Dear friends,

No one knows what the Universe has in store for us tomorrow. For good or bad, civilisations turn to dust and princes become paupers overnight. The lost cities of the world were all once great metropolises of even greater civilisations. Some have been rediscovered but no one knows how many others remain lost forever behind the veil of time and the wheel of karma.

Despite the glory and power of their halcyon days, these cities succumbed when their time came. Many met a sudden end, completely unexpected by their residents. Some, like Pompeii, fell to the fury of natural disasters like volcanic eruptions. Others were victims of the most destructive force our planet has ever known: Man.

Here, we look at seven lost cities of the world that I find particularly fascinating. Within them lived people like you and me, harbouring the same hopes and dreams that all men share. The excavations of these sites reveal much about the inhabitants, the lives they led, and of the objects and the ideas that they cherished.

It is a glimpse into a glorious but irrecoverable past, both mesmerising and melancholic at the same time. I hope it lights a passion for history in you, for we are mere specks in the timeline of humanity and must cherish our shared heritage.

Tsem Rinpoche

1. Machu Picchu, Peru

The location of Machu Picchu in Peru, South America. Click on image to enlarge.

The ruins of Machu Picchu (meaning “Old Peak” in the Quechua language) are one of the most beautiful of all the ancient sites in the world. Nestled on a small hilltop almost 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) above sea level, this majestic 15^th Century city looks over the Urubamba Valley in the Andean Mountain Range.

Machu Picchu has always been isolated from the rest of Peru; even today, it is almost 100 km on the Inca Trail from the nearest village of Cusco. This isolation was instrumental in its escape from the destruction wrought on Incan culture by the Conquistadors. The city was only rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham.

Machu Picchu is arguably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire for its extraordinary natural setting and superb architecture. The mountain city was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. In 2007, it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

The layout of Machu Picchu, as it would have appeared in its heyday. Click on image to enlarge.

The city is separated into three areas – agricultural, urban, and religious. The structures are arranged so that the function of the buildings matches the form of their surroundings. The agricultural terracing and aqueducts take advantage of the natural slopes. The lower areas contain buildings occupied by residents of the city while the religious areas are located on the crest of the hill.

Archaeologists estimate that the city could have supported approximately 1,200 people. Despite the large population, the city was completely self-contained. The agricultural terraces were watered by natural springs and produced sufficient yield to feed the entire population. The land surrounding the valleys has been cultivated for more than 1,000 years.

The ruins of Machu Picchu contain palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. Both secular and sacred architecture featured large windows, niches for idols and other artistic sculptural embellishments. Splashing fountains and masterpieces of hydraulic engineering brought fresh water into buildings while other channels removed waste.

Every structure in the city is constructed of the same stonework, carved from the grey granite of the mountain top. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tonnes or more and yet, they are sculpted and fitted together with such precision that it is impossible to insert even a thin blade between them. The interlocking pattern of the blocks allows buildings to withstand earthquakes by allowing entire walls to flex and bend with the tremors.

One of Machu Picchu’s primary functions was as an astronomical observatory. The Intihuatana stone (meaning “Hitching Post of the Sun”) has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes (midday of March 21^st and September 21^st). Intihuatana stones were the supremely sacred objects of the Inca people. Shamanic legends say that when a sensitive person touches their forehead to the stone, it opens their vision to the spirit world. The Inca believed that deities reside around the Intihuatana stones and if the stones are destroyed, the deities will die or depart. Many Incan Intihuatana stones were destroyed during the Spanish conquest of the region. However, the Spaniards never found Machu Picchu (although they had heard rumours of its existence) and the Intihuatana stone of Machu Picchu still stands.

2. Petra, Jordan

Petra’s incredible architecture has captured imaginations for centuries. Click on image to enlarge.

Petra lies in a great rift valley east of Wadi Araba in Jordan, about 80 kilometres from the Dead Sea. The site has been inhabited since very early human history – remains from the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic eras have been discovered in the area. Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Petra achieved great importance under the Nabateans, who migrated and settled here in the 6^th Century BC. The city’s prosperity and power reached its peak during the 1^st Century BC, due in large part to its regional monopoly of the spice trade. In their four centuries in power, the Nabateans built a city of palaces, temples and tombs, and constructed a network of channels and cisterns to harness rainwater in the arid land. They also designed a hydraulic system which is still used by the Bedouin tribes today. At its height, the city bustled with 30,000 people scattered over 1,000 square kilometres.

The Nabateans’ independent reign over Petra came to an end in AD 106 when it was integrated into the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan. However, the city continued to flourish under the Romans.

Entry to Petra is via a winding 1.2 km (0.75 mi) gorge known as the Siq. The almost vertical rock walls of the Siq range between 91 m and 182 m (299-597 ft.) in height but at their narrowest points are a mere 3 metres (10 ft.) apart. The gigantic structure was created by tectonic movements that rent the rock asunder while the walls were smoothened by centuries of water erosion.

