Hamadan on his visit to that place in 1818. [Plate I., Fig. 1.] But to judge from the description of Polybius, an older and ruder style of architecture prevailed in the main building, which depended for its effect not on the beauty of architectural forms, but on the richness and costliness of the material.  A pillar architecture, so far as appears, began in this part of Asia with the Medes, who, however, were content to use the more readily obtained and more easily worked material of wood; while the Persians afterwards conceived the idea of substituting for these inartificial props the slender and elegant stone shafts which formed the glory of their grand edifices.

At a short distance from the palace was the “Acra,” or citadel, an artificial structure, if we may believe Polybius, and a place of very remarkable strength.  Here probably was the treasury, from which Darius Codomanus carried off 7000 talents of silver, when he fled towards Bactria for fear of Alexander.  And here, too, may have been the Record Office, in which were deposited the royal decrees and other public documents under the earlier Persian kings.  Some travellers are of opinion that a portion of the ancient structure still exists; and there is certainly a ruin on the outskirts of the modern town towards the south, which is known to the natives as “the inner fortress,” and which may not improbably occupy some portion of the site whereon the original citadel stood.  But the remains of building which now exist are certainly not of an earlier date than the era of Parthian supremacy, and they can therefore throw no light on the character of the old Median stronghold.  It may be thought perhaps that the description which Herodotus gives of the building called by him “the palace of Deioces” should be here applied, and that by its means we might obtain an exact notion of the original structure.  But the account of this author is wholly at variance with the natural features of the neighborhood, where there is no such conical hill as he describes, but only a plain surrounded by mountains.  It seems, therefore, to be certain that either his description is a pure myth, or that it applies to another city, the Ecbatana of the northern province.  It is doubtful whether the Median capital was at any time surrounded with walls.  Polybius expressly declares that it was an unwalled place in his day and there is some reason to suspect that it had always been in this condition.  The Medes and Persians appear to have been in general content to establish in each town a fortified citadel or stronghold, round which the houses were clustered, without superadding the further defence of a town wall.  Ecbatana accordingly seems never to have stood a siege.  When the nation which held it was defeated in the open field, the city (unlike Babylon and Nineveh) submitted to the conqueror without a struggle.  Thus the marvellous description in the book of Judith, which is internally very improbable, would appear to be entirely destitute of any, even the slightest, foundation in fact.