The city has been inhabited since Neolithic times, around the the end of the 4 th millennium BCE.
Total Area: 1,130.784 sq mi (2,928.717 km²) (metro)Īthens is one of the oldest and most important cities in western civilization. Year Founded or First Inhabited: c.4000 BCEĬurrent Population: 3,781,274 (metro) (last count in 2012) Teams of archaeologists descended on Luxor and their finds brought the city back into prominence. Did You Know?Īfter Luxor (still Thebes at the time) was sacked by the Assyrians in the 7 th century BCE, the city slid into decline and much of the world had forgotten about the city until Napoleon Bonaparte arrived in the 18 th century. In 1979, the ancient ruins of Thebes became a UNESCO World Heritage Site and thousands of tourists come to the city every year to visit the ancient monuments. Many ancient structures and ruins still exist in Luxor today, including the Karnak and Luxor temples, several monuments and statues, and the Theban Necropolis – which includes the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens. The city was established around 3200 BCE and started out as a small trading post and eventually became the center and one of the wealthiest cities of the Egyptian Empire during its peak. Luxor sits on the site of the ancient city of Thebes, which was the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom. Year Founded or First Inhabited: c.3200 BCE as the ancient city of ThebesĬurrent Population: 1,328,429 (last count in 2020) According to Guinness World Records, the Damascus Gate Restaurant has a total 6,014 seats and covers 215,277.4 square feet (20,000 square meters). In addition to all of its historical landmarks, Damascus is home to the world’s largest restaurant, Damascus Gate Restaurant. Today, Damascus is the capital city of Syria and the country’s largest city. Each of these civilizations left behind their marks in Damascus through architecture and cultural traditions that are still present throughout the city. Regardless of when the city was first settled, Damascus became important to the various peoples that occupied the city, including the Greeks, Romans, Arab Muslims, Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Turks. However, people may have inhabited Damascus much earlier as there is archaeological evidence that shows people lived in the region just outside of Damascus as early as 10000 to 8000 BCE.
While no one knows for sure when Damascus was settled, archaeologists mostly agree that the first settlement within the area of the city walls dates back to at least the 3 rd millennium BCE. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons via UNESCO by Véronique Daugeĭamascus is another ancient city in the Middle East that was and still is an important cultural and commercial center in the region. Year Founded or First Inhabited: c.3000 – 2000 BCEĬurrent Population: 2,079,000 (2019 estimate)