Byblos ( BIB-loss; Ancient Greek: Βύβλος), also known as Jbail, Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (Arabic: جُبَيْل, romanized: Jubayl, locally Jbeil [ʒ(ə)beːl]), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000 BC and continuously inhabited since 5000 BC. During its history, Byblos was part of numerous cultures including Egyptian, Phoenician, Assyrian, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Genoese, Mamluk and Ottoman. Urbanisation is thought to have begun during the third millennium BC when it developed into a city, making it one of the oldest cities in the world, if not the oldest. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was in Ancient Byblos that the Phoenician alphabet, the ancestor of the Greek, Latin and all other Western alphabets, was developed.