Revisiting the Cities the World Has LOST!

Those who forget history are destined to repeat it.

Hope we’ve learned enough from our history which is replete with examples of ancient buildings and monuments – even cities – being abandoned or destroyed or just left to be swallowed by the sea! Ten such glorious examples are listed below:

Akrotiri

The city belonging to the Bronze Age had Minoans as its inhabitants until it was buried under the debris of a volcano eruption in 1500 BC or thereabouts. Digging through the ashes of the city has lead to the discovery of ceramics, wall-paintings, staircases and even houses. The city is founded on the Greek island, Santorini.

Angkor

The erstwhile capital of Khmer empire, Angkor boasts of an enormous complex which is now weighed-down with age and crumbling. Henri Mouhot, a French explorer discovered it over 140 years ago. Its myriad temples dating back to the period between 9th and 14th centuries are a treat to the eyes.

Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar was a dazzler who wanted to show to the world and to the gods that he was great. Thus came into existence one of the ancient world’s seven wonders, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The state of affairs today is such that you will probably not even find something akin to a hanging basket there. Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein should however be credited for taking a shot at rebuilding it! However, today large portions of the city's Ishtar Gate have made it to Berlin’s Pergamon Museum.

Carthage

The ancient seaport that the region was once famous for is virtually non-existent now. No wonder as Carthage was plundered not once, but twice – in the first instance by the Romans in 146 BC during the Punic war. The resilient city was back to normalcy and functioned as a Mediterranean trading port until the Arabs left it abandoned and in ruins in 698 AD. The ruins are now open to the visitors willing to have a look!

Kuelap

Engulfed within the northern Peruvian cloud forests, the fortress of a city was recently opened for public with archeological teams getting busy unearthing human bones and tourists resorting to their usual site exploration. Kuelap dates back to an era prior to the Incas. The denizens of this forest are called the Chachapoyas and the place features tombs, temples and even homes within the precincts of its 70ft stone walls. Peru’s tourism board would want Kuelap to be recognised as the Machu Picchu of the north.

Machu Picchu

Hidden from the gaze of the modern world, this city that was lost after the Incan Empire collapsed in the 1530s was rediscovered only in 1911, by Hiram Bingham, an American explorer. A research team however claims that the city was looted about 40 years prior to that by a German adventurer, helped by the government of Peru.

Oradour-sur-glane

Actually this French town is not really 'lost' but has been witness to a horrendous tragedy which saw its entire population of 624 (women, men and children alike) massacred on June 10, 1944 during World War - II. The razed town remains in a ruined state even today. The site still sometimes holds memorial services.

Petra

To rue over the lost splendour of this yesteryear city, tourists just need to visit the magnificent treasury hidden in a mile-long gorge in the heart of the mountains. That’s not all, with nearly 1,000 more tombs, a monastery and a sacrificial alter to explore, this place is a delight to the tourists. Legend has it that it was known only to Bedouin till a Swiss traveler, Johann Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812. He had to go there in the guise of an Arab after persuading the guides to show him through the place while he made a sacrifice at Aaron’s (Moses' brother’s) tomb. However, the sacrifice was just a pretext to visit the city he had come to hear about! In its early days, Petra housed several springs. That was the time when the nomads, known as the Nabataeans started settling down in the city.

Tikal

The erstwhile capital of Mayan civilisation and the abode of rulers such as Great Jaguar Paw and Stormy Sky, Tikal was inexplicably abandoned around AD 900 and for over hundred decades from then on was merely a landmass of dense vegetation. Guatemalan locals were aware of the city all along, but it was left to the European explorers to rediscover it in the 19th century. The city was once home to 90,000 inhabitants and contained 4,000 buildings.

Troy

In the 19th century, remnants of the fabled city of Troy as illustrated in the pages of Homer were discovered in Anatolia, Turkey. History quotes that later the city saw a siege followed by the Greeks plundering the city and leaving it in ashes. Cut to an ancient mound at Hisarlik, where archeologists unraveled 20ft walls and evidence that nine cities once existed at the site. One of these nine cities could well be the city of Troy.

You might wish to take a tour of the pictorial gallery of these LOST CITIES!

- myVox

(Inputs/Photos for the report from telegraph.co.uk/travel)