Hellenistic Era

323 BCE – 31 BCE · 89 sites

All sites in this period

World Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in the World

Troy

3000 BCE – 500 CE

Nine settlement layers at Hisarlık in northwestern Türkiye, where Heinrich Schliemann dug for Homer's Troy and archaeologists still debate which level matches a historical war. UNESCO listed the site in 1998; renewed interest from epic film adaptations keeps new visitors comparing poetry with stone.

312

Iron AgeClassicalRoman

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Country Record

Oldest City in Jordan

Petra

300 BCE – 700 CE

Petra, the Nabataean capital from ~300 BCE to 700 CE, is famed for its rock-cut tombs and sophisticated water system, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders.

322

HellenisticRomanLate Antique

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Country Record

Oldest City in Italy

Pompeii

700 BCE – 79 CE

The Roman city of Pompeii was buried in the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, its extraordinary preservation offering an unparalleled window into ancient daily life.

521

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

The Parthenon and Acropolis citadel above Athens

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Country Record

Longest Recorded History in Greece

Acropolis of Athens

447 BCE – 1687 CE

The fortified limestone citadel rising above Athens — crowned by the Parthenon, Erechtheion, and Propylaea — the supreme monument cluster of classical Greece and one of Europe's most visited archaeological sites.

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

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Continent Record

Most-Visited Ancient Site in Africa

Carthage

814 BCE – 700 CE

Ancient Phoenician city-state that became Rome's greatest rival, later reborn as a Roman metropolis, embodying over a millennium of Mediterranean history.

422

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

Delphi

800 BCE – 393 CE

Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, seat of the Pythia whose oracles shaped Greek colonisation, warfare, and personal choices. Treasury buildings, a theatre, and the stadium crown the site where Greeks imagined the omphalos, the navel of the world.

422

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

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Country Record

Longest Recorded History in Peru

Nazca Lines

500 BCE – 500 CE

The Nazca Lines, vast geoglyphs etched into Peru’s desert, date from c. 500 BCE–500 CE and remain one of archaeology’s most intriguing legacies of ancient monumental art.

222

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

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Country Record

Oldest Complex in Italy

Roman Forum

500 BCE – 600 CE

The political, religious, and commercial heart of ancient Rome, continuously inhabited from the 7th century BCE to the 7th century CE, now one of the world's most iconic archaeological landscapes.

322

ClassicalHellenisticRoman

Ephesus

1000 BCE – 700 CE

Major Ionian city near modern Selçuk, once home to the Temple of Artemis and later a Roman metropolis of marble streets, terrace houses, and the Library of Celsus. Paul's epistles and pilgrimage routes kept Ephesus famous after the ancient harbour silted away.

312

RomanClassicalHellenistic

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Country Record

Earliest Known Site in Israel

Masada

100 BCE – 73 CE

Masada is a dramatic desert fortress built by Herod the Great, renowned as the site of the Jewish Zealots' last stand against the Roman Empire in 73 CE.

412

HellenisticRoman

The Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem

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Country Record

Known by the Most Names in Israel

Old City of Jerusalem

1000 BCE – 1900 CE

The walled heart of Jerusalem — roughly one square kilometre sacred to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — where the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Dome of the Rock stand within Ottoman-era ramparts and layers of Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, and medieval archaeology.

211

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic

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Olympia

776 BCE – 393 CE

Ancient sanctuary of Zeus and birthplace of the Olympic Games, hosting athletes and pilgrims from 776 BCE until its closure in 393 CE.

322

Iron AgeClassicalHellenistic