The Best Ancient Cities

Israel and neighboring Jordan are filled with ruins of lost, ancient cities from every part of their long histories. In Herodian-Roman times, the population of Judea and the Galilee may have been around three million. Almost 2 millennia of wars, religious rivalries, persecutions, and misgovernment drove the population down to less than half a million by the start of the 19th century. Even knowledge of the location of many ancient sites was forgotten. Now dazzling physical monuments to the past are being recovered at a rapid pace.

Zippori (Sepphoris, near Nazareth): A cosmopolitan Jewish-Hellenistic city, it was the capital of the Galilee in Roman and Talmudic times. Especially interesting because it may have been familiar to Jesus, Zippori's highlights include a colonnaded street; a mosaic synagogue floor depicting the zodiac; and the beautiful mosaic portrait of a woman dubbed "the Mona Lisa of the Galilee," recently discovered in a late Roman-era villa.

Caesarea (on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa): Built by Herod as the great harbor and seaport of his kingdom, this was the splendid administrative capital of Roman Palestine. There are vast impressive ruins of the Roman city (including two theaters), as well as of the Crusader-era city, made all the more romantic by the waves lapping at the ancient stones. Caesarea was an important Byzantine Christian city, but it is not a biblical site.

Megiddo (Armageddon, about 32km/20 miles southeast of Haifa): This town stood in the path of invading armies from ancient to modern times. It is an encyclopedia of Near Eastern archaeology with more than 20 levels of habitation from 5,000 B.C. to A.D. 400 having been discovered here. Among the newest discoveries here are the detailed mosaic floor of a Byzantine-era church -- perhaps the earliest building specifically designed as a church ever discovered. The famous ancient water tunnel of Megiddo, dug from inside the fortified town to the source of water outside the walls in the 9th century B.C., is a miracle of ancient engineering.

Korazim (Galilee): A Roman-Byzantine-era Jewish town in the hills just northeast of the Sea of Galilee, this is a beautiful place, with sweeping views of the water. Portions of ruins still stand. A black basalt synagogue, with beautifully carved detailing, and some surrounding houses, also of local black basalt, give a good idea of what the more than 100 towns once located in this area must have been like.

Gamla (Golan Heights): Once a small Roman-era Jewish city located on a ridge in the Golan Heights, this site has a story chillingly similar to that of Masada, but the number of dead was far greater. In A.D. 67, at the beginning of the First Jewish Rebellion against Rome, Gamla was overrun by Roman soldiers, and as many as 9,000 townspeople flung themselves from the cliff, choosing death over subjugation. This dramatic site is especially beautiful amid late winter wildflowers and waterfalls. A ruined synagogue, one of the few that can be dated from the Second Temple period, is also here.

Bet Shean (Jordan Valley): This place has been continuously inhabited for the past 6,000 years. A vast, Roman-Byzantine city with colonnaded streets and a theater that could house 5,000 people once stood here, although by the 19th century, Bet Shean was a small village. Remnants of earlier civilizations can be seen on the ancient tel (Hebrew for a mound composed of layers of cities) above the Roman ruins.

Petra (Jordan): One of the most dramatic lost cities of the world, this legendary 2,000-year-old Nabatean capital carved from the walls of a desert canyon is now the highlight of excursion tours into Jordan from Israel. The entire Petra experience, including the trek into the canyon, has an air of adventure and mystery -- especially if you plan 1 or 2 nights (or more) at Petra and give yourself time to get a feel for the place early in the morning and in the evening, before the hordes of visitors arrive.