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Babylon - The Gate of the Gods
Babylon is the most famous city from ancient Mesopotamia, whose ruins lie in modern-day Hillah, Iraq, 59 miles (94 km) southwest of Baghdad. The name is derived from bav-il or bav-ilim, which in Akkadian meant "Gate...
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Map of the Greek City-states c. 500 BCE
This map illustrates the city-states of Classical Greece around 500 BCE, highlighting the rise of the polis system and the growing reach of Hellenic influence along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. The...
Definition
Polis - The City-State of Ancient Greece
A polis (plural: poleis) was the typical structure of a community in the ancient Greek world. A polis consisted of an urban centre, often fortified and with a sacred centre built on a natural acropolis or harbour...
Definition
Carthago Nova
Carthago Nova (modern-day Cartagena) was a city on the southern Iberian Peninsula, Spain, originally known as Mastia. Human habitation of the region predates the Neolithic Period, but the area around the site of Carthago Nova seems...
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Eridu - The Divine Birthplace of Kingship and Order
Eridu (present-day Abu Shahrein, Iraq) was considered the first city in the world by the ancient Sumerians and is among the most ancient of the ruins from Mesopotamia. Founded circa 5400 BCE, Eridu...
Definition
Mari
Mari was a city-state located near the west bank of the Euphrates River in Northern Mesopotamia (now eastern Syria) during the Early Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age. One of the earliest known planned cities, Mari is believed to have...
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Ancient Rome
According to legend, Ancient Rome was founded by the two brothers, and demigods, Romulus and Remus, on 21 April 753 BCE. The legend claims that in an argument over who would rule the city (or, in another version, where the city would...
Definition
Nineveh - The Great Cultural Center That Became the "City of Sin"
Nineveh (modern-day Mosul, Iraq) was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. It was originally known as Ninua, a trade center, and would become one of the largest and most affluent...
Definition
Syracuse
The city of Syracuse is located on the east coast of Sicily and was originally a Greek colony founded by Corinth in 734 BCE. The city enjoyed a period of expansion and prosperity under the tyrant Gelon in the 5th century BCE, survived...
Definition
Athens
Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers...