Hamadan is still an important town, and the seat of one of the governments into which the Persian kingdom is divided. It is situated in north lat. 34° 53', east long. at the extremity of a rich and fertile plain, on a gradual ascent, at the base of the Elwurni Mountains, whose higher summits are covered with perpetual snow. Some remnants of ruined walls of great thickness, and also of towers of sun-dried bricks, present the only positive evidence of a more ancient city than the present on the same spot. Heaps of comparatively recent ruins, and a wall fallen to decay, attest that Hamadan has declined from even its modem importance. The population is said by Southgate to be about 30,00o, which, from what the present writer has seen of the place, he should judge to exceed the truth very considerably. It is little dis tinguished, inside, from other Persian towns of the same rank, save by its excellent and well-supplied bazaars, and the unusually large number of khans of rather a superior description. This is the result of the extensive transit trade of which it is the seat, it being the great centre where the routes of traffic between Persia, Mesopotamia, and Persia converge and meet. Its own manufactures are chiefly in leather. Many Jews reside here, claiming to be descended from those of the Captivity who remained in Media. Benjamin of Tudela says that in his time the number was 50,00o. Modem travellers assign them 50o houses ; but the Rabbi David de Beth Hillel (Travels, pp. 85-87, Madras, 1832), who was not likely to understate the fact, and had the best means of information, gives them but zoo families. He says they are mostly in good circum stances, having fine houses and gardens, and are chiefly traders and goldsmiths. They speak the broken Turkish of the country, and have two synagogues. They derive the name of the town from 'Haman' and `A/nie,' and say that it was given to that foe of Mordecai by King Ahasuerus. In the midst of the city is a tomb which is in then charge, and which is said to be that of Mordecai and Esther. It is a plain structure of brick, con sisting of a small cylindrical tower and a dome (the whole about 20 feet high), with small projections or wings on three sides. Within are two apart
ments—a small porch formed by one of the wings, and beyond it the tomb-chamber, which is a plain room paved with glazed tiles. In the midst, over the spots where the dead are supposed to lie, are two large wooden frames or chests, shaped like sarcophagi, with inscriptions in Hebrew and flowers carved upon them. There is another inscription on the wall, in bas-relief, which, as translated by Sir Gore Ouseley, describes the present tomb as having been built over the graves of Mordecai and Esther by two devout Jews of Cashan, in A.M. 4474. The original structure is said to have been destroyed when Hamadan was sacked by Timour. As Ecbatana was then the summer residence of the Persian court, it is probable enough that Mordecai and Esther died and were buried there; and tradi tional testimony taken in connection with this fact, and with such a monument in a place where Jews have been permanently resident, is better evidence than is usually obtained for the allocation of an cient sepulchres. The tomb is in charge of the Jews, and is one of their places of pilgrimage. Kinneir, Tier Porter, Morier, Frazer, and South gate furnish the best accounts of modern Hama dan.—J. K.
ACHOR (1j:1?_ ; Sept. 'Ax6p), a valley between Jericho and Ai, which received this name (signifying trvuLle) from the trouble brought upon the Israelites by the sin of Achan (Josh. vii. 24). [ACHAti.] [It lay on the northern boundary of Judah (Josh. xv. 7), and therefore cannot have been, as Jerome makes it, to the north of Jericho.] ACHSAH (710.7r, an anklet; Sept. 'Axed), the daughter of Caleb, whose hand her father offered in marriage to him who should lead the attack on the city of Debir, and take it. The prize was won by his nephew Othniel ; and as the bride was con ducted with the usual ceremony to her future home, she alighted from her ass, and sued her father for an addition of springs of water to her dower in lands. It is probable that custom rendered it unusual or at least ungracious, for a request tendered under such circumstances by a daughter to be refused; and Caleb, in accordance with her wish, bestowed upon her the upper and the nether springs' (Josh. xv. 16-t9; Judg. i. 9-15).—J. K.