According to a famous
quote frequently attributed to Pericles of Athens, all
good things on this Earth flow into the city. Ancient cities were not just
big places where lots of people lived, but vital hubs for
commerce, ideas, trends, culture, and scholarship. And some of them grew so large
and influential that we still know their names
centuries later. Of course, the only
thing more memorable than the heights reached
by these legendary cities is how it all came
crashing down. Today, on Weird
History, we're looking at some of the most impressive
and important cities in world history and how they
fell from the top. But before we get
into all that, make sure to subscribe to the
Weird History channel. And while you're at
it, leave us a comment about what other wonders
of the ancient world you would like to hear about. OK, we built this city. We built this city
on Weird History. [MUSIC PLAYING] Located in the modern-day
Palestinian territory known as the West Bank,
Jericho is most famous as the site of a
great biblical battle, and for sounding
like Cherry Coke, if you're texting in the
middle of your history lecture. As recounted in
the Book of Joshua, the Israelites faced off
against the Canaanites there, ultimately bringing
down the mighty walls circling Jericho through the
power of their horn-playing and with an assist
from the Man Upstairs. Historically,
Jericho is believed to rank among the
world's oldest cities. And it definitely did
have a big dang wall. Archeologists have
actually unearthed evidence of dozens of
successive settlements in and around
Jericho, dating back over 10,000 years, all the
way to around the close of the last Ice Age. By 8,000 BCE, Jericho's stone
wall was already constructed. And it's believed that it
may have been originally built to protect the
city from flooding, rather than sieges
by invading armies. Although, if you think
of water as an army, it's basically the same thing. The city ranked among the
world's largest and most significant by 1700s BCE, in
part due to its close proximity to the relatively wealthy
and urbanized Mitanni Empire of modern-day Syria and Turkey. Primary sources from
this era indicate Jericho was surrounded by
large but relatively unstable walls composed of mud brick. These walls, along
with much of the city, appear to have been destroyed by
a major earthquake around 1573 BCE. And the area remained
largely unoccupied for the next several
hundred years. However, the Israelites'
biblical invasion of Canaan and the ensuing
destruction of Jericho is typically dated
to around 1,400 BCE, after the earthquake
when the town had already been depopulated. This has led most
historians to conclude that the Bible's account
of the Battle of Jericho is probably allegorical and
not rooted in an actual event. [MUSIC PLAYING] Another ancient city
famed for its large walls was Babylon, located on the
banks of the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq. Babylon was founded
around 2,300 BCE and became an important
military center during the reign of King
Hammurabi in the 1700s BCE. Though the wider Babylonian
Empire started to fray after Hammurabi's
death, the city itself remained an
important center for commerce and culture. Under the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BCE,
Babylon once more was widely considered
the center of the world. Its influence was so
great that it even became an inescapable pop
song in the early aughts. And now it's stuck in your head. You're welcome. King Nebuchadnezzar
II constructed Babylon's famed 40-foot walls
in three rings around the city, wide enough for chariots to
race around on top of them, presumably with some room left
over to install box seats. Nebuchadnezzar was an enemy
of the Israelites and famously destroyed the
Temple of Jerusalem in a siege in 587 BCE. So it's not exactly
surprising that he's depicted as a villain
in the Hebrew Bible, and his city of
Babylon portrayed as a den of sin and evil. Though the Old Testament's
depiction largely stuck, just as it did with
Jericho's walls tumbling down, it may not have been
entirely accurate. Other primary texts
from the ancient world suggest that Babylon was an
enlightened center for arts, culture, and
scholarship, as well as a progressive city where
women enjoyed equal rights. And there was a tolerance for
the practice of all faiths and religions and, you know,
bodacious chariot races. After Nebuchadnezzar's
death in 562 BCE, Babylon quickly tumbled
from its position atop the ancient hierarchy. The city fell to the
Persian Empire in 539, became part of the Muslim
Empire by the seventh century, and went on to serve
as a tourist attraction for big Book of Daniel fans. Interestingly, early
European visitors often mistook the nearby
town of Fallujah for Babylon during their Middle
Eastern trips. [MUSIC PLAYING] Another majorly important city
located in modern-day Iraq was Ur, seated along
the Persian Gulf. Likely founded around 5,000
BCE as a small village, Ur had significantly grown
in size and importance by around 3,800. Ur was located at the point
where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into
the Persian Gulf, making it an important
center for trade and travel. There was probably a
big T-shirt stand there. You do not let prime
tourist trap real estate like that go to waste, no
matter what century you live in. Ur-Nammu, who led the city
from 2047 to 2030 BCE, actually created an
early code of laws. His son and
successor, Shulgi Ur, built a 150-mile long wall to
separate his kingdom from Sumer and also invested in cultural
and community-related advancements. Man, these cities were
really into walls. The city is also notable for
possibly being the birthplace of the biblical Abraham. The book of Genesis identifies
Abraham's birth city as Ur Kasdim, believed
by many historians to be the same place as Ur. Other scholars
believe Abraham may have come from a
different city named Ura, and that the writers
of the book of Genesis simply confused the two names. Which book of Genesis
are we talking? The Gabriel or Collins version? Ur remained an important center
for trade and scholarship until it was sacked
in 1750 BCE, which was more or less a rite of
passage for ancient cities. Climate change in the area
also caused the Persian Gulf to recede a bit from
the city limits, making the land less viable
for commercial interests. At this point, most
residents migrated to other populated areas
of Mesopotamia or Canaan. [MUSIC PLAYING] The ancient Sumerian
