What are the Oldest Cities in the World?
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Answering which settlements are the oldest cities in the world is fraught with debate, and guesswork. For example, how does one define city? If city is defined by population, must it be continuously inhabited in order to qualify as one of the oldest cities in the world? Must the oldest cities in the world still exist today?
One way of answering the question about which are the oldest cities in the world is to define city as a largely populous area, and further define that only cities that have been continuously populated count. This helps to clarify which are the oldest cities in the world according to the above criteria. However, listings are still subject to debate even when these two areas are defined.
In spite of controversy, a list of the oldest cities might resemble the following:
- Byblos in present-day Lebanon may date back as far as 5000 BCE and is considered by many to be the oldest continuously populated city.
- Damascus in Syria has existed at least since 3000 BCE.
- Varansi in India also dates back further than 3000 BCE.
- Medinat Al-Fayoum in Egypt is possibly dated at 4000 BCE.
- Gaziantep in Turkey dates back to 3650 BCE.
- Hebron in Israel is dated at 3500 BCE.
- Athens in Greece dates to about 3000 BCE.
- Arbil and Kirkuk in Iraq have dates of 2300 and earlier than 3000 BCE respectively.
- Adana in Turkey and Jerusalem in Israel were established around 2000 BCE.
- Hama in Syria was established before 2000 BCE.
- Luxor/Thebes in Egypt also dates to 2000 BCE.
- Jaffa, Israel, and Aleppo, Syria are both about 3800 years old.
Some dispute exists about excluding Jericho from the list. In its present day location, it is about 3400 years old. However, Jericho is often indicated as one of the oldest civilizations, with settlements dating back as far as 11,000 BCE. So many call Jericho one of the oldest cities in the world because some settlement has been established in or around Jericho since the shift to domestication of plants and animals.
Another possible candidate for one of the oldest cities in the world is Catal Huyuk, a site in Turkey. It also dates approximately to the time when Jericho would have been founded, or 3000 years later, depending upon different accounts. It is near the current city of Konya, so it has not been continuously inhabited.
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The oldest city in the world is Chalchuapa, the big master Guru Saint Hamad Al Marero, founded it in 15,000 before Christ, but the yankee imperialists came back from the future and destroyed all evidence of its existence. I was able to hide in their time machine when they returned to the present, and in this way I am able to convey to you the only evidence of the existence of this ancient city. - anon48431
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The oldest evidence of a city, if you define that as a permanent place of trade would be somewhere in or near the "fertile crescent".
Many of the oldest continuously inhabited cities lie in or near the crescent, and new excavations often push back time lines in them all, digs in Jericho and Damascus put them as top candidates.
As for previously inhabited "cities" that are even older, it must make sense that we look for evidence near the most fertile areas. I would place a river delta in that category. I would select the delta/marsh area in Southern Modern Day Iraq as being a very early stable fertile place. The evidence nearby of very old Ziggurat (temple) bases is a good indication. I would say the Ziggurat bases around Ur would be a good choice for the site of the oldest city or somewhere around there. As power moved further north so did the cities and irrigation developed further upstream starving the southern cities of water/fertility/influence leading to their demise.
The mouth of the Euphrates is often talked about in many ancient texts and mythologies point to the oldest kings coming from the area.
As the site is now in a US occupied war zone it maybe some time before further excavation takes place. - anon46947
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The seaport city of Ashkelon in the South District of Israel is also likely a contender for one of the oldest. - anon45792
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the oldest city is damascus. - anon45592
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It is said that Heliopolis in ancient Egypt was around in 10,500 BC, supposedly when the Sphinx was built. Who knows, but it's interesting. - anon44438
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Damascus, Syria is the oldest city of all time. Dates back to 12,000 years ago. Many kings tried to take over this land and failed. - anon42720
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Sialkot in Pakistan is 5000 years old also verified in wikipedia.
Multan in Pakistan is one of the oldest cities in entire subcontinent. Also in Indus Valley of Pakistan has been found some very early human inhabitants traces. Pre-historic men. - anon40979
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what about the city of Arbil(heweler) thats dated back to 2300 BC or earlier - anon38761
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Jericho in Palestine
Traces of habitation from 9000 BC
Fortifications date to 6800 BC (or earlier), making Jericho the earliest known walled city. Evidence indicates that the city was abandoned several times, and later expanded and rebuilt several times. - anon36383
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how about hamedan in west of iran. it has been from 2500 bc - anon36311
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hey what about the city of Kathmandu? - anon35272
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The oldest continuously inhabited city in the West is Cadiz, Spain (2000 BC). That makes it 3,000 years old, more ancient than anything else in Western Europe. - anon35185
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I am an Indian. Top of your list Varanasi is shown. Our history education mentioned it otherwise. We knew Indus Valley Civilization is the old known in South Asia. The city of Mohenjodaro and Harappa are some 5000 years old. These cities are now in Pakistan. The editor's point of submerged city on the Gulf of Kutch (Cambay) is also correct. I was given an impression that Chinese civilization are equally old. May be Mongolian city of Ulan Bator.May be some more research. Regards Asesh - anon17580
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what about tiahuanaco, scholars deem it the oldest. - anon10819
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The oldest cities in the world are all on mountain tops. Discoveries have been made of cities on top of the Zagros Mountains. Nineveh is hailed as the oldest city in Assyria. What is not known is that Nineveh is the oldest city in the entire Mesopotamia. All other cities established after Nineveh were established in a downward progression from the highlands. This is because all ancient civilizations developed in high mountains. The sea level was much higher back then. As the seas receded civilizations followed downward. See Google and youtube "The Mysterious Receding Seas" See also New York Times article "June 5th 1981 entitled or September 26 2007 entitled" Jersey Rights to Shore prove costly to Casinos" The article explains why civilizations started in high mountains. - anon9056
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I've been told India has cities over 1,000,000 years old. - anon9054
Editor's reply: well, that seems a bit far-fetched! however, some say that a submerged settlement recently discovered in the Gulf of Cambay in India may be the oldest, inhabited somewhere around 7500 BC.
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what about Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that reputes to have the grave site of Eve. - anon9053
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How about Plovdiv, Bulgaria-about 6 000 BC. - anon8882
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Here's another! Susa, located in modern day Iran, is also one of the oldest cities in the world. It is said to date back to about 4200 BCE and possibly even 7000 BCE. - anon7639
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it's great to hear readers' contributions to the list of what the oldest cities in the world are. since there are so many factors that determine what a "city" is for the purpose of researching this article, some cities may not have made it onto this list. despite this, they're still old, and still noteworthy! keep 'em coming! - olivia
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mesopotamia wasn't a city, it was a region of land - anon7616
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I noticed that there were no references to cities (communities) in China.
A few years ago I was at a site in Shenyang, China that was shown to be populated over 7000 years ago.
- anon7614
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China claims to have many cities (villages) more than 10000 years old and their records of the inhabitants are extensive. What about northern India and northern Thailand? - anon7613
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I notice you avoided listing Skara Brae, inhabited as early as 3200 BCE. - protogere
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how about mesopotamia ... between iran and iraq ?? it's been there since 20,000 bc - anon7602
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How about the oldest continuously populated city in the Americas???? - anon7600
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Tricia Ellis-Christensen
Last Modified: 07 November 2009
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