Key historical cities and the reasons for their decline

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. OK, we built this city. We built this city on Weird History. 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. Archaeologists 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 BC, 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 1700 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 1400 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. 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 2300 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 and 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 of 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. Another majorly important city located in modern day Iraq was Ur, seated along the Persian Gulf. Likely founded around 5000 BCE as a small village, Ur had significantly grown in size and importance by around 3800. 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 of 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. The ancient Sumerian city of Eridu was founded in 5400 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. 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. For a time, that particular superlative usually didn't last long and saw 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 raised 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's going to make you eat sand. Today, Carthage sits around 10 miles outside the modern-day city of Tunis, 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 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. Ptolemy moved his empire's capital to Alexandria by 305 BC. Over the next few hundred 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. 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-Omari 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 kick-started a period of gradual decline. 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's 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 fishing 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 Hernan Cortes on August 13, 1521, marking the formal end of the Aztec civilization.