity; and for this reason, apart from the nomads mentioned above, large numbers of Turkic, Kurdish, and Lur peoples have settled in the surrounding villages of this geographic area. And in this same spirit, from distant times, various religious minorities — Jews, Christians (both Armenian and Assyrian), and a number of Zoroastrians — have lived together in peace and harmony in Hamedan, freely constructing whatever they needed: houses of worship, sacred sites, and schools. The very ancient tomb known as that of the Jewish elders "Esther and Mordechai," with a history of more than two thousand years in Hamedan, and the tomb of a prophet named "Habakkuk" in the city of Tuyserkan, are among the most revered sacred structures for Jews throughout the world.1 And still, across the millennia, Alvand — like a kind and ancient mother — is a calm and silent witness to Hamedan's very distant past: a witness to the eventful history of the Median and Achaemenid kingdoms in magnificent Hagmatana; a witness to the lives and deaths of great figures such as Avicenna, Baba Taher, Khajeh Rashid al-Din Fazlollah, Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani, Aref Qazvini, and many others; and a witness to at least seven savage invasions, plundering, and relentless massacres of the resistant and freedom-loving people of this city by aggressors from near and far — from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar to the bloodthirsty Mongol hordes, from the siege and slaughter by the Ottoman Turks to the violence of Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar. Undoubtedly, any mention of these events and any rereading of the story of the courageous resistance of the people dwelling on the flanks of Alvand can only be accompanied by deep sorrow and regret, and goes far beyond the scope of these few lines. The truth is that one can say with confidence that few cities in the turbulent history of Iran's ancient cities have suffered this degree of devastating wars, been destroyed, and yet — like a phoenix — risen again from the flames and ash of their ruins. Finally, it is worth noting that the memory of Alvand is never erased from the mind of any true Hamadani, in whatever circumstances and wherever in the world they may be — just as Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani, the great mystic and thinker of the sixth century, when he awaited death at the hands of the narrow-minded in a Baghdad prison — in the manner of Hallaj — recalled it as an unrealizable longing, in words of consummate beauty:
"Oh, would that I knew whether my eyes shall ever again behold the two glorious peaks of Alvand in Hamedan. O Hamedan, may the rain keep you alive among cities... and O land of 'Mavashan,' may it quench your thirst among the plains."
1 In the Torah, Hamedan is mentioned under the name "Achmetha," meaning the city and place of friendship.