List of oldest continuously inhabited cities
Europe

List of oldest continuously inhabited cities

Section Title: Europe
Table Section Text: None

Name	Historical region	Location	Continuously inhabited since	Notes

Plovdiv	Thrace	Plovdiv Province, Bulgaria	possibly 1st millennium BC

Argos	Neolithic, Mycenaean Greece	Greece	6th–5th millennia BC	The city has been cycling between village and city status for 7,000 years. Recorded history begins in latter 1st millennium BC.

Athens	Neolithic, Mycenaean Greece	Attica, Greece	5th–4th millennia BC[page needed]	Recorded history begins in 1400 BC.

Chania	Crete	Crete, Greece	c. 1700–1500 BC[unreliable source?]	Minoan foundation as Kydonia.

Thebes	Mycenaean Greece	Boeotia, Greece	c. 1600–1250 BC	Mycenaean foundation.

Larnaca	Alashiya	Cyprus	c. 1400 BC	Mycenaean, then Phoenician colony.

Trikala	Mycenaean Greece	Thessaly, Greece	before 1200 BC	Founded as Trikke.

Chalcis	Mycenaean Greece	Greece	before 1200 BC	Mentioned by Homer.

Lisbon	Ulissipo (Phoenician)	Portugal	c.1200 BC	Second-oldest European capital city

Cádiz	Carthaginian Iberia	Andalusia, Spain	1104 BC	Founded around 1104 BC as Gadir or Agadir by Phoenicians from Tyre.

Patras	Mycenaean Greece	Greece	c. 1100 BC	Founded by Patreus.

Chios	Chios	North Aegean, Greece	c. 1100 BC

Nicosia	Mycenaean Greece	Cyprus	c. 1050 BC	Mycenaean foundation as Ledra. Archaeological evidence of continuous habitation since the beginning of the Bronze Age 2500 years BC.

Zadar	Illyricum	Croatia	c. 1000 BC	Founded by Liburnians. Oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. Main Liburnian settlement.

Mtskheta	Caucasian Iberia	Georgia	c. 1000 BC	Remains of towns at this location have been dated to earlier than the year 1000 BC, and Mtskheta was capital of the early Georgian Kingdom of Iberia during the 3rd century BC – 5th century AD.

Mytilene	Lesbos	North Aegean, Greece	10th century BC

Vani	Colchis	Imereti, Georgia	before 8th century BC

Seville	Iron Age Iberia	Andalusia, Spain	8th century BC	founded as Tartessian Spal.

Málaga	Iron Age Iberia	Andalusia, Spain	8th century BC	founded as Phoenician Malaka.[page needed]

Mdina	Antiquity Malta	Malta	8th century BC	founded as Phoenician Melite.

Cagliari	Sardinia	Sardinia, Italy	8th century BC	Founded by Phoenicians from Tyre as Krly, Caralis in Roman times, Callaris in Middle Ages.

Messina (as Zancle)	Sicily	Sicily, Italy	8th century BC

Rome	Latium	Lazio, Italy	753 BC	Continuous habitation since approximately 1000 BC.; pastoral village on the northern part of the Palatine Hill dated to the 9th century BC; see also History of Rome and Founding of Rome.

Reggio di Calabria (as Rhégion)	Magna Graecia	Calabria, Italy	743 BC	Continuous habitation since approximately 1500 BC, as we have notice about the Ausonian-Italic pre-Greek settlement and about the sculptor Léarchos of Reggio (late 15th century BC) and King Iokastos (early 13th century BC).

Palermo (as זִיז, Ziz)	Phoenicia	Sicily, Italy	734 BC	Settlement presence since approximately 8000 BC, as we know through cave drawings in the area now known as Addaura, but continuous documented habitation since the Phoenician times (734 BC is traditionally considered as the founding year).

Syracuse	Sicily	Sicily, Italy	734 BC	A colony of the Greek city of Corinth.

Volterra	Tuscany	Tuscany, Italy	c. 725 BC	An Etruscan mining settlement.

Crotone (as Kroton)	Calabria	Magna Graecia, Italy	710 BC	Greek colony.

Taranto (as Taras)	Magna Graecia	Apulia, Italy	706 BC	Founded as the only Spartan colony by the Partheniae, children of unmarried Spartan women and perioikoi, free non-citizen residents of Sparta and her territories.

