Explore the World With This Quiz on Ancient Cities

King Hammurabi was the ruler of Babylon from 1792 to 1750 BCE. As king of Babylon, Hammurabi conquered nearly all of Mesopotamia, bringing the entire region under Babylonian rule. Today, he is best remembered for the code of laws that bears his name.

Located near the city of Sindh in northwest Pakistan, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro are believed to represent the oldest known civilization of the ancient Indus Valley. Archaeologists believe Mohenjo-daro was built around the same time as the major cities in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, making it one of the oldest known civilizations in the entire world.

The ancient city of Angkor in Cambodia is home to Angkor Wat, a vast temple complex built in the 12th century. Angkor Wat was originally built as a place of worship for Hindus, and later became a Buddhist temple. The complex consists of hundreds of temples and living quarters, and is considered the largest religious structure in the world.

King Pangeng of the Shang dynasty established an imperial capital in the ancient city of Yin in the early 14th century BCE. This was China’s first stable capital, and remained the seat of imperial power until the Zhou dynasty came into power in 1050 BCE. The ruins of Yin are near the modern-day city of Anyang, and are home to many ancient Chinese artifacts and archaeological dig sites.

Archimedes was born in the ancient city of Syracuse (in modern-day Sicily) around 287 BCE. His many contributions to mathematics and engineering earned him enduring fame as one of the greatest thinkers in world history. Archimedes was killed by soldiers during the Roman invasion of Syracuse in 211 BCE, and according to legend, he was working on geometric diagrams up until the moment of his death.

Originally called “Teyuna” by the Tairona peoples of Colombia, Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for “Lost City”) was named after it was rediscovered in 1972 by a group of local treasure hunters, who found a series of stone steps rising up a mountainside and followed them to the abandoned city. The impressive city is believed to have been founded in approximately 800 CE, more than 600 years earlier than Machu Picchu.

To protect against potential earthquakes, the Incas made the buildings of the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu with precisely fit stones, held together by gravity alone. The mortar-free stones could “dance” during an earthquake and resettle into place once the shaking ended.

The oracle of Delphi was a priestess of Apollo who lived in a temple on the slope of Mount Parnassus. The oracle resided in Delphi from the eighth century BCE to the fourth century BCE, and was highly influential in Greek society. The Greeks believed that the oracle could transmit messages directly from Apollo, and would consult her on matters as consequential as whether to pass new laws or go to war.

Founded around 4000 BCE in present-day Iraq, the Sumerian settlement of Uruk grew to become one of the region's most important early cities. By around 3100 BCE, Uruk had a population of around 40,000 people, making it the world's largest urban area at the time. Legend holds that King Gilgamesh, immortalized in the ancient poem “Epic of Gilgamesh,” ruled the city a few hundred years later.

The fact that Memphis, Tennessee, shares a name with the ancient capital of Egypt is no coincidence. Memphis was the Egyptian capital because of its prominent location on the Nile river delta. Its American counterpart is located on the delta of the Mississippi River, which is sometimes referred to as “the American Nile.”

Troy, located on the northwest coast of modern-day Turkey, was first settled around 3000 BCE. The city is famous in Greek mythology as the site of the Trojan War, and was featured in Homer’s “The Iliad.” Although much of the ancient city has been lost over the years, visitors can still see sites such as the Temple of Athena and the South Gate.

Discovered in 1974, the Terracotta Army is a collection of more than 8,000 life-sized sculptures of soldiers buried in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin dynasty. The tomb and the soldiers inside were discovered just outside the city of Xi’an, which remained a Chinese capital for more than 1,200 years.

Carthage was a Phoenician city in northern Africa founded in the ninth century BCE. Carthage was one of the most powerful and influential cities in the region until it was challenged by the Roman Empire. Tensions between Carthage and Rome eventually boiled over into the Punic Wars, which ultimately resulted in Carthage’s defeat and destruction at the hands of the Roman army.

Two thousand years ago, when Beijing was just a provincial city and Shanghai a fishing village, the most important city in China was Xi’an, historically spelled Chang’an. Located in the central part of the country, Xi’an was China’s first capital, established in 202 BCE and lasting through 10 dynasties. It was the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, an important ancient trading route connecting Rome to China.

In 794, Kyoto first became the imperial capital of Japan. The city remained the capital through multiple emperors and shoguns until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Human settlements have existed in Kyoto since the early Paleolithic era, and today, the city continues to be a major metropolitan center of Japan.

Located 30 miles from Mexico City, Teotihuacan was once a prosperous Mesoamerican city. The area was settled sometime around 400 CE, but was then abandoned until the Aztecs found it in the 1400s and called it Teotihuacan (“the place where the gods were created”). The city includes several important structures, including the Pyramid of the Moon and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl.

Influential philosopher Plato founded his famous school, the Academy, on the outskirts of Athens in 387 BCE. The great philosopher Aristotle was among Plato’s students at the Academy, and the school remained active as a place of learning and philosophy until its destruction by the Romans in 86 BCE.

Situated about 60 miles south of modern-day Baghdad, the ancient city of Babylon was founded more than 4,000 years ago and became the center of Mesopotamian civilization for almost 2,000 years. The ancient city was home to important scientific discoveries in trigonometry, physics, and astronomy. Several of Babylon’s ruins still stand along the east bank of the Euphrates River.

Greece's capital and largest city has been a functioning settlement for approximately 5,000 years, making it Europe's oldest capital and one of the world's oldest cities. Today, the birthplace of democracy keeps its history and legacy on display with iconic ruins such as the Parthenon and the Acropolis.

According to legend, Rome was founded by twin brothers Romulus and Remus in 753 BCE. By 133 BCE, the city was the largest in the world, with a population of nearly 1 million. It’s believed Rome was the world's first city to hit the 1 million mark, a benchmark more than 500 cities have surpassed today.

Alexandria was named for its founder, Alexander the Great, in 332 BCE, and quickly became one of the centers of the ancient intellectual world. The Great Library was believed to hold more than 200,000 books and scrolls, making it the world's largest at the time, and the city’s legendary lighthouse, the Pharos of Alexandria, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.