Hakan-i Cihan
Emperor
As a "city," no. It wasn't founded until 1940. However, the IRL city is now the capital of Batman Province that sits on the Tigris and Batman Rivers overlooking the Bati Raman oil fields.
Batman Province had been, from what I can find, an independent province in current day Turkey until Alexander the Great conquered it around 352bc. From Alexander it got passed to the Byzentines, then the ottomans, and is now part of current day Turkey. There was a capital city named Batman founded in the ?1940s?
The city was founded in the 1950s and it was after the creation of the Dark Knight.
Yes, the province existed before many of the Dark Knight's creators' ancestors were born.
To correct bits, see this quote from wikipedia:
Wikipedia said:Until the 1950s, Batman was a village, called Iluh, with a population of about 3,000. However, oil fields were discovered around it in the 1940s that resulted in a rapid development of the area and in the inflow of workforce from other parts of Turkey. In 1957, the village was renamed Batman, after the river namesake, received a city status, and became a district center.
In short:
The village Iluh became a city in 1957 and was renamed to Batman after the river Batman, which was there before the Dark Knight was created.
Iluh is linked to be Elekhan a settlement dating back to 6th century BC, which was invaded by Alexander the great.
The province of Batman was founded in 1990, named after its capital as it is the case for provinces in Turkey.