Corfu, Kerkyra	Corfu	Ionian Islands, Greece	700 BC	A colony of the Greek city of Corinth.

Kerch (as Panticapaeum)	pre-Roman Crimea	Crimea	7th century BC	Greek colony.

Feodosiya (as Theodosia)	pre-Roman Crimea	Crimea	7th century BC	Greek colony.

Istanbul (as Byzantion)	Thrace, Anatolia	Turkey	685 BC Anatolia; 667 BC Thrace	Neolithic site dated to 6400 BC, over port of Lygos by Thracians c. 1150 BC.

Naples	Magna Graecia	Italy	c. 680 BC	Actually the date at which an older settlement close by, called Parthenope, was founded by settlers from Cumae. This eventually merged with Neapolis proper, which was founded c.

Ibiza (as Ybsm)	Balearic Islands	Spain	654 BC	Founded by the Phoenicians, according to Diodorus Siculus, book 5, chap. 16. Date consistent with archaeological finds.

Durrës	Illyria	Albania	627–625 BC	Formerly Epidamnos.

Sozopol	Thrace	Burgas Province, Bulgaria	610 BC	Founded by Miletian colonists around 610 BC, was named Apollonia Pontica in honour of the patron deity of Miletus - Apollo.

Edessa, Greece	Macedonia	Greece	before the 6th century BC	Greek city, capital of the kingdom of Macedon up to the 6th century BC.

Marseilles (as Massilia)	Gaul	France	600 BC	A colony of the Greek city of Phocaea.

Kavala	Macedonia	Greece	6th century BC	Greek colony. Founded as Neapolis.

Mangalia	Dacia	Romania	6th century BC	Founded as Callatis.

Constanţa	Dacia	Romania	6th century BC	Founded as Tomis.

Mantua	Po Valley	Lombardy, Italy	6th century BC	Village settlement since c. 2000 BC; became an Etruscan city in the 6th century BC.

Milan	Po Valley, Cisalpine Gaul	Lombardy, Italy	6th century BC	Founded by the Insubres in the 6th century BC according to Titus Livy. Conquered by the Romans in 222 BC.

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi (as Tyras)	Bessarabia	Ukraine	6th century BC

Kutaisi	Colchis	Imereti province, Georgia	6th to 4th century BC	Archaeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the kingdom of Colchis in the sixth to fifth centuries BC.

Varna	Thrace	Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, Bulgaria	585-570 BC	Founded as Odessos by settlers from the Greek city of Miletus.

Sant Martí d'Empúries (as Emporion)	Iberia	Catalonia, Spain	c. 575 BC	A colony of the Greek city of Phocaea. Present Sant Martí is on the ancient Palaiopolis of Emporion, in an island next to the coast; in 550 BC, the inhabitants moved to the mainland, creating the Neapolis: Palaiapolis remained as a small neighbourhood.

Lamia	Greece	before the 5th century BC	Greek city. First mentioned 424 BC

Serres	Macedonia	Greece	5th century BC	Greek city. First mentioned in the 5th century BC as Siris.

Veria	Macedonia	Greece	c. 432 BC	Greek city. First mentioned by Thucydides in 432 BC.

Rhodes	Rhodes, Aegean Sea	Dodecanese, Greece	c. 408 BC	Greek city.

Sofia	Moesia	Sofia Valley, Bulgaria	4th century BC	Celtic foundation as Serdica.

Metz	Gaul	France	4th century BC	Founded as the oppidum of Celtic Mediomatrici. However, human permanent presence has been established in the site since 2500 BC.

Roses (as Rhode)	Iberia	Catalonia, Spain	4th century BC	The exactly origin of the city is unknown, but there are remains of a Greek colony from the 4th century BC, although some historians consider the foundation earlier, at the 8th century BC.

Qabala (as Kabalaka)	Caucasian Albania	Azerbaijan	4th century BC	Archeological evidence indicates that the city functioned as the capital of the Caucasian Albania as early as the 4th century BC.

Stara Zagora	Thrace	Bulgaria	342 BC	It was called Beroe in ancient times and was founded by Phillip II of Macedon although a Thracian settlement neolithic inhabitation have been discovered as well.

