Ayutthaya ranks in 16 Greatest Cities In Human History

[Lite Beer]

Ayutthaya ranks in 16 Greatest Cities In Human History

AYUTTHAYA, 15 November 2014 (NNT) – Ayutthaya has been selected as one of the Greatest Cities in Human History in a ranking compiled by businessinsider.com, according to an official.

According to the deputy governor of Ayutthaya Weerawut Putraserani, Ayutthya has been listed as the 13th of the 16 Greatest Cities in Human History by businessinsider.com.

This ranking lists greatest cities in a certain period of time that brought about transition from one era to another in degrees of culture, arts, architecture, trading, agriculture, food distribution, the size of forts, and disasters.

The list mentioned that Ayutthaya had been the capital of Siam for 417 years. It was an international trading center surrounded by the Pa Sak river, the Chao Phraya river, and the Lopburi river. The location for the old capital today is at the Ayutthaya historical park in the Ayutthaya province.

Other cities include Tokyo, New York, Baghdad and Rome. Tokyo was selected from the fact that it is the economic epicenter of Japan. New York is considered as a metropolis of the future. Iraq’s capital Baghdad was included because of its central role during Islam’s golden age. Italy’s Rome was the sprawling city that fed its own people and surrounding cities in the Mediterranean.

-- NNT 2014-11-15

[Costas2008]

Athens was not included, because they never offered anything to anybody on this earth.

[AGareth2]

once the greatest city of its time

how have the mighty fallen?

1767

[Kerryd]

The headline is a misnomer. By "Greatest Cities" they are actually referring to what are estimated to have been the largest cities in the world during certain periods of time. It looks like Business Insider publishes this same list almost every year (in 2011 and 2013 Ayutthaya is also noted as being the 13th "Greatest City").

The authors of the study used various techniques to estimate the sizes of different cities from the time of Jericho (thought to be one of the first true "city") in 7,000 BC up until Tokyo in the late 1960s.

The bit about "transition from one era to another in degrees of culture, arts, architecture, trading, agriculture, food distribution, the size of forts, and disasters" is misleading, as the people who made up the estimates were not trying to determine any of that. They were using some of that merely to estimate the size of the cities, not their cultural importance. Throughout most of human history, very few stats were ever kept regarding the population of various cities.

"Historians Tertius Chandler, Gerald Fox, and George Modelski identified the largest cities throughout history through painstaking study of household data, agricultural commerce, church records, fortification sizes, food distribution, loss of life in a disaster, and more."

I'd say there is a distinct difference between the "largest city in it's time" and the "greatest city in it's time".

[rheinwiese]

the article is from 2011 as :The largest cities in Human History

http://www.businessinsider.com/largest-cities-in-history-2011-4?op=1

[Lupatria]

Translation with courtesy of the TAT?

[Estrada]

Athens was not included, because they never offered anything to anybody on this earth.

Congrats Costas, a very subtle clue as to how Ayuthaya got listed. Similar method as used to get Vanessa Mae into the Winter Olympics I assume.

[Docno]

Yep, I'd turn to a 5 year-old business-oriented website for my knowledge of human history. I'm now eagerly waiting for their list of the 20 best novels of all time, the10 most correct moral philosophies, and the 5 best religions.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it Costas :-)

[robertthebruce]

What about Dundee ????

[godden]

Do the Thais have a license to B S or what, oh sorry it's where they invented scamming.

[klauskunkel]

why is the limit 16, and not 23, or 8?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Wasn't that the place where they used to drive the building posts in through the stomachs of live pregnant women, so the ghosts of the dead women were forced to protect the home?

That was before the Burmese conquered the Kingdom circa 1760 and burnt it to the ground.

Edited November 15, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[phil2407]

Shame that not a single student that I teach doesn't know the "old" name of Thailand or any of the teachers (including the over 40's)

[CapFarmer]

Wasn't that the place where they used to drive the building posts in through the stomachs of live pregnant women, so the ghosts of the dead women were forced to protect the home?

That was before the Burmese conquered the Kingdom circa 1760 and burnt it to the ground.

does that work?

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Wasn't that the place where they used to drive the building posts in through the stomachs of live pregnant women, so the ghosts of the dead women were forced to protect the home?

That was before the Burmese conquered the Kingdom circa 1760 and burnt it to the ground.

does that work?

Apparently not, else the Burmese would have lost.

Or at least failed to burn the place.

[canarysun]

I love Ayutthaya I visit quite a lot! Fabulous for long walks,great for photography and I always rent a bicycle for 30 baht! Loads of accommodation at 200 baht for the night and take the " cool train " from Bangkok's Hua Lampong station for just 15 baht. I would recommend at least 2 days to see everything and fully loaded with delightful ladies who you can engage in random chit chat whilst strolling about! The afternoon river cruise is a must ( not cheap ) but well worth the 200 baht investment viewers!

God Bless you all!

Farang Jaidee

[ExPratt]

I live in Ayutthaya, its a nice place . This may inspire me to read something about it, I suppose I could stretch to Wiki

[PETERTHEEATER]

Shame that not a single student that I teach doesn't know the "old" name of Thailand or any of the teachers (including the over 40's)

Hardly surprising if you teach them the same grammar that you use in your post......

