PATALIPUTRA WAS WORLD’S LARGEST CITY DURING THE MAURYA EMPIRE

Mauryan Dynasty

Pataliputra was the largest and most populous city in the world during the peak of the Maurya Empire. It reached the pinnacle of prosperity while serving as the capital of Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka the Great.

The capital of Japan Tokyo is currently the largest and most populous city in the world, but there was a time when Indian city Pataliputra had been maintaining the same status. Magadha Emperor Udayin founded the city adjacent to modern-day Patna in 490 BCE as a small fort near the Ganges River. It then served as the capitals of Shishunaga Empire (413–345 BCE), Nanda Empire (345–320 BCE), the Maurya Empire (320–180 BCE), the Gupta Empire (320–550 CE), and the Pala Empire (750–1200 CE). It became the world’s largest and most populous city during the Maurya Empire (320–180 BCE). Maurya capital Pataliputra was bigger than the glorious Italian city Rome in that era. Here we go with world’s biggest cities in different periods.

Mauryan Dynasty

Year

City

Country

Population

2000 AD Tokyo Japan 20500000
1925 AD New York United States 7774000
1850 AD London UK 2320000
1700 AD Ayutthaya Thailand 1000000
1500 AD Beijing China 1000000
1400 AD Jinling China 1000000
1350 AD Cairo Egypt 660000
1300 AD Hangzhou China 1500000
1210 AD Merv Turkmenistan 500000
1180 AD Polonnaruwa Sri Lanka 250000
1160 AD Fez Morocco 250000
1100 AD Kaifeng China 1000000
935 AD Cordova Spain 450000
800 AD Baghdad Iraq 700000
600 AD Daxing (Chang’an) China 600000
575 AD Ctesiphon Iraq 500000
500 AD Constantinople Turkey 500000
200 AD Rome Italy 1200000
100 BC Alexandria Egypt 1000000
200 BC Pataliputra India 350000
300 BC Carthage Tunisia 700000
460 BC Rajagriha India
479 BC Sravasti India
500 BC Babylon Iraq 200000
650 BC Nineveh Iraq 120000
700 BC Linzi China 100000
900 BC Haojing (Xi’an) China 125000
1000 BC Chengzhou (Luoyang) China 100000
1200 BC Pi-Ramses Egypt 160000
1300 BC Yinxu China 120000
1360 BC Thebes Egypt 80000
1650 BC Avaris Egypt 100000
1800 BC Mari Syria 60000
2100 BC Ur Iraq 100000
2250 BC Akkad Iraq 35000
2300 BC Girsu Iraq 80000
2400 BC Mohenjo-daro Pakistan 40000
2500 BC Lagash Iraq 60000
3100 BC Memphis Egypt 20000
3500 BC Abydos Egypt 20000
3600-3500 BC Talianki Ukraine 10000
3600-3500 BC Maydanets Ukraine 10000
3700 BC Eridu Iraq 6,000-10,000
3800-3700 BC Dobrovody Ukraine 10000
4000 BC Uruk Iraq 5000
5000 BC Tell Brak Syria 4000
6500 BC Çatalhöyük Turkey 5,000-10,000
7000 BC Jericho West Bank 1,000-2,000

“Two parts of his report have attracted special attention: his description of the imperial capital, Pataliputra, and his account of the seven strata of Indian society which he observed there. Pataliputra was fortified with palisades. This fortification was shaped like a parallelogram measuring about 9 miles in length and about l.5 miles in breadth, and it had 570 towers and 64 gates. The circumference of Pataliputra was about 21 miles, and thus this city was about twice as large as Rome under Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Maurya Dynasty

If this report is true, Pataliputra must have been the largest city of the ancient world” Dietmar Rothermund and Hermann Kulke wrote in the ‘History of India’ which is highlighting the Megasthenes and Mauryans Kingdoms.

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