The first civilizations and cities

A city is a large, well-developed settlement. Cities arose as crafts and trade developed: craftsmen and merchants gathered in one place and markets multiplied. The first cities appeared several thousand years BCE in the East — in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China and Central Asia. Memphis was the capital of the Egyptian state and is believed to have been built by Menes, who united Egypt; pharaohs had pyramid-shaped tombs and a huge sphinx built. Babylon (in present-day Iraq) means “Gate of God”; under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II it was one of the mightiest cities, with a many-tiered temple tower in its centre. Nineveh, on the Tigris, was the capital of Assyria and was destroyed in 612 BCE by Babylon and the Medes. Athens was named after the goddess Athena and its learning flourished; it is now the capital of Greece. Sparta was a military city ruled by a council of elders and kings. Rome, by tradition, was founded in 753 BCE; mountain water was brought to it by pipes and buildings such as the Colosseum were built; it is now the capital of Italy.