⌂Ancient cities

🇨🇭 Switzerland · Ancient city

Augusta Raurica Roman Colony

Roman (44 BCE–400 CE) · Roman (Colonia Augusta Rauracorum)

Best-preserved Roman colonial city on the Rhine, founded 44 BCE and monumentalized under Augustus.

🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city

Calama (Guelma) – Theatre & Baths

Punic to Byzantine (4th c BCE – 7th c CE) · Punic / Numidian / Roman

Seybouse spa city with marble-lined north baths (45×35 m), hillside theatre (62 m) restored by Joly 1905, and Byzantine citadel reusing theatre seats. Hot aquae still flow 28°C.

🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city

Kot Diji — Khairpur

Early Harappan (3300–2600 BCE) · Kot Diji

Kot Diji — Khairpur in Sindh, Khairpur, Pakistan is a Early Harappan (3300–2600 BCE) ancient city attributed to Kot Diji culture.

🇮🇳 India · Ancient city

Dharanikota

Dharanikota is a village in Palnadu district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the site of ancient Dhanyakataka, which was the capital of the Satavahana dynasty that ruled in the Deccan…

🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city

Lachish

Early Bronze to Babylonian destruction 587 BCE · Canaanite → Israelite/Judahite

Major Canaanite city-state and Judahite fortress second only to Jerusalem (Joshua, Hezekiah, Sennacherib's 701 BCE reliefs at British Museum).

🇹🇩 Chad · Ancient city

Ouara

Wadai Sultanate (1635–1911 CE) · Maba–Arab Wadai (Sudano-Sahelian)

Ouara (Wara) is the roofed sandstone capital of Wadai Sultanate (1635–1911), 40 km north of Abéché, with three palace complexes of faced sandstone 20×15 m halls, fortified kori walls and qaraya…

🇸🇾 Syria · Tell

Tell Sheikh Hamad

Late Bronze to Neo-Assyrian (c.1400–600 BCE; provincial capital 900–600) · Mittani → Middle Assyrian → Neo-Assyrian provincial

Dur-Katlimmu on lower Khabur is largest Assyrian provincial centre (110 ha: 25-ha citadel + 85-ha walled lower town), Kühne excavations 1978–. Neo-Assyrian capi...

🇩🇿 Algeria · Ancient city

Timgad (Thamugadi)

Roman to Byzantine (100 CE–6th c; peak 2nd–3rd c) · Roman / Berber / Byzantine

Exemplar Roman colonial grid city founded ex nihilo by Trajan c.100 CE for veterans of Third Augustan Legion, Timgad displays perfect castrum plan: square 355×250 m, decumanus and cardo crossing at…

🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city

Ashkelon

Early Bronze to Crusader 1191 CE · Canaanite → Philistine → Phoenician → Roman

Five-period tells (Canaanite vaulted mudbrick gate — oldest arch in the world c.1850 BCE, 4 m high; Philistine emporium of titans with 15,000 sq m market; Phoenician Tyrian-purple, Greek, Roman,…

🇸🇾 Syria · Tell

Tell el-Fekheriye (Sikkan / Washukanni?)

Middle Bronze to neo-Assyrian (c.2000 BCE–700 BCE), peak Middle Assyrian · Mitanni Washukanni? / Sikkan Assyrian

Spring-resurgent mound with 1.5-m deep Middle Assyrian level and 9th-c. bilingual Old Aramaic–Old Assyrian Hadad statue inscription (stated first to transcribe Akkadian into Aramaic).

🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city

Uchi Minus (Henchir Rhar ez-Zaatli)

Roman (1st c. BCE–6th c. CE) · Numidian / Roman

Smaller twin to Uchi Maius on Khalled tributary with haouanet tombs.

🇮🇷 Iran · Ancient city

Ancient City of Kara Kistvaen

Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) · Iron Age

Ancient City of Kara Kistvaen in Fars Province, Iran is a Iron Age (1200 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Iron Age culture.