Thessaloniki	Macedonia (ancient kingdom)	Greece	315 BC	Greek city. Founded as a new city in the same place of the older city Therme.

Berat	Macedonia (ancient kingdom)	Albania	314 BC	Founded by Cassander as Antipatreia.

Vukovar	Illyria	Croatia	300 BC	Vučedol culture.

Barcelona (as Barcino)	Iberia	Catalonia, Spain	3rd century BC	Unknown origin. Several neolithics tombs (5000–4500 BC) and remains from the Iberian period have been found, as well as several drachma coins inscribed with the word "Barkeno".

Belgrade	Illyria	Serbia	279 BC	The present day territory of Belgrade continuously inhabited for more than 7000 years. Proto-urban Vinča culture prospered around Belgrade in the 6th millennium BC.

Niš	Illyria	Serbia	279 BC	Founded as Navissos. Neolithic settlements date to 5000–2000 BC.

Matera	Latium	Basilicata, Italy	after 251 BC	The town of Matera was a founded by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC who called it Matheola.

Cartagena (as Carthago Nova)	Iberia	Spain	228 BC	Carthaginian colony, founded by Hasdrubal Barca.

Tarragona (as Tarraco)	Iberia	Catalonia, Spain	218 BC	Roman colony, founded by Gnaeus and Publius Cornelius Scipio.

Stobi/Gradsko	Macedonia	North Macedonia	217 BC	Founded as Stobi by Philip V of Macedon.

Bratislava	Pannonia	Slovakia	2nd century BC	Founded by Celtic Boii tribe. The first written reference to a Slavic settlement dates to 907.

Valencia	Iberia	Valencia, Spain	138 BC	Roman colony founded as Valentia Edetanorum.

Sremska Mitrovica	Illyria	Serbia	1st century BC	Founded as Sirmium. Neolithic settlements date to 5000 BC and are with other archeological findings evidence to continuous habitation.

Smederevo	Illyria	Serbia	1st century BC	Founded as Semendria.

Ptuj	Pannonia	Slovenia	1st century BC	Ptuj is the oldest city in Slovenia. There is evidence that the area was settled in the Stone Age.

Évora	Lusitania	Portugal	53 BC (Roman conquest)	Evidence of Lusitanian settlement prior to Roman occupation.

Paris	Lutetia	France	52 BC	Archaeological evidence indicates human habitation as early as 4200 BC. During the Gallic Wars, Caesar's armies set fire to Lutetia "a town of the Parisii, situated on an island on the river Seine." While only a garrison at best on the Île de la Cité during some periods after 1st and 2nd century, was renamed Paris in 360 AD

Ljubljana	Italy	Slovenia	50 BC	Area first settled by people living in pile dwellings around 2000 BC. Around 50 BC, the Romans built a military encampment that later became a permanent settlement called Iulia Aemona.

Zürich (Lindenhof)	Gaul	Switzerland	c. 50 BC	Lakeside settlement traces dating to the Neolithic.

Cologne	Germania Inferior	Germany	38 BC	Founded in 38 BC by the Ubii, a Germanic tribe, as Oppidum Ubiorum. In 50 AD, the Romans adopted the location as Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium and the city became in 85 AD the capital of the Roman province "Germania Inferior".

Trier	Gallia Belgica	Germany	30 BC	Oldest Roman city in Germany.

Neuss	Germany

Nijmegen	Netherlands	c. 17 BC	Oldest city in the Netherlands.

Augsburg	Raetia, Roman Empire	Germany	15 BC	Third oldest city in Germany after Cologne and Trier. Located in the Swabian region of Bavaria.

Chur	Raetia Prima	Grisons, Switzerland	15 BC	habitation since the 4th millennium BC (Pfyn culture).

Worms	Germania Superior	Germany	14 BC	The name of the city derives from the Latin designation Borbetomagus which is of Celtic origin.

Skopje	Macedonia (Roman province)	North Macedonia	13–11 BC	Founded in the time of Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus as Scupi.

Strasbourg	Germania Superior	France	12 BC	First official mention as the Roman camp of Argentoratum. The area had been populated since the Middle Paleolithic.

Tongeren	Germania Inferior	Belgium	10 BC	Oldest city in Belgium.

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