12 Of The Most Important Cities In History - And Why They Fell From The Top

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.