Oldest cities in the world!


Many cities in Kurdistan are among the top oldest cities in the world where human race resided and settled in.  Below I've provided a short list of some of the oldest cities in Kurdistan. 
  • Arbil, capital of KRG; simply the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world! Urban life at Arbil can be dated back to at least the third millennium BC, (5000 years ago)! The city was founded by Hurrians (Khurrites), the forefathers of the Kurds in the land of Karda. Unlike what some people may think, the name of the city is not of semitic origin, but semitized. In other words, the name of the city is of Hurrian origin, (note the Hurrian toponym prefix ''ar''), however when Semitic people migrated northwards and became a power in the region, they reflected the name as ''Arbela'' which according to their language meant ''four gods''. 
  • Kirkuk, nicknamed ''Quds of kurdistan''; founded by Hurrian-related tribes from eastern Kurdistan (either Guti or Lullubi); the old name of the city was Arrapha. 
  • Oshnaviya, Shno, that is the ancient town of Ushnuya. 
  • Sharazor, is said to have been built by Zor son of Zahhak. It was destroyed by Mongols.
  • Pinaca, later Bezabde, today Cizre, in ancient kingdom of Corduene which was part of the Roman empire
  • Sareisa, an extremely ancient site, was also an important city in ancient Corduene. 
  • Satalca, ancient city in southeastern Anatolia, was also part of Corduene
  • Tigranocerta, modern Miyafarqin/Silvan in southeastern Anatolia. The city was founded by Tigran, a Prthian noble who later became a despot king over Armenia, after he relocated many Kurds to the site wich eventually became Tigranocerta or Tigranakart (parthian for ''city of Tigran'') 
  • Nineveh, today Mosul, the city was actually founded by Semitic peoples, and was capital of Assyria, however after fall of Assyria the site was inhabited by Kurds up to the twentieth century when it was arabised by the British created state of Iraq.  

The list goes on to Mars :) ...

2 comments:

  1. i would like to know when the name "Hewler" appeared for the first time, as much as i know it means "the place where sun is worshiped" (hor ler) - but i am not sure enough about that.

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  2. dear KULKA, i think, the word Hewlêr may be related with Erbîl with the linguistic phenomenous "metathesis". it means two letter change their places, from Erbîl or Erbêl or Erwêl to Ewlêr and finaly Hewlêr. remember the word Erbîl is assyrian origin and has to do with "four" in semitic languages.
    her bijît

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