🇲🇽 Mexico · Ancient city

Paquimé (Casas Grandes)

Postclassic (Medio/Chihuahua culture) · Mogollon-Paquimé (Oasisamerica)

Largest pre-Hispanic pueblo city of northern Mexico (c.1130–1340 CE, 70 ha, population ~2,500) with multi-storey adobe apartments, T-shaped doors, I-shaped ballcourts (Mesoamerican), macaw breeding…

🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex

Knidos Apollo Temple — Datça Peninsula Karne Island Sanctuary

Archaic Dorian to Hellenistic (600 BCE – 100 BCE) · Dorian Knidians with Triopian league

Apollo Karneios doric 6×11 on double-harbour terrace of Triopian Dorian expansion city.

🇮🇹 Italy · Ancient city

Ancient City of Source Mesa

Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) · Classical

Ancient City of Source Mesa in Sicily, Italy is a Classical Antiquity (800 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to Classical culture.

🇵🇰 Pakistan · Ancient city

Charsadda — Pushkalavati Bala Hisar Extension

Achaemenid to Hindu Shahi (600 BCE–1000 CE) Pushkalavati · Gandhara capital of Gandhara before Peshawar shift

Charsadda — Pushkalavati Bala Hisar Extension in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan is a Achaemenid to Hindu Shahi (600 BCE–1000 CE) Pushkalavati ancient-city attributed to Gandhara capital of Gandhara…

🇲🇽 Mexico · Pyramid

Monte Albán Ceremonial Platforms

Zapotec (Monte Albán I–V 500 BCE–850 CE) · Zapotec → Mixtec influence late

Zapotec capital on flattened ridge 2 km mountain leveled 500 BCE: Grand Plaza 300 × 200 m with North Platform (pyramid 7 m + temple) and South Platform 15 m pyramid; Building J arrow-shaped 6 m…

🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city

Echelidae

Echelidae or Echelidai (Ἐχελίδαι) was a deme of ancient Attica. It was so called from the hero Echelus, and lay between Peiraeeus and the Heracleium, in or near a marshy district, and possessed a…

🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell

Deir Alla

Late Bronze to Islamic (c.1600 BCE–1400 CE; peak Iron 1200–760 BCE, Balaam c.800) · LB Canaanite → Iron Ammon/Gilead → Persian → Hellenistic

Deir Alla in Jordan Valley is famed for 1967 Balaam inscription — plaster wall with earliest Aramaic/Hebrew prophetic text 'Balaam son of Beor, seer of the gods...

🇯🇴 Jordan · Tell

Khirbat al-Mudayna

Iron Age (c.800–600 BCE; Moabite 800–600) · Moabite ( contemporary with Dibon, ruler Mesha? )

Khirbat al-Mudayna al-Aliya is a one-period enclosed Iron Age Moabite town (30 ha with 900-m casemate wall, 40 houses, sanctuary and reservoirs) — best-preserve...

🇬🇷 Greece · Ancient city

Euroea (Epirus)

Euroea or Euroia (Ancient Greek: Εὔροια; also transcribed as Eurœa) was a city in Epirus, in western Greece, during late antiquity. It was abandoned in the early 7th century due to Slavic invasions.

🇹🇷 Turkey · Tell

Girnavaz

Early Bronze Age to Iron Age (c.3000–600 BCE) · Hurrian → Mittanian → Neo-Assyrian

Nusaybin palatial tell 13 m high (Mitanni–Assyrian palace, Nuzi ware, tablets) on Tigris watershed.

🇮🇱 Israel · Tell

Tel Yavne

MB to Crusader (c.2000 BCE–1260 CE; peak Philistine–Judah–Sanhedrin 1200 BCE–70 CE) · Canaanite → Philistine → Judahite → Hellenistic → Roman (Sanhedrin 70–135 CE) → Crusader

Tel Yavne (biblical Jabneel, Philistine Jamnia) is famed as the seat of the Sanhedrin after 70 CE — Yochanan ben Zakkai's Yavne academy that reconstituted Judai...