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Encyclopedia > List of oldest continuously inhabited cities

This is a list of the oldest, still surviving, towns and cities in the world. There are some points of contention here and care should be taken when using the list below. The cities have been listed because either the archaeological record has shown, or documents have supported the claim, that the settlement was in existence at the time given. However, presence here should in no way indicate that there is total consensus over the date the city was founded — differences in opinion can result from different definitions of "city" (usually relating to the population size) as well as "continuously inhabited" (relating to changing population size; changes in location and changes in name). Additionally, where an approximate date has been given, the date was treated as the lower end of the estimate for the purposes of the table. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... For other uses, see Consensus (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see City (disambiguation). ...


The definition of "continuously inhabited city" for the purposes of this list was that there must be referenced claims to the effect that the city had been constantly settled since the date shown. This is different from there simply being 'evidence of human occupation in the area'. For other uses, see City (disambiguation). ...


Several cities listed here (Aleppo, Arbil, Byblos and Hebron) each claim to be 'the oldest city in the world'. An attempt has been made to discuss the validity of each of their claims alongside their stated position in the table. Note that claims of "continuous habitation" since a Neolithic date will always be subject to considerable uncertainty. Location of the governorate of Aleppo within Syria Aleppo (Arabic: [ḥalab], ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. ... Arbil (also written Erbil or Irbil; BGN: ArbÄ«l; Arabic: , ArbÄ«l; Kurdish: , Hewlêr; Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ, Arbela, Turkish: Erbil) is believed by many to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world and is one of the larger cities in Iraq [1] [2] [3]. The city lies... The ruins of the Crusader castle in Byblos. ... Arabic الخليل Government City (from 1997) Also Spelled Al-Khalil (officially) Al-Halil (unofficially) Governorate Hebron Population 167,000 (2006) Jurisdiction  dunams Head of Municipality Mustafa Abdel Nabi , Hebron (Arabic:   al-ḪalÄ«l or al KhalÄ«l; Hebrew:  , Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn) is a city at the...


The list's scope is to include settlements founded before Classical Antiquity, i.e. before the foundation of Rome in 753 BC. Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 800s BC 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC - 750s BC - 740s BC 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC 700s BC Events and Trends 756 BC - Founding of Cyzicus. ...

Name Location Approximate time founded Note(s)
Jericho  Palestine 9,000 BC[1][2] Evidence indicates that the city was abandoned several times, and later expanded and rebuilt several times.[3]
Byblos Lebanon 5,000 BC[4] Settled from the Neolithic (carbon-dating tests have set the age of earliest settlement around 7000[5]), a "town" since the 3rd millennium BC. Byblos had a reputation as the "oldest city in the world" in Antiquity (according to Philo of Byblos).
Damascus  Syria 4,300 BC[6]-3000 BC[7] Excavations at Tel Ramad on the outskirts of the city have demonstrated that Damascus was inhabited as early as 8000 to 10,000 BC.[8] However, Damascus is not documented as an important city until the coming of the Aramaeans which is the date used in this table. See reference for presence of urban life among cattle herders at this date — also due to land fertility and constant water source.
Aleppo  Syria 4,300 Originating in the early second ‎millennium BC,[9] Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo, vies with Damascus for the title of the world's oldest ‎continuously inhabited city. Both can demonstrate occupation for more than 8,000 years[10]
Susa  Iran 4200 BC[11] As a city, up to 7500 years of inhabitation
Sidon  Lebanon 4,000 BC and perhaps, earlier[12] There is evidence that Sidon was inhabited as long ago as 4000 B.C., and perhaps, as early as Neolithic times (6000 - 4000 B.C.)[12]
Medinat Al-Fayoum (as Crocodilopolis or Arsinoe)  Egypt 4,000 BC[13]
Gaziantep Turkey 3,650 BC This is disputed, although most modern scholars place the Classical Antiochia ad Taurum at Gaziantep, some maintain that it was in fact located at Aleppo. Furthermore, that the two cities occupy the same site is far from established fact (see Gaziantep). Assuming this to be the case, the date of founding the present site would be in the region of 1,000 BC. (see Gaziantep)
Beirut  Lebanon 3,000 BC or earlier[14]
Jerusalem  Israel and
 Palestine		 2,800 BC[15]
Tyre  Lebanon 2,750 BC[16]
Arbil  Iraq 2,300 BC or earlier[17]
Kirkuk (as 'Arrapha')  Iraq 3,000-2,200 BC[18]
Balkh (as Bactra)  Afghanistan ca. 1,500 BC Balkh is one of the oldest settlements of the region.[19]
Larnaca  Cyprus ca. 1400 BC Mycenaean, then Phoenician colony
Thebes  Greece ca. 1400 BC Mycenaean foundation
Athens  Greece 1,400 BC Mycenean foundation, with traces of earlier habitation on the Acropolis.
Cadiz  Spain 1100 BC[20]
Varanasi  India before 1,000 BC[21] Iron Age foundation (Painted Grey Ware culture).

