Added by Laín Coubert on 7 Jul 2014 11:13

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The Most Ancient Cities In The World

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Aleppo (Ḥalab)

Syria 13000 years

Dubbed "The Capital of the North", UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, today unfortunately bloody civil war. According to some archaeological finds, such as the tower dating back to 13000 years ago, found about 25km from the city, Aleppo would be the oldest of Damascus and Jericho. Despite many debates true age of Aleppo, the only thing certain is that the current geographical area was inhabited 8,000 years ago, as evidenced by the cuneiform tablets of about 5,000 years ago, where Aleppo is described as a city of great commercial importance and military. An important center of the ancient world, including the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia.

Jericho

Palestine 12000 years

Located near the Jordan River, the green oasis of Jericho, 30km east of Jerusalem, is considered one of the oldest cities in the world and being about 240m below sea level, it is also the lowest spot on earth. The earliest settlements date back to 10000 BC; around 9400 BC, the first buildings were built of brick and mud where they lived about 1000 people.

Matera

Italy 10000 years

Known as the "City of Stone", Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world to be inhabited, with settlements dating back to about 10000 years ago. In the caves around the "Gravine materane" were found objects that testify to the presence of groups of hunters; in the Neolithic settlements became more stable, as evidenced by traces of villages. Many of the homes that fall along the ravines have been experienced without interruption since the Bronze Age, to the forced displacement of the fifties. In the National Museum "Ridola" of Matera, are preserved finds from the necropolis in the area. In 1993, the Sassi di Matera were entered in the list of World Heritage Site by Unesco.

Çatalhöyük

Turkey 9500 years

Considered the first city in humanity. He had a considerable number of inhabitants, between 5000 and 10000; the largest mound, toward the east, there are 18 levels of Neolithic settlements dating back to a period between 7400 and 6200 BC; presence of wall paintings, sculptures and symbolic figures, reliefs, paintings of female deities, linked to the domestic cult of fertility and generation. Çatalhöyük is the oldest evidence of the transition from the villages, who by now had been consolidated into the urban area that has stood in the same place for more than 2000 years. Since 2012, the UNESCO commission has decided to appoint officially made the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük World Heritage Site.

Athens

Greece 7000 years

Birthplace of democracy, philosophy and western civilization, the capital of Greece has a long history, from mythological legends and reality, and has always been inhabited for at least 7000 years. The first settlement of Athens, situated on the rock of the Acropolis, dating back to 3000 BC.

Iraq 6000 years

One of the first settlements inhabited Mesopotamia, dating back to before 4000 BC; from a small agricultural and pastoral center turned, around 3000 BC, in a real city, developing also crafts and trade activities. The city of Ur was originally located near the mouth of the Tigris and the Euphrates, on the Persian Gulf; Today, because of the debris, the ruins of Ur are in the inland of Iraq, 15km to the west of the Euphrates, near Nasiriyah. The archaeological site of Ur are the ruins of a ziggurat and the remains of a temple dedicated to Inanna, goddess of the moon in Sumerian mythology.

Uruk

Iraq 5000 years

The first settlement dates back some 5000 years old and, at the end of the fourth millennium BC was one of the largest settlements of Mesopotamia; was a center of trade, there were kings, monuments and works of art. Uruk, the Sumerians invented the first cuneiform writing system, as evidenced by ancient Sumerian documents found after long excavations and research.

Damascus

Syria 4500 years

Founded around 2500 BC, located inside the oasis Ghouta, the capital of Syria is considered by many, including the cities still inhabited, the oldest in the world. The unique charm of the city is determined by the artistic heritage that dates back to ancient times; a mix of cultures, Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman have left evidence of a past full of mystery, legend merged with reality.

Jerusalem

Israel 4000 years

Eternal and sacred city, built thousand years ago, of great historical importance and geopolitics, the holy city for Jews and Christians and third holiest city in order of importance for Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Jerusalem's history dates back to the stone age, but it is mentioned only in the second millennium BC on Egyptian texts and in some letters from 1400 BC; The city remained under the dominion of the Amorite Jebusites (around the year 1000 BC) until it was conquered by David made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom.

Varanasi

India 3500 years

City sacred to Hindus and also one of the oldest cities (the settlement dates back to 1200 BC) and inhabited the world. In Vedic times was called Kashi, Varanasi then became, by the rivers Varuna (flowing north) and Aces (flowing south) and then deformed by the British, who could not pronounce his name well in Benares.
Today it is again Varanasi, one of the most fascinating cities of India, a city holy to Shiva. Today the city, very chaotic, does not retain anything of the stones of its ancient past, but you can still breathe, to see, to live a thousand years old and immutable rites. Varanasi is a place where people come on pilgrimage to the holy bath in the river Ganges. According to the Hindus, the Ganges River is the river of the sky and heaven; every Hindu, at least once in his life, he must go to Varanasi and bathe in the waters of the Ganges, killing at least 5 ghats (flights of stone stairs that end in the water of the Ganges) to wash and clean of sins. At sunset, at 18, it is time for Puja, when the sun and the light are offered to the river with chants, mantras, played shells, cymbals and thousands of votive lights that float on the water of the great river.

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Have you ever wondered what is the oldest city in the world? Even today archaeologists are not able to prove it, but with this list I want to show the most ancient and fascinating cities in the world history.