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Ancient Asian Cities and Sites takes you on a journey to explore the lands and hallowed places of the ancient Asian world. Trace the steps of history in these informative articles.

Featured Article:  How the Great Wall of China Works

It kept the Huns out for centuries, but today it draws 10 million visitors annually. The Great Wall winds across deserts, mountains and grasslands in even the most remote reaches of China. So why has it fallen into disrepair? See more »

Did Genghis Khan really kill 1,748,000 people in one hour?

Did Genghis Khan really kill 1,748,000 people in one hour?

Genghis Khan is said to have killed 1,748,000 people in one hour. Did he really do it? And if not, what really happened?

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How the Great Wall of China Works

How the Great Wall of China Works

It kept the Huns out for centuries, but today it draws 10 million visitors annually. The Great Wall winds across deserts, mountains and grasslands in even the most remote reaches of China. So why has it fallen into disrepair?

See more »
How the Terracotta Army Works

How the Terracotta Army Works

Emperor Qin ordered 7,000 generals, cavalrymen and archers to protect his mausoleum. What's so odd about that? Well, they were made of terracotta.

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Petra

Petra

Petra, an ancient city in what is now southwestern Jordan, 115 miles (185 km) south-southwest of Amman, was the ancient capital of the Nabataeans. Read more about this city carved into a sheer rock face.

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Fertile Crescent

Fertile Crescent, an area, shaped roughly like a crescent, of fertile land in southwestern Asia where civilization flourished during ancient times.

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Java Man

Java Man, an early form of human whose remains have been found on the island of Java.

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Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia, the region of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southwestern Asia. The region extends northwestward from the Persian Gulf through the center of modern Iraq.

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Nineveh

Nineveh, an ancient city and the capital of Assyria when the empire was at the height of its power.

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Peking Man

Peking Man, an early form of human whose remains date from 460,000 to 230,000 years ago.

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Phoenicia

Phoenicia, in ancient times, a coastal strip along the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

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Phrygia

Phrygia, an ancient kingdom and region in west-central Asia Minor. The Phrygians were an Indo-European people who came into Asia Minor from the Balkans about 1200 B.C., perhaps among the conquerors of the Hittites.

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Semites

Semites, people who speak languages of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.

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Susa

Susa, the capital of ancient Elam and, later, of the Persian Empire. Susa, called Shushan in the Bible, was located in what is now southwestern Iran.

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Ur

Ur, a city of ancient Mesopotamia, called “Ur of the Chaldees” in the Bible. It was on the Euphrates River in what is now Iraq.

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