The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC or with that by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.
The largest cities of the Bronze Age Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age, with some 30,000 inhabitants, was the largest city of the time by far. Ebla is estimated to have had a population of 40,000 inhabitants in the Intermediate Bronze age. Ur in the Middle Bronze Age is estimated to have had some 65,000 inhabitants; Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had a population of some 50,000–60,000. Niniveh had some 20,000–30,000, reaching 100,000 only in the Iron Age (around 700 BC).
In Akkadian and Hittite orthography, URU became a determinative sign denoting a city, or combined with KUR "land" the kingdom or territory controlled by a city, e.g. "the king of the country of (the city of) Ḫattuša". The KI determinative is used following place names (toponyms) in both Sumerian and Akkadian.Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (EPSD)
Mesopotamia
Lower Mesopotamia
(ordered from north to south)
Upper Mesopotamia
(ordered from north to south)
Urfa Shanidar cave Urkesh (Urkish) (Tell Mozan) Tell Leilan (Shekhna, Shubat-Enlil) Tell Halaf Tell Arbid Harran Chagar Bazar Mardaman (Bassetki) Kahat (Tell Barri) Tell Fekheriye (Washukanni?) Hadatu (Arslan Tash) Carchemish (Djerabis) Til Barsip (Tell Ahmar) Tell Chuera Al-Rawda Nabada (Tell Beydar) Nagar (Tell Brak) Hamazi Yarim Tepe Telul eth-Thalathat Tepe Gawra Tell Arpachiyah (Tepe Reshwa) Tell Maghzaliyah Shibaniba (Tell Billa) Tarbiṣu (Sherif Khan) Nineveh (Ninua) Qatara or Karana (Tell al-Rimah) Tell Hamoukar Tell al-Hawa (Razama?) Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad) Tell Shemshara (Shusharra) Bestansur Tell Bazmusian Erbil (Urbilim, Arba-Ilu) Kurd Qaburstan (Qabra?) Qasr Shemamok (Kilizu/Kilizi/Kakzu) Qal'at Jarmo Tell Taya Tell Hassuna Balawat (Imgur-Enlil) Tell es-Sweyhat Tell Hadidi (Azu) Mumbaqat (Tall Munbāqa, Ekalte) Nimrud Emar (Tell Meskene) Tall Bazi (Baṣīru, Armanum?) Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta Assur Ekallatum Nuzi (Yorghan Tepe, Gasur) Tell al-Fakhar (Kurruhanni?) Tell Taban (Ṭābetu, Ṭābatum) Terqa (Tell Ashara) Doura Europos Mari (Tell Hariri) Tuttul (Tell Bi'a) Haradum (Khirbet ed-Diniyeh) Tell es-Sawwan Nerebtum or Kiti (Tell Ishchali) Tell Agrab Dur-Kurigalzu (Aqar Quf) Shaduppum (Tell Harmal) Tell al-Dhiba'i Tell Muhammad Seleucia Ctesiphon (Taq Kisra) Zenobia (Halabiye) Hatra Idu Rabana-Merquly (Natounia?)
Iran
Anatolia (ordered from north to south)
Syria-Palestine
Arabian Peninsula
Cyprus Enkomi Idalion Kition Kourion (Koύριov, Curium)
Nubia Jebel Barkal Kerma Meroë Napata
Horn of Africa Adulis Aksum (Axum) Keskese Matara Qohaito Sembel Yeha
Egypt
See also City-state Sumerian King List Historical urban community sizes Short chronology timeline List of oldest continuously inhabited cities Ancient towns in Saudi Arabia List of Ancient Settlements in the UAE List of largest metropolitan areas of the Middle East List of modern names for biblical place names
References
External links
Geospatial: Mapping Iraq's Ancient Cities Ancient cities grew pretty much like modern ones, say scientists (February 2015), Christian Science Monitor