People leave the cities. Cities are emptying, going underground, overgrown and destroyed. From the legendary Troy and the famous Babylon to the city with the telling name of Tikal, hidden today in the impassable jungle.
Babylon
In 1165, the Spanish traveler Benjamin of Tudel visited Babylon and wrote that the city "is a ruin …". For a whole millennium it has been the real capital of the world. It was here that the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon were located, here civilization was born. The city was the capital of the Babylonian kingdom, the center of the empire of Alexander the Great.
After the founding of the Seleucid state in 312 BC, the decline of Babylon began. The mass exodus of residents from there occurred with the transfer of the capital to the city of Seleucia on the Tigris. In 126, Babylon was practically destroyed by the Parthians. On the site of the formerly densely populated areas there were now ruins, the great Babylon was turning into a Parthian settlement. Life gradually came to naught, people who knew cuneiform and the Babylonian language became less and less.
Machu Picchu
Promotional video: The
irony of history: this ancient city, which historians still cannot cope with with determining the age, received the status of "New Wonder of the World" in 2007. Machu Picchu is translated as "old peak", it is located on the territory of modern Peru. Presumably, the city existed from 1440 to 1532, when all its inhabitants mysteriously disappeared somewhere. One of the reasons for the exodus was definitely the invasion of the Spanish colonialists, but historians are more inclined to believe that Machu Picchu was abandoned for other reasons (for example, religious or astrological) - it was too well preserved.
Machu Picchu keeps its mysteries. For example, this one. Huayna Picchu rises behind its ruins. In the construction of terraces on the rock, the Incas used stone blocks weighing 200 tons. How they were delivered to such a height is still unknown. The Inca wheels did not know.
TikalThe ancient Mayan city of Tikal is located in the territory of modern Guatemala. According to researchers, it was founded in the 7th century BC and during its heyday its population reached 100-200 thousand people. "Tikal" is translated from the Mayan language as "a place where the voices of spirits are heard." For nine centuries, from the 10th to the middle of the 19th century, Tikal heard only the voices of spirits, because there were no people there. They left the city at the end of the 9th century. Why they did this, scientists cannot answer to this day. Deserted, Tikal was overgrown with jungle and became a ghost town.
The ruins of Tikal were used as a backdrop during filming of the rebel base in Star Wars, and on December 21, 2012, crowds of tourists greeted the “end of the world” here and caused serious damage to the historic site. Apparently, for disappointed expectations.
Troy
Russian citizen Andrei Aristovich Schliemann (aka Heinrich) was not the first who began to look for the legendary Troy on the Hisarlyk hill, but it was he who won laurels for his discovery.
Scientists continue to argue whether Schliemann found exactly Troy. As the main proof, he presented the so-called "Priam's treasure" to the public. It included approximately 9,000 items. Skeptics almost immediately accused him of the fact that the notorious treasure was collected from finds of different layers.
The fact is that due to its strategic position (frequent wars) and earthquakes, Troy had to be restored more than once, so today Troy as an archaeological site consists of 9 layers dating back to different eras.
According to archaeologists, Troy was deserted in the XIII-XII century BC. Around 1180 BC, Troy suffered severe damage from an earthquake and appears to be on fire. What exactly caused the exodus of the Trojans from the once powerful city (war or natural disasters) is still unknown.
Ani
The city of Ani, which today is located on the territory of Turkey, was built by the Armenians; the first mentions of it date back to the fifth century. At the time of its heyday, the city of Ani was called the city of 1001 churches, it was the capital of the Ani kingdom. It was a large, populous metropolis with unique architecture. According to the Arab historian of the 13th century Sibt ibn al-Jawzi, before the destruction of the city by the Turks in 1064, its population reached 1 million, but modern historians are more modest in their calculations and speak of about a quarter of a million inhabitants.
In the XIII century, Ani was first captured by the Seljuks, then the Mongols. Most of the urban population was forcibly resettled inland, many left the once flourishing capital on their own. The city continued to exist, but its fate was sealed. The end in the fate of Ani was put by the earthquake of 1319. Today the ruins of this city are one of the most valuable cultural monuments.
