Why has Israel never appeared in the Civ franchise?

[The Brain]

Lovecraftian or regular?

[Siege]

Jeric

Anyone know what the current thinking is on "the world's oldest city?"

I've read that the oldest continually inhabited place is Antioch, but that's not the same thing.

Jericho, or however you spell it in english.

[Siege]

Israel is way too controversial. Germany, Russia and China are not.

I have always said, Brain is the funniest guy in Languish.

[Valmy]

Yeah, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Acre are all really old, but they're not really 'Israeli cities', you know?

In what sense?  I think you are saying none of those cities were actually founded by Israel but it is not like Paris was founded by Frenchmen.

[Siege]

Yeah, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Acre are all really old, but they're not really 'Israeli cities', you know?

In what sense?  I think you are saying none of those cities were actually founded by Israel but it is not like Paris was founded by Frenchmen.

It wasn't?
Yes, that's what I mean.

[PDH]

Anyone know what the current thinking is on "the world's oldest city?"

I've read that the oldest continually inhabited place is Antioch, but that's not the same thing.

Damascus claims that title.

Depends on what you mean by city.  Some of the oldest settlements known do not seem to have civic buildings, rather they are mostly/all domestic with perhaps a few ritual sites.  Also, agriculture at the earliest sites was different.  Some of the Syrian sites show crop harvesting but not planting at the earliest times.

Still, some of the southern Turkish or northern Syrian sites are probably the best bet for the title.

[MadImmortalMan]

There was no such thing as a Frenchman when Paris was founded. When can we say there emerged an actual Israeli identity?

[PDH]

Yeah, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Acre are all really old, but they're not really 'Israeli cities', you know?

In what sense?  I think you are saying none of those cities were actually founded by Israel but it is not like Paris was founded by Frenchmen.

Paris was founded by the son of Priam.

[mongers]

The ancient kingdom of Israel was pretty insignificant in terms of history of civilization.   Why include them and not Damascus, Philistia, Edom, Moab, etc (just limiting to Iron Age kingdoms of the immediate region)?  The only reason why people outside of a few archaeologist specialists know anything about Israel is that about 100 years after Israel was utterly destroyed, some literary works came out of its former sister kingdom of Judah that turned out to have a curious-- and at the time entirely unexpected -- influence on history.

Odd isn't it. 

And people from all over the place and different backgrounds have obsessed about the place ever since.   

[Neil]

Yeah, Jerusalem, Jaffa and Acre are all really old, but they're not really 'Israeli cities', you know?

In what sense?  I think you are saying none of those cities were actually founded by Israel but it is not like Paris was founded by Frenchmen.

In the sense that those cities weren't really inhabited mainly by Israelites and Israelis for most of their history.  They were conquered, subjugated and eventually depopulated.  Sure, Paris was founded by the Romans, but it was populated by the French for a huge portion of its history.  Even when Paris was conquered, the people living there were still French.  That isn't the case with the cities in Palestine, where the founders are extinct and they've traded hands many, many times and been ethnically cleansed more than once, even within living memory.

[mongers]

Anyone know what the current thinking is on "the world's oldest city?"

I've read that the oldest continually inhabited place is Antioch, but that's not the same thing.

I thought one of the early Hittite area 'cities' had a reasonable claim, forget the name, but really that far back some of these cities would now equate for a fortified village in terms of number of inhabitants.

[Iormlund]

Anyone know what the current thinking is on "the world's oldest city?"

I've read that the oldest continually inhabited place is Antioch, but that's not the same thing.

I thought the oldest continually inhabited place was between Damascus, Byblos and Jericho.

As for oldest city, I guess that depends on how you define city. Jericho has maybe the oldest walls, while Çatal Hüyük seems to have grown much bigger.

[katmai]

Israel is way too controversial. Germany, Russia and China are not.

I have always said, Brain is the funniest guy in Languish.

and you've always been wrong.

[Admiral Yi]

Damascus claims that title.

Close enough.

[Camerus]

The ancient kingdom of Israel was pretty insignificant in terms of history of civilization.   Why include them and not Damascus, Philistia, Edom, Moab, etc (just limiting to Iron Age kingdoms of the immediate region)?  The only reason why people outside of a few archaeologist specialists know anything about Israel is that about 100 years after Israel was utterly destroyed, some literary works came out of its former sister kingdom of Judah that turned out to have a curious-- and at the time entirely unexpected -- influence on history.

That's the point though - it's had enough of an influence because of that to warrant inclusion in the game IMO.  The history of the ancient Israelites played a fairly big role in the development of western culture and civilization.  Anyway, I've always been surprised they haven't been included, but YMMV.