Specifically, did non-temple cities like Tel Aruhn and Balmora exist in the second or first era? How old are these cities supposed to be? Thanks in advance!

If I'm not mistaken, Vvardenfell wasn't open to Imperial expansion and jurisdiction until near the end of the Third Era, so I thought that a lot of the non-Dunmeri towns were fairly recent. Ebonheart might be an exception, but I'm not entirely certain when that city came to be in the first place.

Thanks. I'm asking because something struck me as odd while I was reading an in-game book while playing one of the Elder Scrolls games (I can't say which one for fairly obvious reasons) and it seemed to suggest that one of these towns specifically was alive and well before Vvardenfell was opened as an imperial district. So I was wondering if this was a retcon or if there's just something I don't know.