Key Takeaways
The tale of the populace ’s cities began thousands of class ago . As human being progressed from being hunter - gatherers to farmers who domesticate plant and animals for food , they began to build up settlement in which to live . As betterment in agriculture made it possible to support larger numbers of citizenry , those villages gradually evolved into lasting , thickly populated and extremely organized communities that became centers of commerce and culture and were ruled by governments .
Many of the old cities were locate near fertile farmland and rivers that provide water , both for irrigation for farm fields and as a means of transporting the crop they make to other marketplace . One prime location wasMesopotamia , a region in what is now Iraq that lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers , while other cities in the ancient world developed along rivers in Egypt , India and China . As trade developed , the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea and the oceans became suitable as well .
Some of the public ’s first cities — such asEridu , the ancient Sumerian city on a site that was first inhabit by humans around 7,000 years ago — vanished long ago , and now only subsist as historical sites for archaeologist to hollow and bear on .
But other ancient cities have been continuously inhabited , sometimes through menstruation of growth and decline .
Since it ’s difficult to set precisely when a smaller settlement grew to the point where it could be called a city , range the world ’s oldest cities by age can be tricky . But here are 10 cities that often have been recognise as being among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world .
Damascus, Syria
Founded in 3000 B.C.E. , Damascus is view by many to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world and is aUNESCO World Heritage Site . It became an authoritative ethnic heart and major trading city because of its position at the crossing of Asia and Africa . It was part of the Hellenistic , Roman , Byzantine and Islamic civilization , each of which influenced it . The city ’s layout , a grid which dates back to Greek and romish time , and the Great Mosque at its ticker , served as a model for other Arab and Moslem cities , accord to UNESCO . Today , innovative Damascus has a population of roughly 2.6 million , according to theCIA Factbook .
Jericho, West Bank, Palestine
Jericho is another that is arguably the old metropolis in the world at around 11,000 years old . It ’s locate in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank , and archeological evidence has documented23 layer of ancient sitesand civilizations there dating back to the 10th millennium B.C.E. During the excavation , traces of visits of Mesolithic hunter , carbon - dated to about 9000 B.C.E. , were come upon , as well as ancient ruins of a massive Harlan Stone wall , confirm Jericho also is the earliest known walled city in the Earth . Today Jericho ’s population is just under 20,000 according toWorld Population Review .
Faiyum, Egypt
Faiyum , Egypt , is located on theNile Riversouthwest of Memphis , and was established around 4000 B.C.E. The ancient Egyptians called it Shedet but the Greeks referred to it as Crocodilopolis . The Greeks there revere a crocodile known as Petsuchos , which they process as a representative of the crocodile god Sobek . Ancient ruins in the city date back to at least the 12th Egyptian dynasty , between 1938 and 1756 B.C.E. , and archaeologists have ground ruination from Ptolemaic , Roman and medieval periods as well .
Today , modern Faiyum is a center of commerce that is link up by rail , canal and highways to other parts of Egypt , and is domicile to a universe of around433,000 peoplein 2023 .
Beirut, Lebanon
Archaeologists have discover evidence of human habitation in Beirutdating back to 3000 B.C.E.The city also is mentioned in Egyptian records , though it did n’t become a striking city until it was the site of a Roman dependency in 14 B.C.E. Roman Beirut barely make it a succession of earthquake , and when it was occupied by Muslim conquerors in 635 C.E. , it was mostly in ruins .
In the Middle Ages , Beirut grow into a flourishing port city where Venetian spiciness merchants come in to business deal , and later it became a manufacturing center in the 1800s . The city get speedily under Gallic rule in the early to mid-1900s , but in the 2d half of the C ethnic and racial tensions and warfare play devastation from which the metropolis has yet to recover . Today , Beirut has a population of 2.4 million , according to theCIA Factbook .
