The ancient city of Jericho, located in the West Bank on the shores of the Dead Sea, is widely considered the oldest in the world. First settled by Neolithic hunter-gatherers, by 8000 BCE Tell es-Sultan
Aleppo, Syria is mentioned as a thriving city (Halab) in 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets, but nearby settlements date to 11,000 BCE. The World Heritage Site served as a commercial hub for major trade routes in the ancient Middle East
The area around the modern city of Faiyum in Egypt was settled as early as 5000 BCE. It was once a wetland oasis with abundant wildlife, long favoured by prehistoric hunters and the site of the earliest known agriculture.
Shards of pottery found in Gaziantep, Turkey, indicate settlement began in 4000 BCE. Initially ruled by the Hittites, the region fell to various empires before being absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century.
The foundation of the port town of Beirut, Lebanon, stretches back to 3000 BCE. Its name comes from the Canaanite word for wells, a reference to the abundant groundwater that has long sustained the city
The Afghan city of Balkh is the site of the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Bactria, once a major Zoroastrian centre where Zoroaster (Zarathustra) is said to have first preached his religion.
Tyre, on Lebanon’s south coast near the border of Israel, was a major Phoenician seaport credited with developing Tyrian purple, a precious purple pigment derived from local murex shellfish and highly prized by royalty. Settled in 2750 BCE
The Egyptian city of Luxor occupies a section of the ancient city of Thebes, or Waset, today a World Heritage Site. Thebes was founded around 2100 BCE, although there is evidence of continuous inhabitation on the site going back a dizzying 250,000 years.
First settled in 3000 BCE, the city of Jerusalem, Israel, was founded a thousand years later by King David as the capital of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah.
Luoyang is considered a birthplace of Chinese civilization, one of the Four Great Ancient Chinese capitals. Founded by the Zhou dynasty more than 3,000 years ago
The city of Athens, in Greece, is a little more than 3,000 years old, though it has been inhabited since at least 3000 BCE. It is considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization, with enormous contributions to philosophy, politics, architecture, art and literature.
The city of Larnaca, Cyprus, sits on the ruins of ancient Citium (Kition), founded by the Mycenaeans in 1300 BCE.
Algeria’s Annaba sits near the ancient Phoenician port of Hippo Regius on a fertile alluvial plain. Settled in 1200 BCE, it is best known as the city where the formidable Christian philosopher St. Augustine of Hippo served as a clergyman, and eventually bishop, until his death in 430 CE.