Most-captured city?
 

I'll propose Syracuse, in Sicily. It's a confused list, but I think this is pretty close to correct.

Greeks -> Epirotes -> Greeks again -> Romans -> Vandals -> Byzantines -> Muslims -> Byzantines -> Muslims again (?) -> Normans (Hauteville) -> Imperial Germans (Hohenstaufen) -> Genoa -> Germans again -> French (Anjou) -> Aragon -> Spain -> Savoy -> Austria (Habsburgs) -> Kingdom of Sicily (Bourbon) -> Independence -> Bourbons again -> Italy -> WW2 Allies -> Italy again -> Mafia (lol)

Originally posted by Cyclotron
Greeks -> Epirotes -> Greeks again -> Romans -> Vandals -> Byzantines -> Muslims -> Byzantines -> Muslims again (?) -> Normans (Hauteville) -> Imperial Germans (Hohenstaufen) -> Genoa -> Germans again -> French (Anjou) -> Aragon -> Spain -> Savoy -> Austria (Habsburgs) -> Kingdom of Sicily (Bourbon) -> Independence -> Bourbons again -> Italy -> WW2 Allies -> Italy again -> Mafia (lol) Now that's impressive.

Although I guess some city in the Fertile Crescent will take the first spot, with all the fighting between the early empires and then the 500 years of Roman-Persian wars.

I was going to opine that it has to be a city somewhere on the "invasion plain" of Europe, that runs from the Urals to the Pyrannes, but Cyclotron and Thorgal have put up some very impressive lists.

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...es/bowdown.gif

Let's do this again:

Aleppo

Amorites -> Hittites -> Assyrians -> Persians -> Macedonians (then Seleucids) -> Romans -> Sassanids -> Romans (Byzantines) -> Caliphate -> Abbasid Caliphate -> Tulunid Emirate -> Emirate of Aleppo -> Byzantines -> Emirate of Aleppo -> Ayyubid Sultanate (Saladin) -> Mongols -> Egyptian Sultanate -> Ottoman Empire -> France (Mandate of Syria) -> Syria -> United Arab Republic -> Syria

Darn, not as many as I'd hoped. If only the crusader sieges had been successful, there would be a few more switches in there.

Any Sicilian city is a contender simply because of how many times the island has changed hands; likewise, cities in the Levant are good candidates, though the long rule of the Ottomans in much of the Middle East stunts their potential a bit.

Anyway, here's a candidate for least captured city (of the Old World):

Constantinople

Romans/Byzantines -> Crusaders -> Byzantines (Palaiologoi) -> Ottomans -> Turkey

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/smile.gif

Originally posted by Will9
As for the most, I'd say Jerusalem.

Cannanites-> Israelites-> (I'm not sure where Egypt and Hittites go) Babylon-> Persia-> Macadon -> Ptolemies-> Seleucids-> Hashmonean kingdom-> Rome-> Jewish revolters-> Rome-> Palmyra-> Rome Byzantines-> Sassanids/Jewish revolters-> Byzantines-> Arab Caliphate-> Abbasids-> Fatimids-> Crusaders-> Ayyubids-> Mameluks-> Ottomans-> French (under an invasion lead by Napoleon)-> Ottomans- Britian-> Israel/ Jordon-> Israel-> Israel/ Jordon

Not as many as I expected You can lengthen it a bit more. Change

Abbasids -> Fatimids-> Crusaders-> Ayyubids-> Mameluks

to

Abbasids-> Tulunids -> Abbasids -> Fatimids -> Seljuks -> Fatimids -> Crusaders -> Ayyubids -> Holy Roman Empire -> Khawarizmians -> Mameluks

Now we're talking... http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/cool.gif

I was going to suggest Jerusalem as well. So, well done Will. http://www.discussworldissues.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

You could also expand it a bit further by replacing the first part with this (you can disregard the notes in the parentheses if you wish, they're just for specifics):

West Semites/Canaanites (we're not exactly sure who founded it, or when) -> Egyptians (Amarna period) -> Jebusites (Hittites?) -> Israelites (united under King David, later just the Jews under Rehoboam) -> Egyptians (Pharaoh Shoshenq)-> Jews (Kingdom of Judah) -> Babylonians (Nebuchadnezzar)

I'd also change the last entry from Israel/Jordan to Israel/Palestine.

The best part of the Jerusalem list is how brief some of the periods are. The Tulunids held the Levant for less than 30 years, and only as a buffer against the Abbasids. The Khwareszmians, who seemed to be more interested in pillaging than settling, held it for about 15. But 15 years is nothing when you consider that the Fatimids, having reconquered Jerusalem from the Seljuks after losing it to them previously, held it for the astounding period of one year before the crusaders come marching in. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo.../dizzyanim.gif

Thanks to our combined efforts, I think we may have a winner.

Some of the cities in the Punjab, Mesopotamia and Afghanistan must have seen an awful lot of coming and going.

Delhi springs to mind immediately.

Another unlikely candidate: Winchester, Virginia

British -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA -> CSA -> USA

No

Originally posted by PLATO


Not yet. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/wink.gif Long Live the South!

Originally posted by Cyclotron

Darn, not as many as I'd hoped. There are some more, but I'm still trying to work out the exact order and chronology.

There's the destruction of the settlement by the Akkadians, the conquest by the Hurrians and the Mitanni, and after Alexander's death it was supposed to be part of the kingdom of Antigonus, but was taken by the Seleucids, then the conquest by the short-lived Armenian Empire, after the toing and froing between the Umayyads and Abbasids and Tulunids there were the Hamdanids and Ortoghids and of course in the 20th Century it was part of Vichy France's overseas territories briefly.