The Siq opens up to the facade of the Khazneh, the building that has all but becomes the face of Petra. While the name given to it today means “treasury”, it is actually a mausoleum that was built in the 1^st Century AD. At that time, Petra was a flourishing city of 20,000 inhabitants.

In AD 336, an earthquake destroyed half of the city but Petra managed to recover. However, the shift of trading routes in favour of seaborne shipping and another severe earthquake in 551 AD proved too devastating. By 700 AD, the once-thriving metropolis was gone.

While memories of the city in the sands faded from the minds of outsiders, some local tribes were always aware of its existence. Petra was rediscovered for the rest of the world in 1812 by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss scholar. He came disguised as a Muslim pilgrim and recognised it as the city of ancient lore.

Today, archaeologists continue to make major discoveries at Petra. In 2016, satellite imagery revealed the existence of a massive underground structure that had been completely hidden from view despite its immense size. Some experts now estimate that as much as 85 per cent of the city remains hidden under the sand and debris.

Colonnade Street of Petra, badly damaged by flash floods over the past 1,000 years.

The Theatre, with a seating capacity of 6,000.

The Djinn Blocks are located on the way to the Siq.

The Obelisk tomb

The Royal Tombs: The Palace and Corinthian Tombs

The Monastery, beautifully-crafted and so huge that the doorway is several stories tall.

High place of Sacrifice on the mountain summit where the Nabataeans performed animal sacrifice rituals.

The Siq (Thaniya) is a kilometre-long crack in the mountain that opens into Petra

3. Troy, Turkey

What is left of the theatre from ancient Troy. Click on image to enlarge.

Perhaps no Greek myth has captured the imagination of the modern masses like that of the Trojan War in Homer’s Iliad. For over two millennia, it was believed that the heroes and their feats narrated in the poem, and even Troy itself, were just imaginary creations meant solely for entertainment. The revelation that the legends were tales of actual events shocked the world when the lost city was unearthed in the early 19^th Century.

The site of ancient Troy was first located and identified in the modern era by Scottish journalist Charles MacLaren in 1822. It was excavated by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s and by other teams in the 1890s and 1930s. For the first time, people could walk on the very soil that their mythical heroes had treaded aeons ago.

The series of digs revealed nine cities, each successive one built on top of its predecessors. Unfortunately, Schliemann’s haste to positively identify the Troy of legend prompted him to employ unprofessional methods of excavation on the upper layers. His carelessness destroyed invaluable information and artifacts, actions for which he has received scathing criticism from other archaeologists.

Nonetheless, the excavations revealed that the area had been first inhabited almost five millennia earlier, in the Early Bronze Age. Homer had accurately described Troy as standing near the shores; however, the landscape has shifted and the coastline today lies almost 5 kilometres from where the city’s walls once stood.

Troy’s strategic coastal location gave it control of the gateway between the Aegean and Eastern civilisations. At its height, the city had extended hundreds of metres beyond the citadel itself and was home to as many as 10,000 inhabitants. The trade of animal skins and wool seems to have formed a large part of their livelihoods. The Trojans also reared horses and Homer refers to them as the “horse-taming Trojans”.

Much has been said of Troy’s mighty walls for they withstood 10 years of siege by the coalition of Greek forces bent on her destruction. These walls were 5 metres thick and rose as high as 8 metres above the ground. They curve inward at their top, a feature that would have helped the Trojan archers rain their countless arrows upon the Greeks below.

Ultimately, the Greeks never did breach Troy’s walls with violence. It was the keen battle-honed mind of Odysseus that accomplished victory for his side, using one of the most iconic war devices of all time: the Trojan horse.

After the sacking of Troy by the Greeks, new cities did rise in its stead at the same location. However, none reached the level of acclaim as the Troy where timeless heroes like Achilles, Hector and Ajax stood, battled and died, cementing their names in history.

Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998.

Ruined walls that once fortified ancient Troy

A replica Trojan Horse in modern-day Troy

4. Persepolis, Iran

A thousand years before the Muslim invasion of Persia, the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550–330 BC) was at its peak and seemed to have an unsurmountable grip on power. One of its greatest gifts to mankind was Persepolis, the “City of the Persians”. While Persepolis was not the Achaemenid capital, its amazing architecture could rival that of any city of the time and remains a source of wonder to this day.

Unlike almost all the other famous lost cities of the world, Persepolis enjoyed the briefest of times in splendour. For all the present-day fame that the rediscovered ruins enjoy, Persepolis’ time in the sun was a mere two centuries. A century-long construction began under King Darius I (522-486 BC) around 518 BC but Alexander the Great sacked and burned down the palace complex in 330 BC. It was repayment for the Persians’ destruction of Greek temples, particularly the Acropolis of Athens in 480 BC.

