List of historical city foundations

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The list of historical city foundations offers an overview of the city ​​foundations from the 8th millennium BC to the turn of the ages. In most cases, the information on the time of their formation relates to those periods in which cities were first mentioned as such or from which archaeological finds are known that focus on larger civil, centralized and delimited settlements with their own administrative and supply structure close larger traffic routes . In general, the term is only to be applied to communities that were established by high cultures.

8000-5000 BC Chr.

  • Jericho (located in today's Palestinian Territory ) - although in the 10th millennium BC. Founded as a settlement, a city wall was only built from 8050/8000 BC. Demonstrable. The population at that time was around 3,000. The interpretation as the “oldest city” is based primarily on an original wall, which is now often interpreted as part of a dam .
Çatalhöyük (7500 BC)
  • Çatalhöyük - the oldest finds of this settlement in present-day Anatolia date from around 7500 BC. Chr .; the city's heyday was around 6000 BC. It is estimated that around 2,500 people lived here, but without communal facilities, so a term such as “settlement” or “village” would be more appropriate.
  • Gulf of Khambhat ( Gulf of Khambat Cultural Complex , GKCC) - in 2002 in the Gulf of Khambat, a part of the Arabian Sea off the Indian state of Gujarat , remnants of human settlements were discovered, which due to tectonic processes between 5900 and 4900 BC Were flooded by the sea and to the time around 7500 BC. To be dated.

5000-4000 BC Chr.

The Temple of the Obelisks (approx. 1900–1600 BC) in Byblos
Fertile Crescent ( Ubaid Period)
  • Eridu was considered the oldest city in the world by the Sumerians and possibly the first settlement to meet the requirements of urbanity.
  • Ur - settled from around 5000 BC BC, heyday approx. 2500–1900 BC Chr.
  • Tell Brak - first buildings were built from 4500 BC. Built in BC.
  • Byblos ( Phoenician name, also Jbeil , Gubla and Gebal ) - settlement remnants can be found in the city area as early as the 5th millennium BC.

4000-3000 BC Chr.

Mesopotamia (late Ubaid period, Uruk and Jemdet Nasr period , Sumer )

3000-2000 BC Chr.

The Ishtar Gate (6th century BC, partially reconstruction) from Babylon (from the late 3rd millennium BC)
Mesopotamia (Sumer)
Asia Minor , the near East , Mediterranean
  • Damascus - oldest known written record from the 15th century BC Chr. Historians assume that the settlement is around a thousand years older. Damascus is one of the oldest permanently populated cities.
  • Hebron
  • Troy
  • Poliochni ( Limnos Island ) - the oldest layers of settlement date from the 5th millennium BC. Chr .; in the Early Bronze Age (3200–2000 BC) the settlement expanded greatly, which is why Poliochni is also known as the first urban settlement in Europe.
Egypt (Old Kingdom)
Indus culture (2600–1800 BC)
Pre-Columbian America
  • Caral - ( Peru ) Finds from this city, inhabited by around 3000 people, date back to around 2600 BC. Dated. This makes it the oldest known city on the American continent.

2000-1000 BC Chr.

Middle East ( Hittites , Mitanni ) and Mesopotamia ( Assyria , Babylonia )
  • Acre (also Ptolemais )
  • Aleppo - around 1800 BC Conquered by the Hittites
  • Ankara (formerly Ancyra , Angora ) - originally a Phrygian settlement
  • Apaša (also Abaša , probably identical with Ephesus ) - capital of the Arzawa empire.
  • Be'er Scheva - already since the 3rd millennium BC Settled from around 1100 BC. A strongly fortified Israelite city ​​existed
  • Beirut ( Berytos )
  • Ḫattuša - from the 16th century BC Capital of the Hittites , previously Assyrian trading colony
  • Jaffa (today Tel Aviv-Jaffa )
  • Jerusalem - according to Egyptian sources since the 18th century BC Occupied.
  • Kadesh (also Kadesh , Qadesh or quad Esch written)
  • Nimrud (also Kalchu , biblical Kalach ) - founded around the 13th century BC BC, from the 9th century BC Capital of the Assyrians , destroyed by Medes and Chaldeans in 612 BC Chr.
  • Tarsos (today Tarsus ) - the oldest layers of settlement date from the 4th millennium BC. Chr.
Knossós (approx. 1700–1400 BC)
Minoan culture ( Crete )
Mycenaean culture (approx. 1600-1050 BC)
  • Argos -, like Cádiz (Spain) or Nessebar (Bulgaria), claims to be the oldest city in Europe; The oldest traces of settlement go back to the end of the Neolithic , in Mycenaean times a castle was built on the mountain, 500 BC. The city had 30,000 inhabitants and a sewerage system
  • Athens (owned a palace from the 14th century at the latest, from which apparently larger parts of Attica were also ruled and administered)
  • Mycenae
  • Orchomenos
  • Pylos
  • Thebes
  • Tiryns
Phenicia
  • Sidon
  • Tripoli in today's Lebanon
  • Tire
  • Ugarit - the oldest traces of settlement go back to the 7th millennium, heyday as a Phoenician city-state approx. 1400–1200 BC. Chr.
Africa
Taxila
India and Central Asia
China
  • Luoyang - from Zhougong (周公) in the 11th century BC Founded with the name Chengzhou (成 周)
  • Beijing - under the name Ji around 1000 BC First mentioned
  • Xi'an (西安)
  • Yinxu (殷墟)
America ( Maya , Olmec )

