Our first stop on our silk road journey was Ecbatane or modern day Hamadan in Iran was the capital of the ancient Media. The first thing we did was get a guide, and his name was Masoud. He told us all about the history of Hamdan on the silk road. He said "Some popular trading items in Ecbatane were leather goods, fruits, and grains. The conqueror Alexander the great was also shown the naphtha when he went to Ecbatane. The naphtha was a flammable liquid that was made from distilled petroleum. Naphtha is used to dilute heavy oils in order to make them more fluid. Zoroastrianism was an ancient, pre-Islamic religion of ancient Iran. It shares many central concepts with the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. When women were usually suppressed in this time of the world, in Iran they enjoyed the freedom of political and social freedom. They were treated with great respect at this time." We were amazed by these facts, and we are definitely glad that we came here instead of Tehran and we are excited to go on to our next city, Seleucia!