The majestic pillars of Persepolis were lost to the desert, only referred to in passing by travellers who traversed the region but remained uncertain as to their origins. It was only in the 17^th Century that a Spanish ambassador correctly identified the ruins. By then, only 25 of the original 72 columns were still standing.

The world had to wait until the 1930s for excavations to begin at this great city. These ventures were part of two archaeological expeditions to the region organised by the University of Chicago. Little by little, the debris and the sands revealed the treasures that they had so jealously guarded for thousands of years.

The ruins of several colossal buildings have emerged, as have inscriptions, records and seals. Some of the most vital information comes from tablets preserved in the Persepolis Administrative Archives, which survived intact because falling fortifications sealed them from the outside world. They reveal that the builders were workers who received fair payment for the work they performed, in stark contrast to the slavery that subsequently became widespread in the region.

13 of the renowned 75 columns of Persepolis still stand today, a testament to the ingenuity of its builders and the eternal human passion for beauty. Persepolis was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1979.

Beautifully-carved double stairwell

The Gate of All Nations, built to ward off evil.

5. Babylon, Iraq

Babylon is perhaps the most well-known ancient city in the world. It was the capital of Mesopotamia, a powerful kingdom that covered most of modern-day Iraq and beyond. The name “Babylon” means “Gate of the Gods”.

This lost city was discovered in 1899 by German archaeologist Robert Koldewey. However, these ruins date to a thousand years after the founding of the city – the remains of Old Babylon have long been submerged by a natural rise in the water table.

A renowned centre of learning and culture, Babylon was also famous as the home to one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, the Hanging Gardens. These gardens, which have been mentioned in the writings of numerous ancient scribes, were constructed on a series of terraces so they seemed to float in the air and the grounds were watered mechanically.

Another integral piece of Babylon’s skyline was the imposing ziggurat (stepped pyramid) to Marduk, the chief god of the Mesopotamians. The Bible mentions this structure, too – it is the infamous Tower of Babel. Archaeologists have found records that tell us that it was four-sided, 91 metres on each side and about the same in height. The seven steps of the tower were crested by a temple made resplendent by a blue glaze.

One of the intriguing facts about the Tower of Babel is the manner in which it entranced almost all who ventured its way. Centuries of power struggles between peoples, kingdoms and even within ruling families repeatedly brought the shadow of chaos to Babylon. However, most chose to honour this structure and those that did not found themselves cursed. The Assyrian King Sennacherib (r. 705-681 BC), who razed the city and the tower was later assassinated by his own son.

The downfall of Babylon began with the Persian invasion led by Cyrus the Great. The city surrendered without a fight in 539 BC, supposedly after the invaders diverted the Euphrates River which flowed through it and simply walked through the space left under the impregnable walls. When the Persian Empire subsequently fell to Alexander the Great two centuries later in 331 BC, Babylon passed into Greek hands.

Alexander was so impressed by the city that he ordered its architecture left intact. The great conqueror would die here in 323 BC. By 141 BC, Babylon had been deserted and slowly passed out of the memories of men.

After its rediscovery in the late 19^th Century, several archaeological expeditions have unearthed priceless artefacts amongst the ruins. However, ongoing chaos in Iraq has led to extremist organisations looting the site to finance their own objectives. This is a tragic blow to our understanding of how this brilliant civilisation accomplished so many amazing feats of architecture and advancements in science thousands of years ago.

The ancient coliseum of Babylon

The full-scale reproduction of the legendary Ishtar Gate, named after a Babylonian god, was ornamented with glazed brick relief images of dragons and young bulls surrounded by blue enamelled tiles.

Babylon was renowned for its high, well-fortified walls and for the magnificence of its temples and palaces. The walls are ornamented with images of the ancient god Marduk.

6. Memphis, Egypt

The Step Pyramid of the first Pharaoh, constructed entirely in limestone, is the oldest known architectural structure of this type.

The Great Pyramids and the Sphinx may be the most recognisable symbols of pre-Islamic Egypt but Memphis was where it all began. In fact, this ancient city was founded over 5,000 years ago, at a time when woolly mammoths still roamed the earth!

Memphis was the capital of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, its seat of power and home to its most famous rulers, including one of the most well-known pharaohs, the boy king Tutankhamen. It was established in 3100 BC and enjoyed over three millennia in the limelight before fading away in the 1^st Century AD.

As with virtually every major city of the ancient world, Memphis received an endorsement of its very existence by being a seat of religion. In this case, it was from the god Ptah, deity of craftsmen. The great temple to Ptah was called Hut-Ka-Ptah, the “Abode of the Soul of Ptah”. In Greek, it became Ai-Gy-Ptos, the root of the name “Egypt”.

