20 Glorious Facts About Some Of the Oldest Cities of the World

The Ancient Egyptians had a city called Crocodilopolis. It contained a sacred lake where crocodiles were worshipped, fed and adorned with jewelry.

The ancient city of Jericho (currently in Palestine) is the world’s oldest walled city, with evidence of stone fortifications dating back nearly 9,000 years. Archaeological digs have turned up traces of habitation that are even older up to 11,000 years ago.

A huge ancient Mayan city named El Mirador has been discovered in Guatemala and it holds one of the world's largest pyramids. The La Danta temple measures approximately 72 meters (236 feet) tall from the forest floor.

In the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali there are an estimated 300,000 or more precolonial African literary manuscripts tucked away in various libraries and private collections, mostly written in Arabic and some in native languages. Topics include herbal medicine, mathematics, astronomy, poetry, law, history, faith, politics, and philosophy.

The ancient of city Caral in Peru features Pyramids which were built around the same time period that the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built. The city also shows no traces of warfare, indicating that the site was built as a place for “Commerce and Pleasure.”

The ancient city Catal Huyuk (in the present day Turkey) was one of the first recorded cities in history, but it didn't have any streets. The dwellings were clustered like a honeycomb-maze. Most of the houses were accessed by holes in the ceiling and doors on the side of the houses, with doors reached by ladders and stairs.

An Ancient city named “Seuthopolis” was discovered in the bottom of a lake in Bulgaria. It was founded in 323 B.C. The city was discovered and researched between 1948 and 1954. Unfortunately, this discovery came too late, because the reservoir dam being constructed nearby soon flood the valley and drowned this city. Right now there is a project underway to restore the city.

In the ancient city of Memphis, Egypt, so many people worshiped Anubis, the jackal-headed God of death, that the catacombs next to this sacred temple once held nearly 8 million mummified puppies and grown dogs.

Nan Madol is the only ancient city ever built upon a coral reef. It is a marvel of ancient engineering. The city, constructed in a lagoon, consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals.

Hatra, the capital of the "first Arab Empire" known as the Kingdom of Araba (in modern day Iraq) was one of the most diverse cities in the ancient world. It had temples (pantheons) to 5 major religions: Greek, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Aramean, and Arabian.