Jump to content

List of cities of the ancient Near East

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dexbot (talk | contribs) at 09:06, 16 October 2016 (WP:CHECKWIKI error fix. Section heading problem. Violates WP:MOSHEAD.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article contains special characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

The earliest cities in history appear in the ancient Near East. The area of the ancient Near East covers roughly that of the modern Middle East; its history begins in the 4th millennium BC and ends, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC or that by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC.

The largest cities of the Bronze Age Near East housed several tens of thousands. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age with some 30,000 inhabitants was the largest city of the time by far. 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 50–60,000, while Niniveh had some 20–30,000, reaching 100,000 only in the Iron Age (ca. 700 BC).

The KI 𒆠 determinative was the Sumerian term for a city or city state.[1] In Akkadian and Hittite orthography, URU𒌷 became a determinative sign denoting a city, or combined with KUR𒆳 "land" the kingdom or territory controlled by a city, e.g. 𒄡𒆳𒌷𒄩𒀜𒌅𒊭 LUGAL KUR URUHa-at-ti "the king of the country of (the city of) Hatti".

Mesopotamia

Further information: Geography of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamia

Lower Mesopotamia

(ordered from north to south)

Upper Mesopotamia

Map of Syria in the second millennium BC

(ordered from north to south)

Zagros ( West and South )

(ordered from north to south)

Tepe Sialk

Anatolia

Settlements of Bronze Age Anatolia, based on Hittite records.

(ordered from north to south)

The Levant

In alphabetical order:

Arabian Peninsula

Main article: Ancient towns in Saudi Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, separated by just a few miles of the Red Sea, have a history of related settlements, especially near the coast.

Kerma (Doukki Gel)

Horn of Africa

Egypt

Main article: List of ancient Egyptian sites

This is a list of ancient Egyptian sites, throughout Egypt and Nubia. Sites are listed by their classical name whenever possible, if not by their modern name, and lastly with their ancient name if no other is available.

Nomes

The nomes of Ancient Egypt, in lower Egypt
The nomes of Ancient Egypt, in upper Egypt

A nome is a subnational administrative division of Ancient Egypt.

Lower Egypt

  • Nome 1: White Walls
  • Nome 2: Cow's thigh
  • Nome 3: West
  • Nome 4: Southern Shield
  • Nome 5: Northern Shield
  • Nome 6: Mountain bull
  • Nome 7: West harpoon
  • Nome 8: East harpoon
  • Nome 9: Andjety
  • Nome 10: Black bull
  • Nome 11: Heseb bull
  • Nome 12: Calf and Cow
  • Nome 13: Prospering Scepter
  • Nome 14: Eastmost
  • Nome 15: Fish
  • Nome 16: Djehuti
  • Nome 17: The Throne
  • Nome 18: Prince of the South
  • Nome 19: Prince of the North
  • Nome 20: Plumed Falcon

Upper Egypt

Lower Egypt (The Nile Delta)

Middle Egypt

Main article: Middle Egypt

The area from about Faiyum to Asyut is usually referred to as Middle Egypt.

Upper Egypt

Northern Upper Egypt

Southern Upper Egypt

Nubia

Main article: Nubia

Lower Nubia

See also: International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia
Map of Nubia

Upper Nubia

Oases and Mediterranean coast

Sinai

Eastern Desert

Notes and references

  1. ^ Electronic Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary (EPSD)
  2. ^ "The British Museum, Amara West: investigating life in an Egyptian town". Archived from the original on 2012-08-12. Retrieved 2017-06-15.

Bibliography

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ancient Near East maps.

References

The ancient Near East
Regions and states
Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia

Egypt

Iran

Anatolia

The Levant

Arabia

Archaeological periods
Languages
Literature
Religion and mythology
Religion and mythology

Cosmology

Other topics
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_cities_of_the_ancient_Near_East&oldid=744603256"