How Much Do You Know About the Ancient Cities of the World?

Assyria was a regional empire whose power was displaced by that of Babylon. It features strongly in the Bible.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the great wonders of antiquity and would have been dazzling even by today's standards. Sadly, Babylon was destroyed when Cyrus the Great of Persia took over.

Sana'a is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Yemen was once very prosperous, but sadly now it is the site of an intractable war.

The Great Library was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and probably contained instructions for proto-computers and proto-steam engines. Alexandria was also home to the Great Lighthouse.

Damascus, capital of Syria, has been a city since before cities were a thing: It is at least 10,000 years old, and possibly older. That means it is pretty much the same age as civilization.

Jericho was where Joshua and Caleb, lieutenants of Moses, fought a battle so the Hebrews could enter the Holy Land and finally stop wandering in the desert.

The Songhai and Mali Empires were each enormously powerful and important West African civilizations, whose history is sadly very poorly taught in the West, despite the fact that they were as advanced as their more northerly counterparts.

Londinium is now known as London, and it is very old. There were seven villages there before the Romans showed up and they melded together to become the city.

Carthage was founded by Dido, who came up with a clever trick to claim the maximum amount of land. Sadly the city was later destroyed, but the ruins have been identified. It was one of many great North African civilizations.

Aleppo is a very ancient city but sadly has recently suffered from a war in which a great many parts of it were bombed.

Athens is the home of one of the great Greek city-states and has been inhabited for 7,000 years.

Argos is where the famous Argonauts come from, and in a display of multiculturalism, is also the site of Greek pyramids.

Plovdiv is many thousands of years old and was once home to the Roman theater of Philippopolis, which seated a remarkable 6,000 people, in a testament to Roman acoustic engineering.

Byblos is in Lebanon on the Mediterranean coast, and you can still visit it.

Bucephalus was the beloved steed of Alexander, and a city was founded to honor him when he died.

Sidon belonged to Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome and Ottoman Empires.

Ray has been inhabited for 8,000 years and is in modern day Iran.

Mesa Verde is a beautiful example of pre-colonial Native American building and proves definitively that the historical notion of America as an empty space to be settled or a primitive pack of tribes to be conquered is revisionism at its worst.

Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec Empire which predated the European arrival in Central America. The Aztecs were an advanced civilization built around the alliance of three city-states: Tenochtitlan, Tlacopan, and Texcoco. Modern Mexico City stands where Tenochtitlan did, and all sorts of ruins may be found there.

It sits on the great central plain of China where the Luo and Yi rivers meet.

Varanasi is on the banks of the holy River Ganges and is sacred in Hinduism.

Jerusalem has basically been at war since the dawn of civilization, sadly, but it's a beautiful and historic city well worth a visit. Most of the time, most of it is peaceful.

Bagan is insanely beautiful, with about 2,000 Buddhist temples dating back millennia.

Aden has switched hands many times. It is one of the most important ports in the Arabian peninsula and benefits from overlooking the most important trade route in the world, through Suez.

The capital of China today has been its capital on and off, as well as also being the capital preferred by Kublai Khan, the Mongol conqueror.

Persepolis is sadly no longer around but it is near Shiraz in Iran and you can visit the ruins.

Dahomey is modern day Benin. People from further inland were sadly often kidnaped by Dahomey's soldiers, who sold them as slaves to Arab and European powers.

Quito is the second-highest capital city in the world after La Paz.

The Sumerians built the first civilization of Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and surrounds) and Uruk was one of their cities.

Palmyra's beautiful ruins were blown up by ISIS, who plan to destroy all pre-Islamic architecture. The arch has been recreated in the UK.

Susa is mentioned in the Biblical books of Esther, Nehemiah and Daniel. It is where King Ahasueros, the husband of Esther, reigned.

Faiyum, formerly Shedet, was where the sacred crocodile Petsuchos was worshiped, hence the Greek nickname.

Madurai was part of the Mauryan Empire which once ruled most of India.

Karakorum is a city that was once heart of the Mongol Empire and is at high elevation on the steppe.

The statue Colossus stood over the harbor like a mighty guardian, but sadly it was destroyed.