Because of its location just 15 miles from the outskirts of Cairo, Memphis was repeatedly targeted for its treasures by grave robbers over the centuries. Many of the tombs and important buildings have been discovered under the sand but most were stripped of their artefacts long before formal excavations by European explorers could begin in the early 19^th Century.

Among these buildings is the Great Temple, Hut-Ka-Ptah itself. The ruins reveal a massive complex whose southern tip was marked by a colossus of Ramses II that stood over 40 feet tall. This statue still lies in the sands here today. Near it sits a sphinx 13 feet high and hewn from a single block of alabaster; it is estimated to weigh 80 tons.

Many of the statues and relics associated with Memphis were found at its main necropolis of Saqqara. The city’s royalty, dignitaries and chief priests were buried here along with the tools that would accompany them in the afterlife, making Saqqara an unparalleled archaeological treasure trove.

Most ancient cities saw ebbs and lulls in importance and Memphis was no different. However, its eventual downfall began after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. The young general stayed in the city but planned for another, even grander capital to succeed it: Alexandria.

Later, Alexandria’s coastal location gave it a direct connection to the Roman Empire ahead of Memphis. This coincided with a general abandonment of the ancient religion in favour of Christianity under the Romans. With the Muslim conquest of the region in the 7^th Century, the grand temples and monuments were dismantled and their blocks used to construct ordinary buildings; priceless statues were mutilated and destroyed, lost forever.

Despite these unimaginable losses, the ruins of Memphis were proof enough of its grandeur for it to be inducted into UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1979.

The Alabaster Sphinx was once located outside the temple of Ptah

The Colossus of Ramesses II located outside the temple of Ptah

7. Pompeii, Italy

Mummified bodies. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was so sudden and unexpected, most of Pompeii’s residents were caught unaware.

Time froze forever on a coastal city on a cool October day in 79 AD. Its name was Pompeii, a vibrant Roman metropolis on the south-western coast of Italy. The trigger was the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, an event that shot millions of tons of rock and ash 35 kilometres (22 miles) into the air. The massive, mushrooming cloud blanketed the entire region in a pall of darkness… before it rained down on the town.

Meanwhile, deadly currents of hot gas with temperatures higher than 250°C (482°F) swept through the city at speeds exceeding 100 km/h (62 mph). It killed countless people where they stood or lay within seconds. The thriving port city of over 12,000 people was literally wiped off the map. 2,000 residents were killed instantly but the death toll in the region would eventually climb to over 16,000.

The debris spewed by the volcano crashed back down to earth, covering Pompeii under 6 to 7 metres (19 to 23 feet) of ash and rock. The phenomenon created an almost hermetic seal over the streets and temples, homes and people. The scene would remain untouched for almost two thousand years, frozen in time.

The tragedy that wracked Pompeii so completely obliterated it that virtually no one apart from thieves chose to go there. It remained lost to the world until 1748 when a Spanish military engineer located and identified the city. Today, Pompeii is the world’s longest continuously-excavated site.

The ash preserved the city so well that everything from loaves of bread to uncovered preserved fruit to animal and human remains has been found. In some cases, human figures encased in hardened ash have been filled with resin to create almost lifelike versions of people who lived and died two millennia ago.

Art in the form of wall murals and statues – including one of the Hindu goddesses Lakshmi – tell us of Pompeii’s love for beauty and its connections with far-off ends of the earth. Graffiti on the walls have given linguists a peek into how Latin was spoken by average people as compared to the rigid academic language passed down in books.

The presence of shrines in most of the hundreds of homes tells us that Pompeiians were deeply connected to their beliefs. The Doric Temple is the oldest religious structure in the city, built between the 3^rd and the 1^st Century BC. It forms one corner of the Triangular Forum, with temples to Zeus Meilichius and Isis nearby.

Archaeologists have been able to date the buildings and gain an accurate understanding of the evolution of architecture in the city which, in turns, reflects the origins of the citizens who designed them. These discoveries affected European culture later, too, giving rise to ‘Pompeii-style’ buildings, furniture and murals.

The eruption of Vesuvius that obliterated Pompeii as a living city was a tragic event. It is strange that a force so destructive is also the very reason that we have been able to discover and understand the lives of the people it destroyed.

Pompeii was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997.

The streets of Pompeii

The ancient people of Pompeii enriched their quarters with elegant courtyards

For more interesting information:

• Theos Bernard – The American Explorer of Tibet
• Professor Garma C.C. Chang – The Illustrious Pioneer
• Alexandra David-Néel
• Anagarika Dharmapala: The Revered Buddhist Revivalist
• Walter Evans-Wentz: American Pioneer Scholar on Tibetan Buddhism
• Kazi Dawa Samdup: a Pioneering Translator of Tibetan Buddhist Texts
• George Roerich – Light of the Morning Star
• In the Footsteps of Joseph Rock

Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:

If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team