Ecbatana, in Media
A place in the Bible
The capital of Media, a kingdom east of Assyria. According to the Book of Tobit, Raguel, the father of Sarah, lived there.
What happened here
- The arrival: Tobiah and the angel came to the house of Raguel, who welcomed them with joy.
- The last years: when his mother died, Tobiah left Nineveh with his wife and children and went to live with his in-laws. He cared for them until they died.
- In the Douay-Rheims: this translation follows a slightly different ancient text, and it says that Sarah lived in Rages, “a city of the Medes.”
Today
It is identified with the city of Hamadan, in Iran.
Where it appears in the Bible
Tobit 7:1; Tobit 14:12-13; Tobit 3:7
What the Bible says
Tobit 7:1
And they went in to Raguel, and Raguel received them with joy.
Tobit 14:12-13
12And it came to pass that after the death of his mother, Tobias departed out of Ninive with his wife, and children, and children’s children, and returned to his father and mother in law. 13And he found them in health in a good old age: and he took care of them, and he closed their eyes: and all the inheritance of Raguel’s house came to him: and he saw his children’s children to the fifth generation.
Tobit 3:7
Now it happened on the same day, that Sara daughter of Raguel, in Rages a city of the Medes, received a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids,
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Tobit 7:1 and Tobit 14:12 (as in the NABRE); Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Achmetha”; Britannica, “Hamadan”