Uru was the Sumerian term for a city or city state, written with the cuneiform ideogram URU 𒌷 
. According to some recent Sumerological studies, the actual pronunciation of this word in Sumerian may originally have been "Iri."[citation needed]
In Akkadian and Hittite orthography, URU𒌷 became a determinative sign denoting a city, or combined with KUR𒆳 "land" the kingdom or territory controlled by a city, e.g. 𒄡𒆳𒌷𒄩𒀜𒌅𒊭 LUGAL KUR URUHa-at-ti "the king of the country of (the city of) Hatti".
The largest cities in the Bronze Age Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age with some 30,000 inhabitants was the largest city of the time by far. Ur in the Middle Bronze Age is estimated to have had some 65,000 inhabitants; Babylon in the Late Bronze Age similarly had a population of some 50–60,000, while Niniveh had some 20–30,000, reaching 100,000 only in the Iron Age (ca. 700 BC).
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Mesopotamia
Lower Mesopotamia
(ordered from north to south)
- Eshnunna (Tell Asmar)
- Der (Tell Aqar at al-Badra)
- Sippar (Tell Abu Habbah)
- Kutha (Tell Ibrahim)
- Jemdet Nasr
- Kish (Tell Uheimir & Ingharra)
- Bab Ilu (Babylon)
- Borsippa (Birs Nimrud)
- Mashkan-shapir (Tell Abu Duwari)
- Dilbat (Tell ed-Duleim)
- Nippur (Afak)
- Marad (Tell Wannat es-Sadum)
- Adab (Tell Bismaya)
- Isin (Ishan al-Bahriyat)
- Kisurra (Tell Abu Hatab)
- Shuruppak (Tell Fara)
- Bad-tibira (probably Tell al-Madain)
- Zabala (Tell Ibzeikh)
- Umma (Tell Jokha)
- Ngirsu (Tello or Telloh)
- Lagash (Tell al-Hiba)
- Uruk (Warka)
- Larsa (Tell as-Senkereh)
- Ur (Tell al-Muqayyar)
- Kuara (Tell al-Lahm)
- Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain)
- Tell al-'Ubaid
- Nabada (Tell Beydar)
- Hamazi
- Akshak
- Akkad
Upper Mesopotamia
(ordered from north to south)
- Mount Nemrut (Nemrut Dagi)
- Urfa
- Shanidar cave
- Urkesh (Tell Mozan)
- Shekhna (Tell Leilan)
- Tell Arbid
- Haran
- Chagar Bazar
- Washukanni (Tell el Fakhariya)
- Carchemish (Djerabis)
- Nagar (Tell Brak)
- Telul eth-Thalathat
- Tepe Gawra
- Tell Arpachiyah (Tepe Reshwa)
- Shibaniba (Tell Billa)
- Tarbisu (Sherif Khan)
- Ninua (Niniveh)
- Qatara or Karana (Tell al-Rimah)
- Tell Hamoukar
- Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad)
- Arbil (Qalinj Agha)
- Tell Taya
- Tell Hassuna
- Imgur-Enlil (Balawat)
- Tell es-Sweyhat
- Nimrud (Kalhu)
- Emar (Tell Meskene)
- Qal'at Jarmo
- Arrapha (Kirkuk)
- Ashur (Qalat Sherqat)
- Nuzi (Gasur, Yorghan Tepe)
- Terqa (Tell Ashara)
- Doura Europos
- Mari (Tell Hariri)
- Haradum (Khirbet ed-Diniyeh)
- Tell es Sawwan
- Nerebtum or Kiti (Tell Ishchali)
- Tutub (Khafajah)
- Tell Agrab
- Dur-Kurigalzu (Aqar Quf)
- Shaduppum (Tell Harmal)
- Seleucia
- Sippar-Amnanum (Tell ed-Der)
- Ctesiphon (Taq Kisra)
- Tell Uqair
Zagros and Elam
(ordered from north to south)
- Hasanlu Tepe
- Zend-i Suleiman
- Takht-i-Suleiman
- Ecbatana (Hamadan)
- Behistun
- Godin Tepe
- Sialk
- Susa
- Kabnak (Haft Tepe)
- Dur Untash (Chogha Zanbil)
- Shahr-i-Sokhte
- Pasargadai
- Naqsh-e Rustam
- Parsa (Persepolis)
- Tall-i Bakun
- Anshan (Tall-i Malyan or Tepe Malyan)
- Firuzabad
- Konar Sandal
- Tepe Yahya
Anatolia
(ordered from north to south)
- Nicaea
- Sapinuwa
- Yazilikaya
- Hattusa
- Ilios (Wilusa, Ilion, Troas, Troy)
- Karum Kanesh (Nesa, Kültepe)
- Milid (Arslantepe, Malatya)
- Çayönü
- Sam'al (Zincirli Höyük)
- Çatalhöyük
- Kizzuwatna
- Adana
- Tarsus
- Attalia (Antalya)
The Levant
(all ordered alphabetically)
- Acco (Acre)
- Alalah (Alalakh)
- Aleppo
- Aphek (Antipatris, Tell Afik)
- Arad Rabbah (Tel Arad)
- Baalbek (Heliopolis)
- Beth Shean (Beth Shan)
- Bethany (beyond the Jordan)
- Bezer
- Capernaum
- Dan
- Damascus (Dimasqu, Dimashq)
- Dor (D-jr, Dora)
- Ebla (Tell Mardikh)
- En Gedi (Tell Goren)
- Geba / Gibeon
- Gerar
- Gerasa / Jarash
- Gezer
- Gibeah (Tell el-Ful?)
- Gilgal
- Hamath (Epiphania)
- Herodion (Herodium)
- Jezreel
- Kadesh Barnea
- Kedesh
- Khaldeh
- Kir of Moab (Kerak)
- Kumidi (Kamid al Lawz)
- Pisgah
- Qadesh
- Qatna (Tell Mishrifeh)
- Qumran
- Rabat Amon (Philadelphia)
- Samaria
- Shiloh
- Tadmor (Palmyra)
- Tell el-Farah South
- Tell Tweini (Gibala?)
- Tirzah (Tell el-Farah North)
- Tunip
- Ugarit (Ras Shamra)
Canaan
- Adoraim (Adora, Dura)
- Ai
- Beersheba
- Bet Shemesh (house of Shamash)
- Bet-el
- Gath
- Hazor
- Hebron
- Jericho (Tell es Sultan)
- Jerusalem (Jebus)
- Megiddo
- Shechem (Sychar, Neapolis, Nablus)
- Tall Zira'a
Chalcolithic Age
- Gilgal Refaim (Rujm el-Hiri)
Philistia
Phoenicia
Egypt
Kush + Ethiopia
- Kerma (Doukki Gel)
- Jebel Barkal
- Napata
- Meroë
- Aksum
See Also
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- city state
- Sumerian King List
- Historical cities
- Short chronology timeline
- List of oldest continuously inhabited cities
External links
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