25 most influential cities in history.

[AUSTERLITZ]

25 MOST INFLUENTIAL CITIES IN HISTORY

(Ancient Rome)​

Thought i'd start a thread on this topic covering some of the great cities of past and present that have shaped and continue to shape the world.Catalohyuk in anatolia is considered as the world's first city at 7000 BC with an estimate population of 1000.Today Shanghai tops the list with 24 million people.The primary conditions for the growth of a city are water sources ,sanitation and food supply.To this are added location on trade routes and oppurtunities for enrichment,influence and patronage due to being a religious,trading or political centre.
Rank 1-5 are in order of importance.15-20 are in no order amongst themselves but more important than 21-25.After that its random.Importance i based on global impact as most critical factor along with longevity,regional impact,religious and/or political influence, size, location and economics as secondary factors.

''While Rome stands,the world stands,When Rome falls , so falls the world'' - St.Bede​

1. ROME -

The 'Eternal City' as it is called ticks all the boxes for unparalleled impact,longevity,location,and importance as a economic,political and religious centre and is still going strong.According to legend it was founded in 753 BC by Romulus,descended from the exiled Trojan hero Aeneas.Rome 's power grew after it transitioned to a republic ,as it conquered first the italian peninsula then after defeating carthage and the hellenic successor states it grew to enormous size under the Roman empire - the definitive model for all Western empires to follow for the next 2 millenia.

Impact -
The roman empire forms the bedrock what is called 'western civilization' and has been emulated ever since.Almost every european empire from the germans,the french under Napoleon,the russians took the eagle of rome as their imperial symbol.The word Kaiser or Tsar is derived from Caesar.Rome's impact was so pervasive because of its huge longevity having ruled the most of Europe and Mediterranean africa and Asia for 600 years or so,and its sheer size.It stretched from the Thames in Britain to the euphrates in Iraq,from the Nile in Egypt to the Rhine in Germany.No other empire was ever able to repeat this feat,despite having more landmass.The Byzantines,Ottomans or Arab caliphates at their peak could only manage half the mediterranean world.The Romans turned the Mediterranean into a roman lake - Mare nostrum or our sea.

Romans also founded many famous cities - Tarragona, Girona, Valencia, Cordoba, Sevilla,Leon, Zaragoza,Barcelona,Braga,Coimbra in Spain and Portugal. Venice, Rimini, Florence, Turin, Bologna, Salerno, Piacenza in Italy. Narbonne,Besancon,Paris,Strasbourg,Lyon,Metz,Amiens,Orleans in France. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds,Manchester,York,Cambridge,Southampton,Dover,Leicester,Canterbury and London in UK. Nis, Osijek, Ljubilana,Bratislava,Zagreb,Budapest,Dubrovnik in the Balkans.Tlemcen in algeria.Baden,Regensberg,Frankfurt,Aachen,Linz,Heidelberg,Stuttgart,Vienna,Cologne,Bonn,Koblenz,Worms, Mainz,Salzburg,Augsburg,Zurich,Trier in Germany,Austria and Switzerland. Nijmegen, Utrecht, Maastricht in Netherlands and Belgium.

Civil Law,romance languages,military organization,concrete,aqueducts,baths,city planning,architecture techniques,mining techniques,advanced glassmaking,classical literature and philosophy,holiday customs,the christian religion,calendar,coinage among others are the legacy of Rome and its empire.

While the western Roman empire fell in 476 AD,the eastern half endured for another 1000 years.After a catastrophic decline during the fall of the western empire and several sacks of the city in 5th and 6th centuries it gradually regained its grandeur as the centre of western catholicism.Throughout the middle ages it regained its prominence as the centre of the papacy and the catholic faith,was a major centre of the Renaissance,and after 1870 the capital of a unified Italy.Today it is a city within a city,the vatican being a part of it.Its the most religiously significant christian city and continues to be a major centre of importance.It is a popular tourist destination housing sites like the forum,trajan's column,the pantheon,sistine chapel,the vatican and the coliseum.

(Vatican)​

Location and population -
Rome's location is extremely fortituous.It sits bang in the centre of Italy on the banks of the Tiber river with lush available grasslands surrounding it.Its flanks are covered by the mediterannean and the Apenine mountain ranges, from its central position it could expand both north and south to conquer italy and after conquering Italy as long as it held the alpine mountain passes and guarded against an invasion by sea,Italy was invulnerable to attack. Italy itself is centrally located in the mediterranean and rome is the centre of Italy,giving an impression that Rome was the centre of the world itself.Thus ancient authors called it 'Capita mundi' or capital of the world.