1000 BC Chr. - 0

Ancient Greece (approx. 800–146 BC)
Carthage (814 BC)
Phenicia
Petra , the rock tomb Ed-Deir
Middle East
Alexandria (331 BC)
Macedonia at the time of the great Alexander
Etruscan (approx. 800–40. BC)
Illyria
Temple ruins in Apollonia in today's Albania . The city was one of the largest in the region in its time.
  • Mpoúntba (now Budva ) - in the 10th century BC Founded by Greek colonists
  • Lychnidos (now Ohrid ) - in the 8th century BC Founded by Illyrian encheleans
  • Ulpiana (near Lipjan ) - in the 8th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Epidamnos (today Durrës ) - 627 BC Founded by Doric settlers from Corinth and Corfu
  • Apollonia (near Fier ) - 588 BC Founded by Doric settlers from Corinth and Korgu
  • Oricum (near Orikum ) - in the 6th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Aulon (today Vlora ) - in the 6th century BC Founded by Greek colonists
  • Lissos (today Lezha ) - 385 BC Founded by settlers from Syracuse , but there are older Illyrian finds from the 6th century BC. Chr.
  • Phoinike (near Finiq ) - in the 5th century BC Founded by Chaoniern
  • Olcinium (now Ulcinj ) - in the 5th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Butrint - in the 4th century BC Mentioned as a city, but there was a settlement since the 8th century BC. Chr.
  • Scodra (today Shkodra ) - first in the 4th century BC Mentioned as the seat of the Illyrian Ardieans
  • Amantia - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Antipatreia - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians, re-establishment at the end of the century by Cassander , who settled Greek colonists
  • Byllis (near Ballsh ) - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Iader (now Zadar ) - possibly in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Albona (now Labin ) - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Liburna (now Rijeka ) - possibly in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrian Liburnians
  • Narona - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrians
  • Salona (today Solin ) - in the 4th century BC Founded by Illyrian Dalmatiern
  • Ascrivium (now Kotor ) - in the 3rd century BC Founded by Illyrians
Iberian Peninsula
  • Huelva - rich native ( Tartessian ) settlement, from approx. 900 BC Intensive trade contacts with Phoenicians
Roman Empire
The Roman Forum in Rome
India and Central Asia
Ghats in Varanasi
  • Chandraketugarh - from around 300 BC. Chr.
  • Patna (पटना, formerly also Kusumpura , Pushpapura , Pâtaliputra and Azeemabad ) - founded around 500 BC. Chr.
  • Peshawar
  • Varanasi (वाराणसी, also Benares or Kashi , "the shining one") - founded before 700 BC Chr.
China
  • Chengdu (成都) - Founding: 316 BC Chr.
  • Guangzhou (广州, also canton ) - settled since the 9th century BC During the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BC), capital of Nanhai Prefecture
South East Asia
Pyramid of the Sun and Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan
America
Africa
  • Aksum
  • Meroe - capital of Kush , from around 800 BC. BC, destroyed around 350 BC BC (today located in Sudan )

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archeology - Heft_Inhalt Tell Brak - the oldest city in the world
  2. ↑ cf. z. B. 94. Lemnos ( Memento of October 23, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Luca Girella calls Ialysos "one of the largest towns in Aegaean" s during SM IA. Article https://www.academia.edu/244392/IALYSOS._FOREIGN_RELATIONS_IN_THE_LATE_BRONZE_AGE (p. 129)
  4. ↑ Yin is another name for the city
  5. ↑ mentioned 432 BC Chr.
  6. ↑ originated from Colonia Ulpia Traiana, not from Vetera, 2 km away