Telegraph includes Yerevan in list of Europe’s 16 oldest cities
by Marianna Lazarian
Saturday, April 11, 15:44
Telegraph has included Yerevan in the list of Europe’s 16 oldest
continually inhabited cities.
Number 16 on the list is Yerevan, Armenia. “When did the earliest
inhabitants settle? 782 BC. Some 30 years before Rome was founded, the
city that is now Armenia’s capital was serving as an important stop
along the caravan routes from Asia to Europe. It was invaded by
Assyrians, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and
Turks, and later by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Since the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, the capital of the Republic of Armenia has seen
the growth of cultural institutions (it is home to a bewildering
number of museums). Tourism is also developing slowly – a handful
operators currently offer guided trips to the country”, the source
says.
Number 1 on the list is Argos, Greece (5,000 BC). The following cities
rank next: Athens, Greece (5,000 BC), Plovdiv, Bulgaria (4,000 BC),
Chania, Crete (4,000 BC), Patra, Greece (c. 3,500 BC), Trikala, Greece
(3,000 BC), Thebes, Greece (3,000 BC), Kutaisi, Georgia (2nd
millennium BC), Larnaca, Cyprus (1,300 BC), Chalcis, Greece (at
least 1,300 BC), Lisbon (1,200 BC), Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece (1,100
BC), Cadiz, Spain (1,100 BC), Mtskheta, Georgia (1,000 BC), and Zadar,
Croatia (900 BC).