Ancient cities thought only in legend

Many ancient cities thought that only in legend was discovered after thousands of years buried under the ground, water or desert sand.

Collection of cities seems to be only in legend

An architect in the city called Atlantis is buried in sand.

The city of Atlantis is submerged in sand mentioned in the Koran and is also known as Iram - the city of pillars. In the Koran, Iram is described as a city adorned by many magnificent buildings and inhabited by Ad. According to legend, when the people turned against Saint Alah, the Hud prophet was sent to call them back to worship the Alah and follow Him. However, the people of Iram vehemently protested and ignored Hud's words. Because of this attitude, the Ad people are punished and their city suffers from sand storms seven days and nights. In the end, the city disappeared under the thick sand as if it never existed.

In the early 1990s, an expedition led by archaeologist and amateur director Nicholas Clapp claimed to find the ancient city of Ubar identified as the city of Iram. They used devices and data from the US Aeronautics Agency (NASA) such as remote-sensing satellites, ground-based radars, Landsat program data and images captured by the Challenger space shuttle. As a result, the expedition identified ancient trade routes using camels as their transport and intersection.

One of those intersections is the famous water hole in Shisr, Dhofar province, Kingdom of Oman. When conducting excavations, the expedition discovered a large octagonal fortress with high walls and towers around. They claim this is the city of Iram. Although many people are still skeptical whether Ubar and Iram are one, we can at least say that the story of Iraq is inspired by Ubar and modified over time to convey the message of the people into The city that they agreed upon the wish of Saint Alah.

Ruins of the ancient city of Helike.

The city of Helike is located in Achaea, northwest of the Peloponnese, Greece. During the heyday, Helike served as the first Achaea Alliance leader of 12 neighboring cities. Thanks to this role, Helike is an important economic, cultural and religious center. The protector god of this city is Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes in Greek mythology. This is understandable because the city is located in one of the most common areas of earthquakes in Europe.

On a winter night in 373 BC, the city of Helike was completely destroyed. The signs of the city's apocalypse are recorded as the emergence of "huge pillars of fire" and small flocks of animals migrating from the coast towards the mountains a few days ago. when disaster happens. A large earthquake, accompanied by tsunamis from Corinth Bay, swept away the city of Helike from the ground. The next morning, the rescue team arrived but found no one survived. Helike disappeared completely on the map.

At the beginning of the 19th century, there were speculations about the true location of Helike. However, it was not until 2001 that this city was identified in Achaea, Greece. In 2012, the city was completely excavated and confirmed to be Helike.

A stone block with ancient Greek and Egyptian inscriptions in the city of Heracleion.

The city of Heracleion, home to the temple where Cleopatra was ordained as the Queen of Egypt, was sunk into the Mediterranean Sea nearly 1,200 years ago. Earlier, the city was one of the important trade centers in the Mediterranean region. For centuries, it was believed that the city was only in legend, just like Atlantis. But in 2001, an archaeologist accidentally discovered it while diving in search of French warships.

After removing all the sandy soil, divers discovered the old city in good condition. Many things are still found intact such as Amun-Gerb temple, giant pharaoh statues, hundreds of small god statues, a sphinx statue, 64 ancient ships, 700 anchors, and Greek carved stone blocks and ancient Egypt, dozens of stone coffins, gold coins and copper and stone weights. This is one of the most important underwater findings in more than a decade.

Ruins of the ancient city Urkesh.

The city of Urkesh was once the center of civilization of the ancient Eastern Hurria people and is known in the legend as the homeland of a primitive god. The city prospered from 4000 to 1300 BC. It is considered a major political and religious center and an important stop on the north-south trade route connecting Anatolia with the two Syrian cities and Mesopotamia, as well as on the east-west route connecting the Dia The Mediterranean with the Zagros mountain range in western Iran. Urkesh is also the capital of the kingdom that controls the entire northern highlands where there are many copper mines. Thanks to that, the city became rich and prosperous.

There is not much information about Urkesh nor the mysterious civilization of the Hurria, because the city is buried under desert sand for thousands of years and disappeared in history books. However, in the 1980s, archaeologists found a high mound called Tell Mozan.

There, many ruins are found including a square, a large staircase, a deep underground tunnel that is said to be "Road to the underworld" mentioned in religious ceremonies and a palace. The vast royal family contains many hand-written evidence that this is Urkesh city.

Location of the kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod.

Legend has it that in the 6th century there was a kingdom named Cantre'r Gwaelod (meaning Hundred low lands) ruled by King Gwyddno Garanhir. By the 17th century, the kingdom was renamed after the name of this Welsh king as Maes Gwyddno. There was an earlier legend that Mererid, the nun who governed a divine well, let water flow out and the kingdom was submerged forever.

A few decades ago, the appearance of prehistoric rainforest forests in Cardigan Bay, west of Wales, raises the theory that this is the location of the ancient kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod. In fact, it is found here a footpath with many interconnected columns, fossil footprints of humans and animals and some tools. It is thought that this ancient kingdom is now located between Ramsey Island and Bardsey Island in Cardigan Bay and stretches about 32 km west of the coast line to the bay.

Remnant artifacts of the city of La Ciudad Blance.

Two years ago, in a Honduran satellite survey where locals still circulated many legends about an ancient city lost, archaeologists discovered many human traces. . They claim that this is the trace of the city of La Ciudad Blance (meaning White City), or the City of the Monkey God. But all they have is just unclear scans of the forest.

However, earlier this year it was excavated and confirmed that what appears on satellite images is a vestige of a lost civilization.

Archaeologists have uncovered many large squares, fortifications, mounds, earth pyramids and dozens of meticulously carved objects belonging to a mysterious culture that people never knew.

