“Many once great cities have become insignificant, and those that in my time have been powerful had been void before. And since I know that human happiness is changeable, I will equally mention every of them.”
Thus one of the fathers of world historiography Herodotus has spoken of great cities. It’s hard to disagree with these words.
Rome was a city that played a huge role in the ancient world, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times. According to Roman mythology, the city was founded by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, the sons of the god Mars, around 750 BC.
The city was named in honor of Romulus. Any tourist who visits Rome has the opportunity to enjoy artifacts of the eternal city as well as see maps of the times of the Roman Empire. They cannot hold back themselves from asking if there are cities even more ancient than Rome.
Is it Washington? Of course not! Maybe Paris, London, Berlin or Moscow? But these cities are too young. Maybe ancient Roman maps will help answering this question.
Many states marked on these ancient maps do not exist today. They did not endure the tests of thousands of years and fell out of the historical arena. But some have survived. Egypt is more ancient than Rome. However, today’s capital of Egypt Cairo was founded in the Middle Ages, namely in the 10th century. Parthia today is Iran, but its capital, Tehran, was founded in the 9th century.
Another neighbor of the Roman Empire in the East was Armenia. Today’s capital of Armenia is Yerevan. Cuneiform inscriptions about the city are well preserved. Yerevan was built in 782 BC, and Rome’s foundation dates back at around 750 BC. Thus, Yerevan is older than Rome for about 30 years. It seems we have found an even more ancient city.
Yerevan (The Capital older than Rome)
THE TRAVELER ACROSS MILLENNIA – YEREVAN
