Ezra 6:2

And there was found at Achmetha R.V. margin, That is, Ecbatana. The precious document was not found at Babylon. It has been suggested that valuable records were hastily transferred from Babylon to Ecbatana during the short and disturbed reign of Pseudo-Smerdis, who would wish to destroy the edicts of his predecessors. But whatever the cause may have been, notice of its removal had been duly recorded, and the enquiry at Babylon led to search and identification at Ecbatana.

Achmetha This is the Aramaic transliteration of the Median capital known to us as -Ecbatana" (Gr. ἐκβάτανα and ἀγβάτανα) of which the Persian pronunciation was something like -Hangmatâna". It was the summer residence of the Persian kings. According to Herodotus it was built by king Deioces (708 655 b.c.) and surrounded with seven walls. Alexander the Great resided there in the autumn of 324. After his death, the city fell into insignificance until under the Parthian monarchy it once more became a royal residence. Under the Mohammedans the name became altered to Hamadan. An unhistorical description of the place is given in Jdt 1:1 ff.

in the palace The royal palace, which was probably also the citadel (bîrah, Greek βάρις) and the treasury. The Aramaic word is the same as the Hebrew rendered -palace" (marg. or -castle") in Nehemiah 1:1; Esther 1:2 &c.; Daniel 8:2 in reference to -Shushan", and in 1 Chronicles 29:1; 1 Chronicles 29:19 in reference to -the Temple of Solomon"; -castle", Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 7:2 in reference to fortifications of Temple.

in the province of the Medes R.V. of Media. Literally -in the province of Madai" (see Genesis 10:2). Media stretched north and south between the Caspian sea and the country of Elam, being bounded by Mt Zagros on the W. and by Parthia on the E. During the earlier period, of which we have an historical account in the Inscriptions, Media seems to have been a tributary province of the Assyrian Empire. She shook off the yoke probably in the reign of Assurbanipal (666 624); and the Median king Cyaxares joined with the Babylonian king Nabopolassar in the overthrow of Nineveh. Cyrus by his defeat of Astyages (550 b.c.) gained possession of Media, which he united with the Persian kingdom.

was a record thus written R.V. was thus written for a record. More literally accurate: the roll was to serve as the official memorandum.