🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae
Classical 429–400 BCE · Ancient Greek Arcadian (Phigalian)
Iktinos' mountain Apollo temple mixing all three orders with earliest Corinthian capital.
🇮🇷 Iran · Temple complex
Choqa Zanbil (Dur Untash)
Middle Elamite (c.1250–640 BCE) · Elamite
Elamite holy city built by King Untash-Napirisha (1250 BCE) to honor god Inshushinak: immense 105×105 m square ziggurat (originally 53 m high, 5 storeys) at center of three concentric walls with…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Temple complex
Philae Temple Complex
Late Period to Roman (380 BCE–452 CE demotic last text; Isis cult active to Justinian 550 CE closure) · Egyptian Late Period / Ptolemaic / Roman
Island temple ensemble dedicated chiefly to Isis, built from 30th Dynasty to Roman (380 BCE–117 CE): Isis main temple, Birth House (mammisi), Kiosk of Trajan (renowned photographer kiosk), Gate of…
🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Megalith
West Kennet Long Barrow
Early Neolithic · Cotswold-Severn Neolithic
100 m Early Neolithic chambered long barrow near Avebury with five sarsen chambers under chalk mound.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Acropolis of Athens
Classical High 447–406 BCE over Bronze Age citadel · Athenian Classical Greek
Periclean citadel with Parthenon, Erechtheion Caryatids and Propylaia — summit of Classical Greece.
🇯🇵 Japan · Ancient city
Heijo-kyo
Nara Period (710–784 CE; UNESCO 1998) · Yamato (Empress Genmei to Kōnin)
Heijo-kyo is Japan's Nara-period capital (710–784 CE, UNESCO) — 4.3×4.8 km Tang Chang'an-grid city with Heijo Palace and Suzakumon gate at 70 m Nara basin.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Temple complex
Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple
Unified Silla 751 CE (King Gyeongdeok reign) · Silla Korean Buddhist (Hwaeom)
Silla artificial cave-shrine (751 CE) on Tohamsan summit, commissioned by Kim Dae-seong, housing 3.48 m granite Vairocana surrounded by 40 meticulously sculpted bodhisattvas and guardians in 3.6 m…
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Delphi Sanctuary
Geometric to Hellenistic-Roman 8th c. BCE–395 CE; temple 510 BCE · Ancient Greek (pan-Hellenic)
Apollo's oracle sanctuary on Parnassus - spiritual center of ancient Greek world.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Khajuraho Group of Monuments
Chandela period 950–1050 CE · Chandela / Bundelkhand Hindu and Jain
Eighty-five (25 surviving) sandstone temples (950–1050 CE) of Chandela dynasty, celebrated for Nagara shikharas rising in clustered peaks and intricate sculptures.
🇹🇷 Turkey · Temple complex
Pergamon Trajan Temple — Upper Acropolis Traianeum Sanctuary
Hellenistic Attalid to Roman Hadrianic (300 BCE – 130 CE) · Attalid Pergamene to Roman Asia provincial
Upper terrace Trajan–Hadrian Corinthian sanctuary behind Zeus altar.
🇮🇱 Israel · Hydraulic works
Gihon Spring and Warren's Shaft (City of David water system, Jerusalem)
Middle Bronze II to Iron Age IIA–B (1800–580 BCE) · Canaanite (Middle Bronze) → Jebusite / Israelite–Judite
Jerusalem's 1800 BCE–701 BCE fortified perennial spring and karst shaft — 1,500-year water-security evolution.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Ancient city
Kerkouane
Punic (Carthaginian) 6th–3rd c BCE · Carthaginian (Phoenician diaspora)
Only surviving pure Punic town, abandoned c.256 BCE with intact street grid, peristyle houses and purple-dye works.
🇮🇱 Israel · Ancient city
Masada — Desert Fortress of Herod
Hasmonean to Roman (2nd c. BCE–73 CE; Herodian peak) · Hasmonean Jewish → Herodian (Idumaean-Jewish client of Rome) → Sicarii → Roman legion → Byzantine monks
Herod's 440 m mesa fortress over Dead Sea — hanging palaces, desert cisterns and preserved Roman siege ramp.
