🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Abu Mena
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
1
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Etemenanki (Tower of Babel)
Old Babylonian to Neo-Babylonian · Babylonian
Neo-Babylonian ziggurat of Marduk at Babylon — Etemenanki 'House of Heaven-Earth' — 91 m seven-stage prototype of Tower of Babel, rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar II.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Anu Ziggurat and Eanna Precinct of Uruk
Uruk Period (c. 4000–3100 BCE) → Jemdet Nasr → Early Dynastic; Anu ziggurat Late Uruk · Sumerian (Uruk)
Twin sacred precincts of world's first city Uruk (4000–3100 BCE): Anu District with White Temple ziggurat (21 m high limestone platform, U period) and Stone Cone Temple mosaic; Eanna District with…
🇨🇳 China · Temple complex
Yungang Grottoes
Northern Wei 460–525 CE (Tanyao 460–465, later sinicized 471–524) · Xianbei Northern Wei Buddhist
45 major caves on 1-km sandstone cliff with 51,000 statues (460–524 CE) of Northern Wei before capital moved to Luoyang.
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Ancient city
Historic Centre of Bukhara
Samanid to Shaybanid 9th–16th c (settled from 1st c CE) · Samanid / Qarakhanid / Shaybanid Islamic (Persian)
2000-year-old Silk Road oasis city preserved as intact medieval Islamic townscape with 140+ monuments.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria
Hellenistic Ptolemaic 297–280 BCE · Greek (Ptolemaic Alexandria)
100-m Ptolemaic lighthouse wonder whose lantern guided ancient Mediterranean.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Eridu Ziggurat — Abu Shahrain
Ubaid through Ur III (c.5400–2000 BCE, ziggurat Ur III Amar-Sin) · Sumerian (Eridu / Ubaid type-site, Ur III)
Eridu (Tell Abu Shahrain) is traditionally the first city of Sumer (King List) with an 18-level temple sequence from Ubaid small shrine (≈5400 BCE) to Ur III ziggurat of Amar-Sin.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
El-Tod (Djerty / Tuphium)
Old Kingdom to Ptolemaic (2480 BCE–30 BCE; peak Middle Kingdom 12th Dyn) · Ancient Egyptian
Montu war-falcon temple at El-Tod with Sesostris granite pillars and Tod Treasure hoard.
🇹🇯 Tajikistan · Temple complex
Takhti-Sangin (Oxus Temple)
Greco-Bactrian 3rd–2nd c BCE → Kushan 1st–4th c CE · Greco-Bactrian → Kushan Bactria (Amu Darya Oxus cult)
Takhti-Sangin — Hellenistic–Kushan temple city (3rd c BCE–4th c CE) at Vakhsh–Panj confluence forming Amu Darya (Oxus), excavated 1976–91 Pichikyan and Litvinsky (Academy Tadjik).
🇹🇲 Turkmenistan · Ancient city
Togolok-21 Temple-Fortress
Gonur / Togolok phase BMAC 2300–1700 BCE · Bactria–Margiana (Oxus) civilization
BMAC (Bactria–Margiana) monumental temple-fortress (c.2300–1700 BCE) on Murghab alluvium, satellite of Gonur Tepe, built of mud-brick with central fortified court 30×40 m, fire temple, part of Viktor…
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Notion (Notium) — Temple of Apollo at Claros Outpost
Classical to Late Antiquity (500 BCE – 600 CE) · Aeolian Greek (Kolophonian) and Roman
Kolophon harbour city with Doric Apollo temple facing mother city.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan · Temple complex
Bamyan Buddhas
Late Buddhist Gandhara–Tokharistan 5th–10th c; Hun–Turk Shahi patronage · Gandhara–Sogdian Buddhist (Hindu Kush)
55 m and 38 m colossal Buddhas on Bamyan canyon (544–644 CE) — 1000 caves, oil murals, UNESCO 208.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Bishapur — Sassanid City and Anahita Temple
Sassanian Early (Shapur I–II, 241–379 CE) · Sassanian Persian with Roman–Palmyrene craftsmen (prisoners)
Shapur I 260 CE grid city by Roman POWs after Valerian capture — Anahita water temple, mosaics, Chogan gorge 6 reliefs.
