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The Ancient City
In the study of the ancient world a City is generally defined as a large populated urban center of commerce and administration with a system of laws and, usually, regulated means of sanitation. This is only one definition, however, and the...
Definition
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 be located...
Definition
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan (also spelled Tenochtitlán), located on an island near the western shore of Lake Texcoco in central Mexico, was the capital city and religious centre of the Aztec civilization. The traditional founding date of the city was 1345...
Definition
Xanadu
Xanadu (aka Shangdu, Shang-tu, and Kaiping) located in Inner Mongolia, northern China, was first the capital (1263-73) and then the summer capital (1274-1364) of the Mongol Empire. It came to prominence during the reign of Kublai Khan (r...
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Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City
A detail of the roof of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, part of the Temple of Heaven in the Forbidden City, Beijing. The temple and the Forbidden City were first built in the reign of Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (r. 1403-1424...
Image
Frigg
Relief showing Frigg, Odin's wife, the goddess of love and destiny, who makes plants and trees promise that they will not harm her son Baldr. Part of a series of 16 beautiful and unique wooden reliefs by Dagfin Werenskiold, depicting Norse...
Definition
Urbanization
Urbanization is the process by which rural communities grow to form cities, or urban centers, and, by extension, the growth and expansion of those cities. Urbanization began in ancient Mesopotamia in the Uruk Period (4300-3100 BCE) for reasons...
Definition
Nineveh
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 cities in antiquity. It was regarded highly by...
Definition
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (from the Greek, meaning 'between two rivers') was an ancient region located in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, corresponding to modern-day...
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, its...