According to legend, the city of La Ciudad Blance is hidden in Mosquitia primeval forest in eastern Honduras. The Spanish general Hernán Cortés has heard many "reliable" information about the ruins of this ancient city but has not determined its location. In 1927, pilot Charles Lindbergh said he saw monuments built of white stone when flying in eastern Honduras.

Until the 1930s, there were rumors about a place in Honduras called "The City of the Monkey God" believed to be La Ciudad Blance. In 1939, explorer Theodore Morde announced to find and bring back thousands of antiquities to prove it. Morde said the natives said that there was a huge statue of the Monkey God buried there. He never revealed the location where he found the artifacts for fear of someone coming to plunder and destroy before he returned to excavate.

In 1952, explorer Tibor Seklj conducted a search for the White City in a project funded by the Honduras Ministry of Culture but returned empty-handed. Researchers conducted a survey in the 1990s after hearing reports of this legend in the mass media and obtained the first important results in 2012. To date, researchers She has revealed a large intact population since the city was abandoned centuries ago, even millennia.

Temple of Musasir city in the Armenian plateau.

The ancient temple of Musasir city is an important temple of Ararat to worship the god Haldi, the supreme deity of the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu. This kingdom took Ho Van in the Armenian plateau as its center and its area covered the territories of the present-day countries of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Armenia. The temple was built in Ararat sanctuary in 825 BC. However, after Musasir fell into the hands of Assyrians in the 8th century BC, the temple is no longer mentioned in the history books.

The temple exists since the Urartia, Assyria and Scythian people are still in conflict with each other in the war for control of the area that is now northern Iraq. According to ancient inscriptions carved in the temple, Musasir is "a mecca built on stone" and "crow city" while the name Musasir itself means "a way out of snakes". The image of the temple depicted in the relief of the Assyrians praised the victory of King Sargon II after defeating "seven Ararat kings" in 714 BC and was displayed as decorations at the palace. his in Khorsapat.

Research and excavation has been carried out for many years to determine the location of the ancient temple of Musasir but failed. It was not until July 2014 that archaeologists found it in the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. The archaeological evidence found includes true-sized statues and many columns of the temple of Haldi dating back to the time of the construction of the Musasir temple.

Photo of the ancient city of Mahendraparvata.

In 2014, Australian archaeologists used state-of-the-art remote sensing technology and discovered the 1,200-year-old Mahendraparvata city, which appeared 350 years earlier than the Angkor Wat complex in northwest Cambodia.

Damian Evans, director of the archaeological research center in Cambodia at the University of Sydney, and the team working in Siem Reap City are allowed to use Lidar laser technology in the Cambodian jungle area. This is also the first time aviation technology has been put into use in archaeological research in tropical Asia. When the data that Lidar provided displayed on the computer screen was the time when the city was discovered.

"With this device, we were surprised to see immediately the image of a city that no one had ever known existed, which is an extraordinary discovery," Evans said.

After many years of field research, archaeologists finally found this city where people live concentrated on Mount Phnom Kulen. It was part of the Khmer Empire that dominated most of Southeast Asia from 800 to 1400 AD.

Thanks to the data provided by Lidar equipment, the archaeological team discovered the remains of five unrecorded temples, a large Buddha statue, traces of canals, roads and hundreds of tissues. Mysterious land can be tombs scattered throughout the city. They also found a cave with many significant historical carvings used as a retreat for the Angkorian devotees. The research and excavation of the ancient city of Mahendraparvata is only at an early stage and archaeologists do not know what else they will find.

Caral city 5,000 year old pyramid.

Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and India are known as the cradle of the first civilizations in human history. However, few people know that a great civilization has appeared at the same time and probably before these societies were formed. It is the Norte Chico civilization in Supe Valley, Peru, and the earliest civilization in the Americas. The capital of this civilization is a 5,000-year-old Caral sanctuary known for its diverse farming practices, rich culture and monumental architecture.

Caral ancient city hidden under sand for thousands of years. By 1905, German archaeologist Max Uhle surveyed Supe Valley, located 321 km north of Lima on the Pacific coast of Peru, and discovered the first archaeological sites in the area. this. Several decades later, a large-scale excavation took place, revealing a very small part of this vast ancient city. In the 1970s, archaeologists discovered that the hills found here were pyramids. By the 1990s, the entire ancient city of Caral was discovered. Here, six large pyramids are found around a large square. Public buildings include staircases, rooms, gardens, an outdoor theater and three middle-aged squares.

The aristocracy lived in the large rooms on the top of the pyramid, the craftsmen lived in cottages on the ground floor, and the workers lived in small houses far from the center. An estimated 3,000 people live in Caral. Researchers believe that the city model is often found in many civilizations stemming from the Norte Chico civilization.

Two ancient Mayan cities.

In 2014, archaeologists discovered many vestiges of the two Mayan cities that had long since disappeared in the Mexican jungle area such as pyramid-shaped temples, palaces, monster mouth gates, football fields. , altar and many other stone structures. One of the two cities, Lagunita, was seen that way a few decades but every attempt to redefine the ruins failed.

One of the features of this city is the entrance to a giant monster mouth symbolizing the Mayan fertility god. Behind this gate is a 20-meter pyramid-shaped temple and the ruins of a palace complex surrounding four large squares. Nearby there are many stone statues and a number of altars with carvings kept intact.

The researchers also discovered near the Lagunita ancient citadel area a cluster of previously unknown relics including a pyramid-shaped temple, a shrine, a castle with three surrounding temples. The researchers named the city Tamchen (meaning deep well), after finding here more than 30 large niches below the ground used to store rainwater.