Tank_Guy#3
Lion of Lehistan
The question is as the title states. My guess would probably be Istanbul (Constantinople, Byzantium, etc). That is the only one I can think of at the moment.
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What major historical city (do you think) has had it's name changed the most?
- Thread starter Tank_Guy#3
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Mongoloid Cow
Great Khan
Istanbul (Byzans, Byzantium, Augusta Antonina, COnstantinople) is the best example.
Beijing is another (Tatu, Khanbalik, Peking, etc.)
There is also a city in the Crimea whose name I can't remember (Tamatarka, Tmutarakan, etc.)
Beijing is another (Tatu, Khanbalik, Peking, etc.)
There is also a city in the Crimea whose name I can't remember (Tamatarka, Tmutarakan, etc.)
Stefan Haertel
Title
There haven't been too many city name changes in history. Some examples I can think of:
The ancient Mede Hagtmatana, which under Greek rule became known as Agbatana or Epiphanaea -Latin Ecbatana (though the Romans never ruled it)- is now known as Hamadan- although this is much more an evolution of the city name.
I have no idea what the Greeks and Armenians called Urartaean Tushpa, but it has been known as Van after the Turkish conquest.
The city named after the Parisii tribes was renamed Lutetia by the Romans and later renamed into Paris again.
Rome was known as Ruma in Etruscan times and was allegedly renamed twice thereafter; once into Neropolis and once into Colonia Commodiana. Three guesses who thought up these names, first two don't count
Samarkand was known as Marakanda, then as Alexandreia in antiquity; Herat was founded as Alexandreia Areia; Khodshent was founded as Alexandreia Eshata; Margiana was also refounded as Alexandreia and was later called Merv; I think it is modern-day Mary, but I could be mistaken (I also think it was called Antiocheia during the Seleucid age). Modern-day Gasni was founded as Alexandreia and was called Gazna in the Middle Ages.
Babillu was first renamed into Bab-ili, then Babirush (by the Persians), Babylon by the Greeks and is known as Babil since Sasanian times.
St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd in the early 20th century, then into Leningrad and then into St. Petersburg again.
The ancient Mede Hagtmatana, which under Greek rule became known as Agbatana or Epiphanaea -Latin Ecbatana (though the Romans never ruled it)- is now known as Hamadan- although this is much more an evolution of the city name.
I have no idea what the Greeks and Armenians called Urartaean Tushpa, but it has been known as Van after the Turkish conquest.
The city named after the Parisii tribes was renamed Lutetia by the Romans and later renamed into Paris again.
Rome was known as Ruma in Etruscan times and was allegedly renamed twice thereafter; once into Neropolis and once into Colonia Commodiana. Three guesses who thought up these names, first two don't count
Samarkand was known as Marakanda, then as Alexandreia in antiquity; Herat was founded as Alexandreia Areia; Khodshent was founded as Alexandreia Eshata; Margiana was also refounded as Alexandreia and was later called Merv; I think it is modern-day Mary, but I could be mistaken (I also think it was called Antiocheia during the Seleucid age). Modern-day Gasni was founded as Alexandreia and was called Gazna in the Middle Ages.
Babillu was first renamed into Bab-ili, then Babirush (by the Persians), Babylon by the Greeks and is known as Babil since Sasanian times.
St. Petersburg was renamed Petrograd in the early 20th century, then into Leningrad and then into St. Petersburg again.
Adso de Fimnu
Prince
Jerusalem has had many names:
Moriah
Salem
Jebus
Jerusalem
Zion
Aelia Capitolina
al-Quds
Moriah
Salem
Jebus
Jerusalem
Zion
Aelia Capitolina
al-Quds
Japanrocks12
tired of being a man
Let's see
St. Petersburg
Petrograd
Leningrad
Not to mention
Volgograd
Stalingrad
Tsaritsyn
St. Petersburg
Petrograd
Leningrad
Not to mention
Volgograd
Stalingrad
Tsaritsyn
Mongoloid Cow
Great Khan
How did I forget Nova Roma! 
Most cities' names evolve during the times, rather than be renamed as such. It makes coming up with these cities hard.