🇧🇿 Belize · Ancient city
Xunantunich
Preclassic 1000 BCE–1000 CE (El Castillo apogee 600–890 CE; top frieze 770–830) · Maya (Mopan Valley, rival of Naranjo and Buenavista del Cayo)
Hilltop Classic Maya center with spectacular El Castillo (40 m high pyramid with east stucco frieze 7.5 m long of 30 human figures, sun gods and jaguars) visible 8 km on Mopan River valley ridge;…
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan · Temple complex
Khalchayan
Yuezhi 130–30 BCE → Early Kushan 30 BCE–50 CE → Kushan imperial 50–150 CE · Yuezhi–Early Kushan (North Bactria)
Early Kushan palace (50 BCE–50 CE) at Khalchayan near Denau — earliest Kushan princes fresco 2 m and terracotta court before Surkh Kotal.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Pyramid
Hawara Pyramid Complex (Amenemhat III)
Middle Kingdom (12th Dyn) · Ancient Egyptian
Amenemhat III's mudbrick Hawara pyramid and Herodotan labyrinth mortuary temple.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Labyrinth of Hawara
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty c.1860–1814 BCE · Ancient Egyptian (Amenemhat III)
Herodotus's 3000-room labyrinth beside Faiyum now rubble field.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Sicca Veneria (El Kef) – Numidian Cult Citadel
Numidian / Punic / Roman / Byzantine · Numidian / Roman
Cliff-top Venus cult city of Numidia–Rome, now kasbah-crowned El Kef.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Uruk Anu Ziggurat — Warka
Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, Uruk period (4000–3000 BCE) · Sumerian (Ubaid–Uruk–Jemdet Nasr)
The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk-Warka is the oldest known true ziggurat (≈4000 BCE), a massive mudbrick terrace 21 m high in the Anu district. The famed White Temple (c.3500–3000 BCE) sat on summit.
🇮🇶 Iraq · Pyramid
Ziggurat of Ur
Ur III (Neo-Sumerian) 2112–2094 BCE core; Old Babylonian veneer · Sumerian (Ur III)
Best preserved neo-Sumerian ziggurat: three-stage mudbrick massif 62.5 × 43 m base, 30 m high (reconstructed), built by Ur-Nammu (2112–2095 BCE) and Shulgi for moon god Nanna (Sîn), with three…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Erechtheion — Acropolis of Athens
Late Classical (Peloponnesian War) · Classical Athenian
421–405 BCE asymmetric Ionic with Caryatids, housing Athena Polias and Poseidon-Erechtheus on Mycenaean terrace.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Vidisha (Besnagar) and Heliodorus Pillar
Maurya 3 c. BCE → Sunga 187–78 BCE → Gupta 4–6 c. CE · Maurya → Sunga → Indo-Greek → Gupta (Malwa)
Ancient Vidisha (Besnagar) capital with Heliodorus Garuda column (113 BCE) — first Indo-Greek Krishna inscription 6.5 m monolith.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Esna Temple of Khnum
Late Ptolemaic to Roman (1st–2nd c CE hall; full temple New Kingdom to Roman) · Egyptian (Ptolemaic-Roman Egyptian)
9 m below street level, surviving 24-column hypostyle hall 1st–2nd c CE of Khnum with astronomical ceiling and unique capitals.
🇲🇽 Mexico · Rock art
El Resbalón
Classic (c.250–800 CE) Maya Petén – Río Bec fringe · Maya (Petén – Río Bec transitional)
El Resbalón ('the slide') is a hilltop Maya city and open-air epigraphic cliff 35 km SW of Xpujil in the Calakmul Biosphere south at 250 m.