[canarysun]

I live in Ayutthaya, its a nice place . This may inspire me to read something about it, I suppose I could stretch to Wiki

Easy access into Bangkok with loads of trains most of the day and night for 15 baht but also you can rent a nice place for about 3,500 baht per month too!

[soalbundy]

shame they just let it fall apart

[Acharn]

"Italy’s Rome was the sprawling city that fed its own people and surrounding cities in the Mediterranean." Where did this come from? No city has ever fed its own people, much less the people of other cities. Even by the time of Julius Caesar, 44BC, the farms, plantations, and latifundiae of Italy were not enough to feed the people of Rome and they needed to import wheat from Egypt and North Africa. One of the reasons Rome "fell" was because the Vandals conquered North Africa, depriving Rome of needed tax revenue and making the price of food higher. There were many other reasons, and licentious sex was not one of them, but I'm not so sure Christianity was not. I wonder if this is a mistranslation or a reference to its ancient history under the Etruscans and later the Tarquin kings.

[puipuitom]

Ayutthia, that little nest somewhere in nothing...

Compared with Babylon, Thebe, Asur, Persepolis, Jeruzalem, Sidon, Athens, Carthago, Rome, Constantinopel, Paris, London, Madrid, Vienna, Tenochtitlan, Cuzco, Palenque, ... I think even in S.E. Asia there are many cities of higher importance, and.. think of India, China, Japan, Korea with their over 2ooo years of history.

Maybe only cities are counted, which are named at Channel 3-5-7-9 and 11 ? ?

[Misterwhisper]

What a skewed news report.

Firstly, the good Governeur of Ayutthaya apparently didn't realize that the list he cited was based on the total populations the listed cities had reached at a certain time in their histories. Ayutthaya was only included because it allegedly had 1 million citizens by the time it fell in 1767, with no doubt the vast majority of them living crammed into leaky bamboo hovels alongside polluted canals.

Other truly great cities of antiquity like Athens, Persepolis, Alexandria or Palmyra didn't get a mention because their populations never were quite large enough to make the list.

Secondly, the OP doesn't make it clear that the word "greatest" referred to the listed cities' population sizes, and NOT their cultural achievements. A better title would have been "The Largest Cities in Human History".

Lastly, that original report was already published on the website in January 2013, almost two years ago. Governeur doesn't have much time to surf the Net, huh?

Edited November 15, 2014 by Misterwhisper

[emilymat]

The headline is a misnomer. By "Greatest Cities" they are actually referring to what are estimated to have been the largest cities in the world during certain periods of time. It looks like Business Insider publishes this same list almost every year (in 2011 and 2013 Ayutthaya is also noted as being the 13th "Greatest City").

The authors of the study used various techniques to estimate the sizes of different cities from the time of Jericho (thought to be one of the first true "city") in 7,000 BC up until Tokyo in the late 1960s.

The bit about "transition from one era to another in degrees of culture, arts, architecture, trading, agriculture, food distribution, the size of forts, and disasters" is misleading, as the people who made up the estimates were not trying to determine any of that. They were using some of that merely to estimate the size of the cities, not their cultural importance. Throughout most of human history, very few stats were ever kept regarding the population of various cities.

"Historians [/size]Tertius Chandler, Gerald Fox, and [/size]George Modelski identified the largest cities throughout history through painstaking study of [/size]household data, agricultural commerce, church records, fortification sizes, food distribution, loss of life in a disaster,[/size] and more.[/size]"[/size]

I'd say there is a distinct difference between the "largest city in it's time" and the "greatest city in it's time".

you mean the article is B/S ?

[cocopops]

"Italy’s Rome was the sprawling city that fed its own people and surrounding cities in the Mediterranean." Where did this come from? No city has ever fed its own people, much less the people of other cities. Even by the time of Julius Caesar, 44BC, the farms, plantations, and latifundiae of Italy were not enough to feed the people of Rome and they needed to import wheat from Egypt and North Africa. One of the reasons Rome "fell" was because the Vandals conquered North Africa, depriving Rome of needed tax revenue and making the price of food higher. There were many other reasons, and licentious sex was not one of them, but I'm not so sure Christianity was not. I wonder if this is a mistranslation or a reference to its ancient history under the Etruscans and later the Tarquin kings.

I've read speculations of that sort. The fact that the most intellectually gifted of the age started to become theocrats instead of administrators and others who's energies are devoted to more practical tasks surely cannot have helped...

Edited November 15, 2014 by cocopops

[dotpoom]

For me....a nice example of useless information. The here and now is the only time there is.

[arunsakda]

And what of Scunthorpe?

[KonKorat]

Why not Pattaya in top 16,it has many prostitutes,many ladyboys,many scams,many suicides,

[lvr181]

Shame that not a single student that I teach doesn't know the "old" name of Thailand or any of the teachers (including the over 40's)

Hardly surprising if you teach them the same grammar that you use in your post......

Perhaps phil2407 does not teach English? I guess that is your assumption?

[biplanebluey]

Shame that not a single student that I teach doesn't know the "old" name of Thailand or any of the teachers (including the over 40's)

Hardly surprising if you teach them the same grammar that you use in your post......

Not a single student DOESNT KNOW------ HA-HA That means they ALL KNOW------So whats wrong with that ???????

And you are a TEACHER??????????