🇩🇿 Algeria · Tumulus
Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania — Tipasa
Late Numidian–Mauretanian (25 BCE–23 CE) · Berber Mauretanian / Hellenistic Roman
Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania (Kbour er Roumia) is the 32 m high Numidian–Mauretanian royal tomb 32 km W of Algiers on Sahel ridge 261 m with 60 columns (Ionic below, Doric above) and 4 false doors.
🇹🇳 Tunisia · Archaeological wonder
Amphitheatre of El Jem (Thysdrus)
Roman Imperial (c.230–238 CE under Gordian I/II) · Roman (Africano)
Largest amphitheatre in Africa and third-largest in Roman world: olive-oil city Thysdrus (later Gordian revolt 238 CE) built c.238 CE, 149×124 m outer axes, 65×39 m arena, 35,000 capacity seating…
🇮🇹 Italy · Megalith
Su Nuraxi di Barumini
Bronze Age · Nuragic civilisation (Bronzo Medio/Recente)
UNESCO archetype nuraghe in central Sardinia — trilobate basalt tower with four bastions, tholos chambers and 55-hut village, 1500-1000 BCE.
🇪🇸 Spain · Megalith
Naveta des Tudons
Late Bronze Age · Talayotic culture of Menorca (Pretalayotic)
Menorca's iconic boat-shaped naveta tomb — 14 m cyclopean funerary monument 1200-750 BCE, UNESCO 2023.
🇯🇴 Jordan · Archaeological wonder
Qasr Amra
Umayyad Caliphate (c.711–715 CE) · Umayyad Arab / Byzantine influence
Umayyad desert castle bathhouse (qasr) built by Caliph Walid I (705–715 CE) famous for extensive frescoes: vaulted audience hall with hunting scenes, musicians, six kings (Byzantine, Sasanian,…
🇺🇸 United States · Earthwork
Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (Mound City Group)
Hopewell 1–500 CE (Middle Woodland, peak 100–400 CE) · Hopewell tradition (Scioto Hopewell)
Finest Hopewell enclosure: 13-acre (5.3 ha) flat-topped earthen-walled enclosure (1,211 m perimeter, 1–1.8 m high) near Scioto River enclosing 24 conical, elongated and effigy mounds.
🇰🇷 South Korea · Ancient city
Gongsanseong Fortress
Three Kingdoms Baekje (475–660 CE; Ungjin capital 475–538) · Baekje (Ungjin Period, King Munju to Seong)
Gongsanseong is the Baekje mountain–river fortress (475–538 CE, UNESCO) — 1.8-km walls (3.5 m high) on Gongsan hill with palace, pond, and Jumagru beacon above the Geum River.
🇧🇪 Belgium · Ancient village
Spiennes Neolithic Flint Mines
Neolithic (4300–2300 BCE) · Michelsberg and Seine-Oise-Marne
Largest and earliest Neolithic flint mining complex in Europe, extending over 100 ha on the Campine chalk near Mons.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Olympia Sanctuary
Geometric to Roman 776 BCE–393 CE; classical temple peak 5th c. BCE · Ancient Greek (pan-Hellenic, Eleian administration)
Sacred grove of Zeus and birthplace of Olympic Games with Phidias' Wonder statue temple.
🇮🇳 India · Temple complex
Pattadakal Temple Complex
Early Chalukya 7th–8th century CE, peak 740–760 CE · Hindu (Shaiva, Vaishnava) under Chalukya Vikramaditya II
Chalukya structural temples laboratory fusing Nagara and Dravida shikhara styles.
🇬🇷 Greece · Temple complex
Mycenae
Mycenaean Helladic 1600–1100 BCE, peak 1350–1200 BCE · Mycenaean Greeks
Homeric citadel with Cyclopean walls, Lion Gate and gold mask tombs.