This article is about the city in the West Bank. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Palestine. ... This article is about the Palestinian territories as a geopolitical phenomenon. ... The ruins of the Crusader castle in Byblos. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Lebanon. ... Philo of Byblos (Herennios Philon), (ca 64 - 141 CE) was an antiquarian writer of grammatical, lexical and historical works in Greek, whose name Herennius makes it appear that he was a client of the Consul suffectus Herennius Severus, through whom Philo could have achieved the status of a Roman citizen. ... For other uses, see Damascus (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Syria. ... The Aramaeans, or Arameans, were a Semitic, semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated and had lived in upper Mesopotamia and Syria. ... Location of the governorate of Aleppo within Syria Aleppo (Arabic: [ḥalab], ) is a city in northern Syria, capital of the Aleppo Governorate. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Syria. ... For other uses, see Susa (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iran. ... View of the new city the Sea Castle. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Lebanon. ... Al Fayyum or El Faiyûm (Arabic: الفيوم ) is the capital of Al Fayyum Governorate, Egypt. ... Crocodilopolis or Krokodilopolis (Greek: ) or Ptolemais Euergetis or Arsinoe (Greek: ) was an ancient city in the Heptanomis, Egypt, the capital of Arsinoites nome, on the western bank of the Nile, between the river and the Lake Moeris, southwest of Memphis, in lat. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Egypt. ... Gaziantep (Kurdish: , informally, Antep) is the capital city of Gaziantep Province in Turkey. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Turkey. ... Antiochia ad Taurum (Greek: Αντιόχεια του Ταύρου; Antiochia in the Taurus) was an ancient city of Hellenistic foundation in the Taurus Mountains of Cilicia (later Commagene province), Anatolia. ... This article is about the Lebanese city. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Lebanon. ... For other uses, see Jerusalem (disambiguation). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Israel. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Palestine. ... This article is about the Palestinian territories as a geopolitical phenomenon. ... Tyre (Arabic , Phoenician , Hebrew Tzor, Tiberian Hebrew , Akkadian , Greek Týros) is a city in the South Governorate of Lebanon. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Lebanon. ... Arbil (also written Erbil or Irbil; BGN: ArbÄ«l; Arabic: , ArbÄ«l; Kurdish: , Hewlêr; Syriac: ܐܪܒܝܠ, Arbela, Turkish: Erbil) is believed by many to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world and is one of the larger cities in Iraq [1] [2] [3]. The city lies... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq. ... Kirkuk (also spelled Karkuk or Kerkuk; Arabic: كركوك, KirkÅ«k; Kurdish: كه‌ركووك, Kerkûk; Syriac: ܐܪܦܗܐ, Arrapha; Persian: کرکوک; Turkish: Kerkük) is a city in northern Iraq and capital of Taamim Governorate. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Iraq. ... Today Balkh (Persian: بلخ) is a small town in the Province of Balkh, Afghanistan, about 20 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital, Mazari Sharif, and some 74 km (46 miles) south of the Amu Darya, the Oxus River of antiquity, of which a tributary formerly flowed past Balkh. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... District Larnaka  - Mayor Andreas Moyseos Population (2001)  - City 72,000 Time zone EET (UTC+2) Website: http://www. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Cyprus. ... Mycenaean may refer to: Mycenae, coming from or belonging to this ancient town in Peloponnese in Greece Mycenaean Greece, the Greek-speaking regions of the Aegean Sea as of the Late Bronze Age, named (somewhat anachronistically) after the Mycenae of the Trojan War epics Mycenaean language, an ancient form of... Phoenicia (or Phenicia ,[1] from Biblical Phenice [1]) was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon and Syria. ... Thebes (Demotic Greek: Θήβα — Thíva; Katharevousa: — Thêbai or Thívai) is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece. ... Mycenaean may refer to: Mycenae, coming from or belonging to this ancient town in Peloponnese in Greece Mycenaean Greece, the Greek-speaking regions of the Aegean Sea as of the Late Bronze Age, named (somewhat anachronistically) after the Mycenae of the Trojan War epics Mycenaean language, an ancient form of... This article is about the capital of Greece. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Greece. ... Mycenaean can have the following meanings: coming from or belonging to the ancient town of Mycenae in Pelloponese in Greece; belonging to the culture of the Mycenaean period of the eastern Mediterranean in the late Bronze Age; the Mycenaean language, an ancient form of Greek, known from inscriptions in Linear... The Acropolis of Athens is the best known acropolis (high city, The Sacred Rock) in the world. ... This article is about the Spanish city. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Spain. ... , Varanasi (Sanskrit: वाराणसी VārāṇasÄ«, IPA:  ), also known as Benares (Hindi: , Urdu: , IPA: ), or Kashi (Hindi: ), is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition. ... The Painted Grey Ware culture (PGW) is an Iron Age culture of Gangetic plain, lasting from roughly. ...

