What New York City was in twentieth century, London was in the the 1900s, Constantinople was in the 600s, and so forth, back to Jericho in 7000 BC.
They were the largest cities in the world, and arguably the epicenters of human civilization.
These cities led mankind to new heights of culture and commerce—though in the end each of them was surpassed and some of them destroyed.
HistoriansTertius Chandler, Gerald Fox, and George Modelski identified the largest cities throughout history through painstaking study of household data, agricultural commerce, church records, fortification sizes, food distribution, loss of life in a disaster, and more. We have parsed their work in the following slides.
Jericho was the biggest city in the world in 7000 BC with 2,000 citizens
Jericho may be the oldest continually occupied spot in the world, with settlements dating to 9000 BC.
The city, nestled between the Dead Sea and Mt. Nebo, had natural irrigation from the Jordan River and the best known oasis in the region. The springs allowed residents to grow the highly lucrative opobalsamum plant, which produced the most expensive oil in the ancient world.
It is described in the Old Testament as the "City of Palm Trees."
Uruk took the lead in 3500 BC with 4,000 citizens
Uruk is famous as the capital city in the epic of Gilgamesh; also thought to be the Biblical city of Erech, built by King Nimrod.
The domestication of grain and its close proximity to the Euphrates River allowed Uruk's harvest to swell, leading to trade, advancements in writing, and specialized crafts.
The city declined around 2000 BC due to regional struggles and was finally abandoned around the time of the Islamic conquest.
Mari took the lead in 2400 BC with 50,000 citizens
Mari was the robust trade capital of Mesopotamia, central in moving stone, timber, agricultural goods and pottery throughout the region.
The city was home first to the Sumerite kings, then the Amorite kings, one of which built a massive 300-room palace.
Mari was sacked in 1759 BC by Hammurabi of Babylon and then abandoned.
In the 1930s a French archaeologist discovered 25,000 tablets written in an extinct language called Akkadian. Most were municipal documents, economic reports and census rolls—a third were personal letters. The find changed our understanding of the ancient Near East.
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