Ezra 6:2

Found at Achmetha. When the document referred to in Tatnai’s letter was not found, a further order was apparently given to extend the search to the royal archives of the other Persian capital cities, Ecbatana and Susa. This indicates a sincere effort on the part of the king and his officials to be fair, and to make a thorough investigation before reaching a decision. This places the Persians in a most favorable light. They could easily have discontinued the search upon finding, at Babylon, no decree of Cyrus regarding the Jews. In extending the search to other places where it was apparently known that official documents of Cyrus’ first year were deposited, these officials did everything possible to arrive at a fair and unbiased conclusion. Achmetha was the old Median capital. In Old Persian it was called Hagmatana, and in Greek, Ecbatana. Today the city is called Hamadan. Lying in the western Iranian mountains, 6,000 ft. (1,829 m.) above sea level, the Persian kings made it one of their summer capitals. Babylon, situated in the river valley, became uncomfortably hot in summer. The present population of Hamadan is more than 100,000. The fact that the document was found in Ecbatana and not in Babylon indicates that Cyrus resided there when the decree was issued. The relation of this fact to the date of issuance of the decree has already been noted in comments on Ezra 1:1. A roll. All documents of the Persian Empire period which have been recovered from the region of Mesopotamia and Persia are cuneiform tablets. Owing to the climatic conditions prevailing in these lands, Persian records written on perishable material such as papyrus or leather have not survived. However, Persian documents on papyrus and leather from that period have been preserved in Egypt, proving the accuracy of the statement here made that the official decree of Cyrus was written on a scroll, not on a clay tablet. Since the official, universal language of the Persian Empire was Aramaic, as the documents found in Egypt testify, it can be taken for granted that Cyrus’ decree was written in Aramaic.