References

  1. ^ Gates, Charles (2003). "Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Aegean Cities", Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. Routledge, 18. ISBN 0415018951. “Jericho, in the Jordan River Valley in Israel, inahbited from ca. 9000 BC to the present day, offers important evidence for the earliest permanent settlements in the Near East.” 
  2. ^ Martell, Hazel Mary (2001). "The Fertile Crescent", The Kingfisher Book of the Ancient World: From the Ice Age to the Fall of Rome. Kingfisher Publications, 18. ISBN 0753453975. “People first settled there from around 9000 B.C., and by 8000 B.C., the community was organized enough to build a stone wall to defend the city.” 
  3. ^ Ryan, Donald P. (1999). "Digging up the Bible", The Complete Idiot's Guide to Lost Civilizations. Alpha Books, 137. ISBN 002862954X. “The city was walled during much of its history and the evidence indicates that it was abandoned several times, and later expanded and rebuilt several times.” 
  4. ^ Byblos.
  5. ^ Ciasca, Antonia (2001). "Phoenicia", in Sabatino Moscati: The Phoenicians. I.B.Tauris, 170. ISBN 1850435332. 
  6. ^ Damascus
  7. ^ India Tribune
  8. ^ January 2008
  9. ^ New World Encyclopedia
  10. ^ Syria Where Stones Speak The Door Is Widening To Westerners, Who Are Discovering The Nation'S Wealth Of History And Culture
  11. ^ Met Museum: Iran, 8000–2000 b.c.
  12. ^ a b Sidon
  13. ^ Overy et al (1999:43); Aldred (1998:42,44)
  14. ^ Under Beirut's Rubble, Remnants of 5,000 Years of Civilization
  15. ^ Freedman, David Noel (2000-01-01). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing, 694-695. ISBN 0802824005. 
  16. ^ Tyre City, Lebanon
  17. ^ Lexic Orient
  18. ^ either The destruction of the Kirkuk Castle by the Iraqi regime. or History Channel for the earlier date
  19. ^ Nancy Hatch Dupree, An Historical Guide to Afghanistan, 1977, Kabul, Afghanistan LINK[unreliable source?]
  20. ^ founded as Phoenician Gadir[1]
  21. ^ [ http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9074835/Varanasi Britannica]: "by the 2nd millennium BC"
  • Aldred, Cyril (1998). The Egyptians. Thames and Hudson: London.
  • Overy et al (1999). The Times History of The World: New Edition. Times Books/Harper-Collins: London.

Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Phoenician can mean: The Phoenician ancient civilization The Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician languages This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

See also

Estimated population numbers of historical cities over time. ... Uru was the Sumerian term for a city or city state, written with the cuneiform ideogram URU . ... It has been suggested that List of largest cities throughout history be merged into this article or section. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ...


 

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