This is a list of present-day cities by the time period over which they have been continuously inhabited. The age claims listed are generally disputed. Differences in opinion can result from different definitions of "city" as well as "continuously inhabited" and historical evidence is often disputed. Caveats (and sources) to the validity of each claim are discussed in the "Notes" column.
Contents
World
Several cities listed here, which are over 5000 years old, popularly claim to be "the oldest city in the world".
Western
Continuous habitation since the Chalcolithic (or Copper Age) is vaguely possible but highly problematic to prove archaeologically for several Levantine cities (Damascus, Byblos, Aleppo, Jericho, Sidon and Beirut).
Cities became more common outside the Fertile Crescent with the Early Iron Age from about 1100 BC. The foundation of Rome in 753 BC is conventionally taken as one of the dates initiating Classical Antiquity.