Byblos, Lebanon
This ancient metropolis of Byblos , Lebanon , is located on a sandstone drop along the Mediterranean coast , 25 mi ( 40 kilometer ) north of Beirut . It was built on a situation first settled by fisher in 6000 B.C.E. , grant toUNESCO . Byblos did n’t develop into a major metropolis until about 2,000 twelvemonth after , when it became an important interface for the barter of cedar and other wood to Egypt . By 1100 B.C.E. , Byblos had become an important city in the Phoenician conglomerate , and in the hundred that trace , the city became part of the Roman , Byzantine , Crusader andOttomanrealms . Today , Byblos is one of the public ’s Old cities and has a universe of around 100,000 , include many refugees from Syria , allot toCitypopulation.de .
Aleppo, Syria
The exact eld of this northern Syrian city is unknown , but a massive temple key there date back to the other Bronze Age , between 3300 and 2200 B.C.E. accord to theWorld Monuments Fund . Early inhabitants are believe to have built their dwellings on a mound in the centre of the forward-looking urban center , which give them a position that was more promptly defended from invaders , while also close to fertile agricultural Edwin Herbert Land and the Quwayq River . By the 1800s B.C.E. , Aleppo was the capital of the Amorite kingdom of Yamkhad , and in the 100 that follow , itbecame part ofthe Hittite , Egyptian , Mitannian and Iranian empires . Modern Aleppo has a population of 2.2 million , according to theCIA Factbook .
Athens, Greece
The ancient city of Athens , Greece , has been continuously dwell by humans since the Stone Age , but the city first go up between 1200 and 1300 B.C.E. as part of theMycenean civilisation , allot to Michael Llewellyn Smith ’s " Athens : A ethnic and Literary History . " Athens grow into one of the great rational and political centers of Ancient Greece , symbolized by the Parthenon , a temple to the goddess Athena . Athens survived being burned to the ground by Persian invaders in 480 B.C.E. as well as being conquered by both Sparta during the Second Peloponnesian War the 400s B.C.E. and Philip II of Macedon in 338 B.C.E.
Athens became a major city in the Roman Empire and in the Ottoman Empire as well , before Greecewon its independencein 1821 . Today , ancient memorial like theParthenon , which was built in the metropolis ’s monumentalAcropoliscomplex in the 400s B.C.E. , make Athens a tourist hub . Athens is the old capital city in Europe with a universe of 3.15 million , harmonise toCIA Factbook .
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The second - enceinte city in Bulgaria is also one of the oldest cities in Europe . The website was first inhabited by humans between 5000 and 6000 B.C.E. , but it was n’t until 2,000 geezerhood subsequently that it developed as a settlement in theThracian civilisation . The ancient city has a tumultuous history of being invaded and conquered over the centuries by Persians , Greeks , Celts , Romans , Goths , Huns , Vikings , Crusaders and Ottoman Turks , concord to theUniversity of Pennsylvania ’s Russian and easterly European studies department . Today , Plovdiv has a universe of nearly 350,000 and is a major cultural centre for Europe , grant toWorld Population Review .
Gaziantep, Turkey
This ancient urban center in south - central Turkey is located on a land site that has been continuously inhabited by humans since between 3000 and 4000 B.C.E , and arise due to its proximity toancient barter route . It ’s the situation of a fort built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 500s C.E. , and later was captured by the Turks in 1183 . Over the centuries , Gaziantep changed manpower numerous times , and was predominate by Mongol and Timurid invader before becoming part of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1500s C.E. Today it has a universe of nearly 2.1 million , according toWorld Population Review .
Susa/Shush, Iran
Susa , located at the fundament of the Zagros Mountains in southwest Iran , has been unceasingly inhabited by the great unwashed for centuries and is one of the old cities in the Middle East . It evolved into a major urban center between 4,000 and 5000 B.C.E. An archaeological site on the sharpness of the mod metropolis of Shush comprise multiple layers of urban village that include Elamite , Parthian and Persian civilizations , and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage web site . Alexander the Greatcaptured the metropolis in 331 B.C.E. , and a few years afterward held mass weddings in which he and his Macedonian companions marry daughters of Persian noblesse in a symbolic attempt to unite the two masses . Today , Shush has a population of more than 52,000 , consort toWorld Population Review .