I want to come up with another city... um... Qandahar has been called Alexandria ____, Kanda, and another name in its' time. Tasjkent has also seen its fair share of names.
Most cities' names evolve during the times, rather than be renamed as such. It makes coming up with these cities hard.I want to come up with another city... um... Qandahar has been called Alexandria ____, Kanda, and another name in its' time. Tasjkent has also seen its fair share of names.
Adler17
Prussian Feldmarschall
Saint Petersburg was originally named Dutch Saint Petersburich (or so, that dialect I don´t know ).
Adler
).Adler
Stefan Haertel
Title
Adler17 said:Saint Petersburg was originally named Dutch Saint Petersburich (or so, that dialect I don´t know
Adler
What about Hamburch?
Adler17
Prussian Feldmarschall
Stefan 
.
In reality the North Germans speak the g at the end of the name like a "soft" ch like in Schnäppchen.
The name Hamburg was indeed changed at least once: The castle built by Carolus Magnus about 800 AD was called Hammaburg. This year archaeologists did make excavations at the Heiligengeistfeld, where some remains of the Hammaburg were.
Hamburg became a very important city in the next centuries and so it is no wonder that some tried to make profit out of the location and started to build another town very near: Altona (the word comes most probably from all to nah, all too near, although there is still a debate).
Altona and several other Prussian towns and villages, as for example Rahlstedt or Wandsbek, (as Holstein was part of Prussia) were integrated into Hamburg in 1937 by the Great Hamburg act, like Berlin did it about 15 years before with some nearby towns and villages. This lead to a massive decrease of tax revenues in Holstein as many potent towns were no longer belonging to it.
Adler
.In reality the North Germans speak the g at the end of the name like a "soft" ch like in Schnäppchen.
The name Hamburg was indeed changed at least once: The castle built by Carolus Magnus about 800 AD was called Hammaburg. This year archaeologists did make excavations at the Heiligengeistfeld, where some remains of the Hammaburg were.
Hamburg became a very important city in the next centuries and so it is no wonder that some tried to make profit out of the location and started to build another town very near: Altona (the word comes most probably from all to nah, all too near, although there is still a debate).
Altona and several other Prussian towns and villages, as for example Rahlstedt or Wandsbek, (as Holstein was part of Prussia) were integrated into Hamburg in 1937 by the Great Hamburg act, like Berlin did it about 15 years before with some nearby towns and villages. This lead to a massive decrease of tax revenues in Holstein as many potent towns were no longer belonging to it.
Adler
Aion
King
I recently came across this when contributing to an article on the German Wikipedia about the Tunisian city of Sousse: During Punic and Roman times it was called Hadrumetum (not sure about the exact Punic form, though). When the Vandals conquered it, they renamed it in Hunericopolis. During the Byzantine time it was called Justinanopolis. The Arabs renamed it Susah. The French form of this is Sousse.
Stefan Haertel
Title
Adler17 said:Stefan
In reality the North Germans speak the g at the end of the name like a "soft" ch like in Schnäppchen.
The name Hamburg was indeed changed at least once: The castle built by Carolus Magnus about 800 AD was called Hammaburg. This year archaeologists did make excavations at the Heiligengeistfeld, where some remains of the Hammaburg were.
Hamburg became a very important city in the next centuries and so it is no wonder that some tried to make profit out of the location and started to build another town very near: Altona (the word comes most probably from all to nah, all too near, although there is still a debate).
Altona and several other Prussian towns and villages, as for example Rahlstedt or Wandsbek, (as Holstein was part of Prussia) were integrated into Hamburg in 1937 by the Great Hamburg act, like Berlin did it about 15 years before with some nearby towns and villages. This lead to a massive decrease of tax revenues in Holstein as many potent towns were no longer belonging to it.
Adler
You are reminding me of my very last day in Hamburg (sigh)... I went into the City Hall because I haven't been there before (all that stuff you just delay because you have got "so much time"), and there was an exhibition on the city's history.
Some of the names you mentioned ...aren't different names actualy. They are in different languges, but not diferent names. For example Peterburg and Petrograd.. It's the same but Petrograd is in Russian. burg=grad=city.
