Ancient World places: lost cities, empires and old names on today's map

The Ancient World quiz asks one simple question in four different ways: where is this place today? Every entry in the quiz comes from a fixed, hand-checked set, and every question asks about modern countries. Borders have changed many times, so we always use today's map. Here's a tour of the set, region by region.

The oldest entry is Göbekli Tepe in Türkiye, dated to c. 9500 BCE and described as the world's oldest known monumental temple complex. Not far behind is Jericho, c. 9000 BCE. Byblos in Lebanon, c. 5000 BCE, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities.

In Mesopotamia, today's Iraq, Uruk (c. 4000 BCE) is among the world's first cities and home of the Gilgamesh epic, and Ur (c. 3800 BCE) was a Sumerian city-state with a great ziggurat. In the Americas, Caral in Peru, c. 2600 BCE, is among the oldest known cities in the Americas.

Egypt holds four sites. Memphis was the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, near modern Cairo. Thebes was the religious capital of the New Kingdom, at modern Luxor. Giza is the site of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx, and Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, was home to the ancient Library.

Further south, Sudan holds three cities of Nubia and Kush. Kerma was the capital of one of Africa's earliest kingdoms. Napata was a Kushite royal city whose kings ruled Egypt as the 25th Dynasty, and Meroë was the capital of the Kingdom of Kush, with over 200 pyramids.

In Ethiopia, Aksum was the capital of the Aksumite empire, famous for its stelae, and Lalibela has eleven churches carved downward out of solid rock. West Africa brings Timbuktu and Djenné-Djenno in Mali, and Ife and Benin City in Nigeria. On the Swahili coast are Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania and Gedi in Kenya.

North Africa has the Mediterranean cities: Carthage in Tunisia; Leptis Magna and Cyrene in Libya; and Volubilis in Morocco. And Great Zimbabwe is the stone city that gave the modern country its name.

Asia has more entries than any other region. Iraq alone holds Babylon, capital of Babylonia under Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II, plus Ur, Uruk, Nineveh and Ctesiphon. Iran has Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Persian empire, and Pasargadae, the first Achaemenid capital and tomb of Cyrus the Great.

Jordan has Petra, the Nabataean capital carved into rose-red rock, and Jerash. Syria has Palmyra and Ebla, and Lebanon has Byblos, Tyre and Baalbek. Türkiye holds Troy, Hattusa, Ephesus and Göbekli Tepe.

In South Asia, Pakistan has Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Taxila, India has Pataliputra, Nalanda and Hampi, and Sri Lanka has Anuradhapura and Sigiriya. Southeast Asia brings Angkor in Cambodia, Bagan in Myanmar, Ayutthaya in Thailand, and Borobudur and Prambanan in Indonesia. On the Silk Road are Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan and Merv in Turkmenistan. In East Asia you'll find Xi'an and Luoyang in China, Gyeongju in South Korea and Nara, Japan's first permanent capital.

Greece has Knossos, the largest Minoan palace, on Crete; Mycenae; Delphi, home of the oracle; and Olympia, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games. Italy has Pompeii, Syracuse and Paestum.

The British Isles bring Stonehenge and Skara Brae in the United Kingdom and Newgrange in Ireland, a passage tomb aligned to the winter solstice. Roman Europe appears in Mérida and the Segovia aqueduct in Spain, Conímbriga in Portugal, Nîmes in France, Trier in Germany, Butrint in Albania and Split in Croatia. Sarmizegetusa in Romania was the capital of the Dacian kingdom, and Chersonesus in Ukraine was a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast.

Mexico holds the most entries in the Americas: Teotihuacan, Chichén Itzá, Palenque, Monte Albán, Uxmal and Tenochtitlan. Central America adds Tikal in Guatemala, Copán in Honduras and Joya de Cerén in El Salvador, a farming village preserved under volcanic ash. Peru has Machu Picchu, Cusco, Caral, Chan Chan and the Nazca Lines, and Bolivia has Tiwanaku, near Lake Titicaca. In the United States are Cahokia, Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, and Chile has Rapa Nui.

Oceania has a single entry: Nan Madol in the Federated States of Micronesia, a stone city built on artificial islets.

The civilisation questions ask where each people's heartland lies today. In the Americas: the Inca empire (Peru), the Aztec empire and the Olmec (Mexico) and the Moche (Peru). In Africa: the Kingdom of Kush (Sudan), the Aksumite empire (Ethiopia) and the Mali and Songhai empires (Mali). In Asia: the Hittite empire (Türkiye), the Phoenicians (Lebanon), the Khmer Empire (Cambodia), the Majapahit empire (Indonesia), the Achaemenid empire (Iran) and the Maurya empire (India). In Europe: the Minoans (Greece) and the Etruscans (Italy).

The Maya civilisation and the Indus Valley civilisation are in the set too, but each spans more than one modern country, so they're never asked as a question.

Some questions give an old name and ask for the country. Persia is Iran, renamed in 1935. Siam is Thailand, Ceylon became Sri Lanka in 1972 and Burma was renamed Myanmar in 1989. Mesopotamia is Iraq, and Nippon is the Japanese name for Japan. In Africa, Abyssinia is the historical name for the Ethiopian empire, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980, Zaire reverted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997 Dahomey was renamed Benin in 1975 and Upper Volta was renamed Burkina Faso in 1984. Europe has the Roman names: Gaul for France, Hibernia for Ireland, Lusitania for Portugal and Dacia for Romania.

The quiz includes the wonders of the ancient world: the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus in Türkiye, and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Colossus of Rhodes in Greece. The Great Pyramid is the only ancient wonder still standing.