Median kingdom (678–550 BC) According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was chosen as the Medes' capital in 678 BC by Deioces, the first ruler of the Medes. Herodotus said that it had seven walls. Deioces's intention was to build a palace worthy of the dignity of a king. After choosing Ecbatana as his capital, Deioces decided to build a huge and strong palace in the form of seven nested castles. Herodotus says that each of them was in the color of a planet. The royal palace and the treasury were located inside the seventh castle. The outer perimeter of the castle wall was almost the size of the city wall of Athens. thumb|Golden rhyton of ram's head, discovered in Ecbatana, kept at the Reza Abbasi Museum The royal palace, which was built in the last inner fort, had hundreds of rooms and people also built their houses outside of these forts, next to the palace. Some archaeologists have also attributed its construction to Phraortes, the second king of the Medes. Other old legends attribute the origin of Ecbatana to the legendary Semiramis or Jamshid. Ecbatana has also been mentioned by other Greek historians such as Polybius, Ctesias, Justin, and Xenophon. The Assyrians do not seem to mention Ecbatana, and it is likely they never penetrated east of the Alvand despite two centuries of involvement in Median areas of the central Zagros.
Median kingdom (678–550 BC) According to Herodotus, Ecbatana was chosen as the Medes' capital in 678 BC by Deioces the first ruler of the Medes. Herodotus said that it had seven walls. Deioces's intention was to build a palace worthy of the dignity of a king. After choosing Ecbatana as his capital Deioces decided to build a huge and strong palace in the form of seven nested castles. Herodotus says that each of them was in the color of a planet. The royal palace and the treasury were located inside the seventh castle. The outer perimeter of the castle wall was almost the size of the city wall of Athens. thumb|Golden rhyton of ram's head discovered in Ecbatana, kept at the Reza Abbasi Museum The royal palace, which was built in the last inner fort, had hundreds of rooms and people also built their houses outside of these forts, next to the palace. Some archaeologists have also attributed its construction to Phraortes, the second king of the Medes. Other old legends attribute the origin of Ecbatana to the legendary Semiramis or Jamshid. Ecbatana has also been mentioned by other Greek historians such as Polybius, Ctesias, Justin, and Xenophon. The Assyrians do not seem to mention Ecbatana, and it is likely they never penetrated east of the Alvand despite two centuries of involvement in Median areas of the central Zagros.