(Sistine Chapel)​

Rome became the most populous city in the world at 400,000 by 100 BC and retained the status for the next 500 years.By 200 AD its population was estimated at 1 million - probably the first global city to accomplish this.(made possible by advanced aqueduct and water transport system,sanitation and grain imports from africa).Its population today is 4.3 million - 3rd highest in Europe.

​

''Babylon is fallen,is fallen..'' - Isaih,the Bible​

2. BABYLON -

What Rome was to Europe, Babylon was to the ancient middle East.It was at once a Holy city as well as the imperial capital of the cradle of civilization for over 1500 years .Initially a small Akkadian town founded in 2300 AD Babylon's rise to power began under Hammurabi,the ruler with first known legal code around 1800 BC.After that it constantly changed hands over the next 1500 years between the elamite,assyrian,neo babylonian, achaemenid persian and macedonian empires.Babylonian language spread through the middle east and it was the capital of Nebuchadnezzar's empire as well as Alexander the great's world empire.It was one of the 4 great capitals of the achaemenid persian empire with susa,pasargadae and persepolis. A centre of learning as well as a holy site and an economic hub.The ancient scientists who lived in the city made important discoveries in mathematics, physics and astronomy. Among their many accomplishments, they developed trigonometry ,used mathematical models to track the planet Jupiter and developed methods of tracking time that are still used today. Ancient Babylonian records are still used by modern-day astronomers to study how the rotation of the Earth has changed.

(Reconstruction of Ishtar Gate)​

Babylonian religion and laws seem to have influenced later middle eastern religions such as zoroastrianism and abrahamic faiths.The eye for an eye idiom for example comes directly from Hammurabi's law of retaliation.Biblical texts mention babylon ,as well as the blasphemous tower of babel now identified as the 300 ft ziggurat of babylon probably witnessed by jews during their captivity under nebuchdnezzar there.Babylon was home to impressive architectural creations apart from the huge Ziggurat on the city centre,such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and its formidable walls,the walls of bablyon being the strongest fortifications of the contemporary world.

​

Babylon's decline began during the time of alexander's succesors when its population was deported to the new city of seleucia and continued under the parthians,sassanids .By the time of the arab caliphates it was a small village and today is a ruin.Its successor in the region was to be Baghdad,just 60 miles away.

(Hanging Gardens)​

Location and Population -
Babylon located on the Euphrates river bisecting the 2 halves of the city had access to the fertile floodplains surrounding it while its lack of natural defenses were compensated by its huge walls.It was well suited to dominate the regional riverine trade.Canals dug from the tigris and euphrates and the rich alluvial soil could support a huge population for its time.It was the largest city in the world from 1770 – 1670 BC, and again between 612 –  320 BC. It was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000.Today the city is long gone but lives on in legend as the first great imperial capital of the world.


CONTD :

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

''If the Earth were a single state,Istanbul would be its capital'' -Napoleon Bonaparte​

3. CONSTANTINOPOLE / ISTANBUL

At the meeting point of 2 continents,perhaps the greatest strategic location of all,the capital of 2 empires that together lasted 1600 years and reshaped the whole region,commercial-religious-political hub and still thriving -Constantinopole or Istanbul as it was called from the 18th century onwards was rightly termed the 'City of the world's desire'.It began as a greek trading post colony called Byzantium the city rose dramatically to meteoric heights under Roman emperor Constantine when he made it the new capital of the roman empire,calling it 'New Rome'.It came to be known as Constantinopole(Constantine's city) shortly.With the division of the empire,constantinopole became the capital of the Eastern half and through the centuries its character gradually became more greek than latin.

(Hagia Sophia)​

Constantine adopted christianity as the official faith of the empire and Constantinopole was the seat of one of the five patriarchates ,and the most important one.(Others being Jerusalem,Antioch.Alexandria and Rome -first 3 fell to arabs,rome became seperate centre of catholicism)It remained the heart of Orthodox christianity for over a 1000 years(shifted to russia after 1453), symbolized by the world's largest and greatest cathedral in the Hagia Sophia built by Justinian ,later an imperial ottoman mosque and now a museum and an wonder of the world.The impact of the grandeur of the Hagia sophia on rus dignitaries sent by Prince Vladimir to enquire on which religious faith to choose was considered a major factor on the conversion of the Rus(later russians) to orthodox christianity.The other wonders of constantinopole were the great hippodrome for chariot racing,the royal palace and its harbour with a chain system to control passage of ships .

Location and Population -
The city enjoyed a supreme advantage in location,it has one step on each continent enjoying central position and was seen as perfect base from which the declining roman empire facing increasing threat from the East(Sassanids,Alans) as well as in the balkans (Nomadic and germanic tribes) and increasingly dependent on its rich eastern provinces could respond to threats.It controlled the entire trade of the black sea region and could block access to it,and during the middle ages and late roman era was the greatest trading centre of the mediterranean world.It was the entry port into europe for trade along the silk road route as well.

