The ruins which at present occupy this remarkable site consist of a
strong wall, guarded by numerous bastions and pierced by four gateways,
which runs round the brow of the hill in a slightly irregular ellipse,
of some interesting remains of buildings within this walled space, and
of a few insignificant traces of inferior edifices on the slope between
the plain and the summit. As it is not thought that any of these remains
are of a date anterior to the Sassanian kingdom, no description will be
given of them here. We are only concerned with the Median city, and that
has entirely disappeared. Of the seven walls, one alone is to be traced;
and even here the Median structure has perished, and been replaced by
masonry of a far later age. Excavations may hereafter bring, to light
some remnants of the original town, but at present research has done no
more than recover for us a forgotten site.

The Median city next in importance to the two Ecbatanas was Raga or
Rhages, near the Caspian Gates, almost at the extreme eastern limits of
the territory possessed by the Medes.

The great antiquity of this place is marked by its occurrence in the
Zendavesta among the primitive settlements of the Arians. Its celebrity
during the time of the Empire is indicated by the position which it
occupies in the romances of Tobit and Judith. It maintained its rank
under the Persians, and is mentioned by Darius Hystaspis as the scene of
the struggle which terminated the great Median revolt. The last Darius
seems to have sent thither his heavy baggage and the ladies of his
court, when he resolved to quit Ecbatana and fly eastward. It has been
already noticed that Rhages gave name to a district; and this district
maybe certainly identified with the long narrow tract of fertile
territory intervening between the Elburz mountain-range and the desert,
from about Kasvin to Khaar, or from long. 30° to 52° 30'. The exact site