And for Istanbul..well in my language it was called Carigrad, translated in English King'scity. Should these names be added to the list of the different ones ?
Or what about Odrin and Adrianapolis ? Are these different names ?
And for Istanbul..well in my language it was called Carigrad, translated in English King'scity. Should these names be added to the list of the different ones ?
Or what about Odrin and Adrianapolis ? Are these different names ?
Aion
King
No, Petrograd and St. Petersburg are really different names. St. Petersburg was called prior to WW1 and has been called since 1991 Санкт Петербург (Sankt Peterburg) also in Russian, while between the start of WW1 and the Bolshevik revolution the name was officially Петроград (Petrograd), which was supposed to sound less German, as Germany was Russia's foe in the war. So it's two different names in Russian as well.
jameson
Emperor
I'll add in the modern-day city of Lviv, which had 4 namechanges just last century: Lemberg in Austria-Hungary, Lwow in Poland, Lemberg again under the Nazis, Lvov in the USSR and now Lviv in Ukraine. So living there over the last century you could conceivably have lived in 5 different countries without moving once.
Kamilian
Deity
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2002
- Messages
- 3,473
Bratislava
Its incarnations:
Bratislava (instated during the First Czechoslovak Republic and ongoing since then)
Pressburg (the German name used often until the above-mentioned Czechoslovak name change)
Pozsony (official name under the Hungarian Kingdom during the Dual Monarchy period)
Presporok (Slovak version until above-mentioned name change)
Wilsonovo (For a brief period in late 1918 and early 1919)
Its incarnations:
Bratislava (instated during the First Czechoslovak Republic and ongoing since then)
Pressburg (the German name used often until the above-mentioned Czechoslovak name change)
Pozsony (official name under the Hungarian Kingdom during the Dual Monarchy period)
Presporok (Slovak version until above-mentioned name change)
Wilsonovo (For a brief period in late 1918 and early 1919)
uniteatteri
Chieftain
Mongoloid Cow said:
Beijing is just a modern westernized name for Peking _in english_. The city's name itself hasn't changed.
Dann
Green bug
Here's a more detailed list of Beijing's many names in history:
11th century BC = a small town under the Jing dukedom.
Conquered by the Yen dukedom sometime during the middle of the Spring and Autumn period (770 - 476 BC), made capital. Renamed Jingcheng.
226 BC Yen conquered by Qin. Jingcheng faded into insignificance.
938 AD became part of the Khitan Liao Empire. Made auxiliary capital. Renamed Nanjing - southern capital
(well it was south for the nomads ) and Yenjing.
1153 conquered by Juchen Jin. Made capital. Renamed Zhongdu. Abandoned 1214 in the face of invading Mongols.
1276 reconstructed and made capital by Kublai Khan. Renamed Tatu.
Made capital during the reign of the Ming emperor Yunglo. Renamed Beijing.
After the collapse of the Qing in 1911, lost capital status. Renamed Beiping.
1949 made capital once more, this time of the PRC. Renamed back to Beijing.
And Beijing is a relatively young city yet by Chinese standards.
11th century BC = a small town under the Jing dukedom.
Conquered by the Yen dukedom sometime during the middle of the Spring and Autumn period (770 - 476 BC), made capital. Renamed Jingcheng.
226 BC Yen conquered by Qin. Jingcheng faded into insignificance.
938 AD became part of the Khitan Liao Empire. Made auxiliary capital. Renamed Nanjing - southern capital
(well it was south for the nomads ) and Yenjing.1153 conquered by Juchen Jin. Made capital. Renamed Zhongdu. Abandoned 1214 in the face of invading Mongols.
1276 reconstructed and made capital by Kublai Khan. Renamed Tatu.
Made capital during the reign of the Ming emperor Yunglo. Renamed Beijing.
After the collapse of the Qing in 1911, lost capital status. Renamed Beiping.
1949 made capital once more, this time of the PRC. Renamed back to Beijing.
And Beijing is a relatively young city yet by Chinese standards.
Stefan Haertel
Title
Aquincum
Ofen
Buda
Budapest
Ofen
Buda
Budapest
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