​

Lacking natural defenses was a severe weakness for so vital and rich a city and this was countered by the construction of the most famous and formidable defensive wall complex in history - the Theodosian walls were a three tier wall system with hundreds of towers and a giant moat and withstood all attackers for over a millenium,and was one of the main causes why the byzantine empire lasted so long despite huge defeats and several crises.The walls were constructed initially to repel Attilla the Hun which they did successfully, and withstood 12 major sieges in its history by the Sassanids,avars,Ottomans,Rus,Arabs,Bulgarians and others.Despite joining forces with the slavs and avars and overrunning anatolia and syria the sassanids couldn't overcome the walls and the byzantines were able to successfully counterattack under Heraclius in 626.
Among the most pivotal sieges was the 2nd arab siege of constantinopole in 717 by the Ummayad caliphate.Impregnable walls and the secret weapon of greek fire was able to defeat a huge 150,000 strong arab force and cause massive casualities,such that the caliphates never again attempted a siege of the city and remained satisfied with raiding.This battle is deemed one of the most decisive in history as it prevented the collapse of the byzantines, which acted as a shield for Europe at its most weak and vulnerable state with no other major kingdoms or states present at the time to challenge islamic expansion from the east when it was at its peak of power and glory and delayed the issue for another 700 years.By the 15th century when it fell the renaissance had begun and there were no longer fledgling proto states ruled by tribes but powerful kingdoms in existence in Europe.
They finally fell in 1453 ,made obsolete by the huge gunpowder powered bombards - but even then it was not the cannons but an open gate through negligence or treachery that allowed the ottomans entry into the city.

(Istanbul)
​

Constantinopole was the most populous city in the world between 400 and 700 AD,thereafter remaining the greatest city in europe with a population of half a million (sustained by its great aqueduct and cisterns) throughout the dark ages and early middle ages surpassed globally only by Baghdad and the chinese imperial cities.Apart from a religious and political centre it was a cultural and commercial hub as well as a great centre of learning -the library of constantinopole being the last great library of the ancient world and preserved classical graeco-roman knowledge through the dark ages.After the fall of the city in 1453 many of these texts found their way to Italy via Byzantine refugees,giving impetus to the renaissance.

Constantinopole's decline had begun by the 12th century,when territory was lost to the seljuk turks,the theme military system broke down,civil wars between emperors and religious schism between orthodox and catholics ran rampant,and its trade revenue began to be diverted by the Italian merchants of Genoa and Venice.These problems led to the disastrous sack of the city by Latin crusaders in 1204 and the empire was fractured and never recovered.By 1400 its population had shrunk to 100,000.Its revival began under the Ottoman empire ,Mehmet II having declared it to be his capital and it stayed such for the whole length of the Ottoman empire until 1922.Under the Ottomans it was again a dominant trading and political centre and regained its population and glory.

Today it is the cultural and economic heart of the Turkish republic accounting for 1/4th its economy ,the largest city in Europe and the 7th largest in the world.It is also a well known tourist destination and continues to grow.

''When a man is tired of London,he is tired of life'' - Samuel Johnson​

4.LONDON -

In terms of global impact few empires could challenge the reach or legacy of the british empire,the largest in human history with 25% of the world's landmass and present on every habitable continent on the planet at its peak.Though not a long lived as the roman empire it left behind an undeniable legacy in the spread of western ideals,philosophy,technology,military and civil institutions,law and language.Its former colonies include USA - the global superpower and its protestant religion and democratic culture shaped its inception.It is also the reason English is the international language.London was the centre of this Pax Britannica ,the home to the industrial revolution as the Royal Navy dominated the oceans and Britannia ruled the waves.The defacto capital of the world during the 19th century ,it was here that constitutional monarchy and the concept of bill of rights was born,and a new kind of empire was concieved.An empire based less on religion,pride and war for the sake of war ,and more on sail,steam and profit on the balance sheet.
And when that empire ended ,the arrangements that created the new states that occupy today's global map were decided and finalized here.Here 2 world wars were successfully waged and won.

(Big Ben and Houses of Parliament)​

Beginning as the humble roman colony of Londonium on the Thames river ,it became the capital of Roman Britain with a peak population of 60,000 but was largely abandoned after the Roman times.The anglo saxon period saw a partial revival but was offset again by the viking invasions.Alfred the Great repulsed the viking threat and London by the 12th century was again the most prosperous and largest city in Britain.The norman conquest saw it become the capital of England and the completion of the Tower of London as well as Westminister Abbey,a grand cathedral.The Black Death of the 14th century devastated the city wiping out a third of its population.It recovered rapidly in the 16th century with the discovery of New trade routes and american colonization growing from 50,000 in 1530 to 225,000 in 1600.