city of Eridu was founded in 5,400
BCE in present-day Iraq. The city had a great deal
of religious significance to the Sumerians, who
believed it had been founded by the goddess Inanna
and was home to Enki, the god of wisdom and magic. Sounds like that guy's
house was probably pretty easy to pick out. It's believed by many that
Eridu's religious practices had a direct influence on
the ancient Israelites. Local myths included a
story about a Great Flood and a man named Utnapishtim,
who was instructed by the gods to preserve life by
building a great ark, which bears a number of similarities
to the Old Testament story of Noah. It's also thought that
Eridu might have inspired the Old Testament stories
about the city of Babel and that the city's
notable tower might have been the original Tower of
Babel mentioned in the story. Around the year 600 BCE,
Eridu was abandoned. Some evidence points
to possible overuse of the land as an explanation,
though the specifics remain unclear. Maybe it was a seller's
market that year, and they flipped the
whole city for Airbnbs. [MUSIC PLAYING] The city of Carthage
was an important trading hub along the Mediterranean
with a large port, and it was one of the wealthiest
cities of the ancient world, uh, for a time. That particular
superlative usually didn't last long, hence all
the ancient wall building. Carthage was founded
by Phoenician settlers who followed what was known
as the Punic religion. While they were initially
able to trade peaceably with the Greeks and Romans,
along with other civilizations dotting the Mediterranean
at the time, Carthage's vast
resources, wealth, and geographical significance
made them a tantalizing target for conquest. Carthage's various battles
with their Roman neighbors, beginning in 264
BCE and culminating with the city's
destruction in 146 BCE, were known as the Punic Wars. General Hannibal, who famously
invaded the Roman Empire with North African
war elephants, and presumably loved it
when a plan came together, was fighting on
behalf of Carthage during the Second Punic War. After the Romans burned
Carthage to the ground at the close of the
Third Punic War, the city was later
rebuilt by both the Romans and
Byzantine Empires, only to be continually
razed in future conflicts. Remember what we
said earlier about how being the wealthiest city
wasn't always a good thing? It's like having the most
toys on the playground. Eventually, somebody is
going to make you eat sand. Today , Carthage sits around
10 miles outside the modern day city of Tunis. [MUSIC PLAYING] The Egyptian city
of Alexandria, which remains the country's second
largest city to this day, was founded in 331 BC by
Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great. Hey, if nobody intervened
when he started calling himself "the
Great," nobody's going to start saying a word
when he starts naming cities after himself. Under the reign of
Alexander's successor, former general, Ptolemy
I Soter, the city quickly became a focal point for all
of Hellenistic civilization. In addition, it was home
to two iconic treasures-- the Lighthouse of
Alexandria, one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world, and the famed Library
of Alexandria, among the greatest stores of the
world's knowledge at the time. Ptolemeos moved his empire's
capital to Alexandria by 305 BC. Over the next few
years, it would continue growing, ultimately
ranking as the largest city in the world by 30 BCE. Alexandria was attacked, sacked,
and rebuilt numerous times during the periods
of Greek and Roman domination of the Mediterranean. But ultimately, it
was the combination of a devastating tsunami in 365
and the rise of Christianity that triggered its decline. Once the practice
of pagan religions was outlawed by
Theodosius I in 392, Alexandria's many old
temples and religious sites were destroyed or
converted into churches, which is a bit like converting
an Arby's into a bank. Sure, it's a bank now, but we
all know what it used to be. And after the noted teacher
and philosopher, Hypatia, was whacked in
Alexandria in 415, which was seen as a symbolic
victory for Christianity over paganism, it encouraged
many more residents to flee the city. [MUSIC PLAYING] Located in modern-day Mali,
just north of the Niger River, Timbuktu was originally
a seasonal settlement and probably timeshare
location, founded by nomads before permanent residents
arrived in the 12th century. Following a crucial visit by
the leader of the Mali Empire, Mansa Musa, in 1325, the city
became an important center for African trade, particularly
salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. Salt was such an important
commodity at the time, 14th-century Arabic
historian, al-Umari, wrote that in West Africa,
you could trade a cup of salt for a cup of gold dust. However, you should not use the
gold dust to season your fries. By the 14th century, Timbuktu
was folded into the Mali Empire and then absorbed by
the expanding Songhai Empire in 1468. It became an important
center for Islamic learning and development, home to a
number of influential mosques and scholars. When a Moroccan army
defeated the Songhai in 1591, they made Timbuktu
their new capital. But this, nonetheless,
kickstarted a period of gradual decline. [MUSIC PLAYING] Tenochtitlan, near
present-day Mexico City, served as the center
of the Aztec Empire during the 15th
century until the time of the Spanish conquest. According to Aztec legend,
Tenochtitlan founders arrived on the future site
of the city in the year 1345. They were apparently following
directions from the war god, Huitzilopochtli, who
had promised them great wealth if they founded
a city in his honor, which if we're being honest, kind of
sounds like a divine phishing scam. When Huitzilopochtli's
nephew attempted to start a rebellion against
the god, he was slain. And his heart was thrown
into Lake Texcoco. The heart's resting place became
the center of the future city of Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan served
as the center of Aztec political and religious
life for nearly 200 years. And at the height of
the empire's prominence, it was home to an estimated
200,000 residents. The city fell to Spanish
conquistador, Hernán Cortés, on August 13, 1521,
marking the formal end of the Aztec civilization. So what do you think? Which of these ancient cities
would you have liked to visit? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