As Britain was unified and eclipsed the Dutch ,Portugese and French as the dominant maritime and colonial power,and religious issues were overcome with the glorious revolution,the anglican reformation and the parliamentary system,London became the primary North Sea hub and soon succeeded Amsterdam as the main banking centre of Europe with the foundation of the Bank of London in 1694.With the Industrial revolution,Britain became the workshop of the world and population exploded from about 1 million in 1800 to over 7 million in 1914.This size and scale was unmatched in 19th century and early 20th.This was made possible by the new sewer system - an engineering marvel that copied throughout Europe,railroads and the agricultural revolution that accompanied the industrial one.Such was its influence that its was described as 'the banker and financier of the universe'
London's locational advantage was not as profound,sitting on Thames its river port controlled riverine trade in southern england and also could reach the sea.Later canals and railroads further eased transportation.It was protected by the Channel and Royal Navy from hostile land invasion.Its main power derived from being the prime political centre of the empire,the first great industrial megacity of the world and as a banking and commercial hub.

​

Today London is a cosmopolitan city and the capital of the UK with a population of nearly 14 million.It is still the largest financial centre in the world and the greatest investment destination.It is the largest city in the European Union and was recently voted the most liveable city in the world.London is home to the British monarchy.
It is also the most visited city in the world with several engineering marvels and tourist destinations including the Tower of London, Westminister Abbey,British Museum,British Library,Houses of Parliament with the Big Ben clock,Buckinghum Palace,St.Paul's Cathedral and the famous hanging bridge.The empire may be gone but the city's glory remains undiminished.

CONTINUED :

 

[Indus Pakistan]

I hope you look at Taxila, Harappa, Mohenjo daro.

 

[Mani2020]

You forgot valeria ... the city of valerian steel and dragons

 

[SALMAN F]

My vote goes to London and Rome and don't forget baghdad and demascus

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

I hope you look at Taxila, Harappa, Mohenjo daro.

Going with honourable mention because - lack of longevity,global impact and any lasting legacy.I wanted to add one but there are too many important contenders.I also had to leave out the great mesopotamian city sates uruk,elam etc from the same era for same reasons.Of the ancient world Babylon trumps them all.

This is the list I made,tell me how i could exclude any of these - 5.Baghdad
6 -20 ( in no order) -
Paris
New York
Jerusalem
Mecca
Beijing
Delhi
Moscow
St.Petersburg
Berlin
Vienna
Tokyo/Edo
Carthage
Athens
Alexandria
Damascus

(21-25)
Pataliputra
Nanjing
Samarkand
Florence
Los Angeles

Honourable mention -
Amsterdam,Harappa,Mahenjo Daro, Eridu, Uruk, Akkad, Thebes, Cairo, Syracuse, Ayuthayya, Canton/Shanghai, Varanasi, Venice, Madrid, Susa, Cordoba, Isfahan, Timbuktu, Tenochtitlan/Mexico City, Kannauj ,Prague, Warsaw, Memphis,Xian,Vijaynagar(Hampi),Taxila.

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

The most influential city in the future will be Jerusalem, the future capital of the coming Messianic government.

 

[Indus Pakistan]

@AUSTERLITZ I will give a more detailed reply when I get the time but call my views biased I think Taxila deserves to be there. It fused Greek, Backtrian influences with Buddhism thus acted as a medium between Europe/South Asia. In addition it took in Central Asian/Persian influences and then even more importantly intereacted with Sinosphere through the Karakorum Silk and Buddhism was spread in China/Far East. Today along the KKH there are many stone carvings alluding to this journey of ideas. I think the syncretic culture that flourished at Taxila [wider Gandhara] was steller example of history being made. The legacy of Buddhism being spread to such a large chunk of humanity in Far East is testimony to that. And if you have looked at the art of Taxila/Gandhara you will be impressed.

 

[damm1t]

where is bayburt ?

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

where is bayburt ?

Not in the big leagues,sorry.

 

[Attila the Hun]

Pataliputra

Not good. I haven't heard of this city. I feel bad... ugh

 

[T-123456]

Not in the big leagues,sorry.

There was an ancient city in Mexico,dont remember the name.

 

[El Sidd]

Yathrib aka Madina

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

There was an ancient city in Mexico,dont remember the name.

Tenochtitlan,capital of the aztecs and today Mexico city,capital of mexico.
Or you may be refering to Chichen Itza,the greatest mayan city.

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

Yathrib aka Madina

Wrong:
قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ عُمْرَانُ بَيْتِ الْمَقْدِسِ خَرَابُ يَثْرِبَ
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The flourishing state of Jerusalem will be when Yathrib is in ruins