# Largest City to be Completely Abandoned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2007, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817 "2007-02-27T00:04:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/21 "2007-02-27T09:30:18Z")
For that matter Rome itself was the defacto capitol of most of Europe and North Africa with a population of well over 1 million by the time of Christ. By the time of Justinian I its population was in the tens of thousands at the most and many of those were there to salvage marble, statuary, columns, etc., for building projects in other cities. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/22 "2007-02-27T09:37:32Z")
Osgiliath? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/23 "2007-02-27T12:03:19Z")
[QUOTE=ArchitectChore] [Chernobyl](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl) is my best guess: poulation ~14,000 pre-meltdown. [/QUOTE] [Pripyat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat%2C_Ukraine), near to the Chernobyl plant, had a population of 50,000. ---
**Author:** ![Spezza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/24 "2007-02-27T12:16:23Z")
What about Phnom Penh? Wikipedia claims it had a population of nearly 2 million at the time it was sacked by Khmer Rouge. Within days the Khmer Rouge had forcibly evacuated the city of its entire population.\* \*I’m sure some remained, but the _vast_ majority were pushed out into the countryside. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/25 "2007-02-27T12:29:15Z")
How about Babylon? At one time the largest city in the world. Now, nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/26 "2007-02-27T14:04:40Z")
Valdez, Alaska was [destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday earthquake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valdez,_Alaska), and rebuilt in a new location: > [@](#): > > The city was destroyed in the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Liquefaction of the glacial silt which formed the city’s foundation led to massive underwater landslides, causing a section of the city’s shoreline to break off and sink into the sea. The underwater soil displacement caused a tsunami 30 feet high to slam the coast. In Valdez, 32 people lost their lives, most of those on the city dock, meeting a supply ship. The original site was abandoned; the Army Corps of Engineers transported 60 surviving houses to firmer foundations, reestablishing the city at its present site. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/27 "2007-02-27T14:18:02Z")
I came in to mention Angkor, but I see a couple of other posters have covered it. [Angkor flourished from the 9th to the 14th centuries](http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040613-0915-fallenangkor.html): > [@](#): > > Angkor was home to about 750,000 people and covered some 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) – much larger than any other preindustrial development and similar to the shape and size of modern cities, Fletcher said. > > “It’s like a Los Angeles. It’s not like Hong Kong,” he said. “Lots and lots of open space, big gaps around the houses, huge freeways, which are the canals in this case.” > > The city’s economy was based on rice, and rice paddies spread along dozens of canals, at least one up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) long. A network of reservoirs, canals and bridges was created to move people and goods and to ensure there was enough water to grow rice. Some estimates place the population at over a million, but a conservative 750,000 is still impressive for what became a “lost city.” ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/28 "2007-02-27T14:30:21Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] Tenochtitlan – one of the largest cities in the world at the time – was destroyed by the Spanish. Another city – now one of the largest in the world – was built on the ruins, but the older city had been forcibly abandoned. [/QUOTE] Tenochtitlan was mostly knocked down–other cities throughout the world were built atop ruins. But the people didn’t go anywhere. Yes, disease took its toll–but many survived. And parts of the “design” of the Old City remain. > [@](#): > > Mexico City’s Zócalo, the Plaza de la Constitución, is located at the location of Tenochtitlan’s original central plaza and market, and many of the original calzadas still correspond to modern streets in the city. > **[Tenochtitlan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan)** > > Tenochtitlan,\[a\] also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan,\[b\] was a large Mexican altepetl in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the city. The city was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. The city was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century until it was captured by the Tlaxcaltec and the S At i... ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/29 "2007-02-27T14:38:51Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] For that matter Rome itself was the defacto capitol of most of Europe and North Africa with a population of well over 1 million by the time of Christ. By the time of Justinian I its population was in the tens of thousands at the most and many of those were there to salvage marble, statuary, columns, etc., for building projects in other cities. [/QUOTE] Ostia Antica, Rome’s seaport, was abandoned over several centuries. Of course, its marble was a “resource” for later builders. > **[Ostia Antica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostia_Antica_%28archaeological_site%29)** > > Ostia Antica (lit. 'Ancient Ostia') is the modern name given to the ancient Roman city of Ostia. It became the port city of Rome located at the mouth of the Tiber and is near modern Ostia, 25 km (16 mi) southwest of Rome. Due to silting of the coastline from the river, the site now lies 3 km (2 mi) from the sea. The name Ostia (the plural of ostium) derives from Latin os 'mouth'. The city continued to be prosperous into late antiquity despite harbour deterioration. After its abandonment, sand dun... My pick: Mohenjo-Daro supposedly had a population of only 35,000 at its peak. But the entire Indus Valley civilizition was lost until the 1920’s. > **[Mohenjo-daro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohenjo_Daro)** > > Mohenjo-daro (/moʊˌhɛndʒoʊ ˈdɑːroʊ/; Sindhi: .mw-parser-output .script-arabic{font-family:"Scheherazade New",Lateef,LateefGR,"Noto Naskh Arabic","Noto Sans Arabic","Arabic Typesetting",Amiri,"Sakkal Majalla","Harmattan","SF Arabic","Arabic Transparent","Times New Roman",Arial,Parastoo,Calibri,"Segoe UI","Microsoft Sans Serif","Droid Arabic Naskh",serif,sans-serif;font-weight:normal}موهن جو دڙو, lit. 'Mound of the Dead Men'; Urdu: موئن جو دڑو \[muˑənⁱ dʑoˑ d̪əɽoˑ\]) is an archaeological site in t... ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/30 "2007-02-27T14:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=kunilou] St. Louis went from about 850,000 in 1950 to 350,000 in 2000…etc… [/QUOTE] What an interesting post, I wasn’t aware of that. It answers a question I often think of while watching movies. You often see vast tracts of plainly deserted, derelict buildings and I wonder how you can have a property vacuum like that - surely someone owns it and wants an income out of it. But no people means no income. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/31 "2007-02-27T14:47:10Z")
Don’t forget **Ostia** , the seaport of Rome. It wasn’t destroyed in a major disaster, but silted up gradually. It’s since been excavated by archaeologists (I’ve been there). It’s not on the list of Lost Cities above. There’s also the Roman town of **Glanum** in Southern France. then there are all those towns in Egypt and Mesopotamia and Turkey – far too many to list. Miore recently, I recall passing towns in Utah that were completely flooded out, and the magazine Weird New Jersey lists towns that have disappeared in New Jersey. The magazine iosn’t entirely trustworthy, but it’s hard to ignore pictures of abandoned buildings. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/32 "2007-02-27T15:11:14Z")
Eden, which once contained 100% of the world’s human population. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/33 "2007-02-27T15:21:32Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] More recently, I recall passing towns in Utah that were completely flooded out, and the magazine Weird New Jersey lists towns that have disappeared in New Jersey. The magazine isn’t entirely trustworthy, but it’s hard to ignore pictures of abandoned buildings. [/QUOTE] Some of the NJ towns were abandoned because either the valley they were in is now lakes or reservoirs by plan or they were built around long dead industries like Bog Iron and Bog Cedar and some fishing villages. None of these could be considered a city. They were villages and hamlets in most cases. Most states have lost or abandoned towns for similar reasons and of course, the Rust Belt has many diminishing cities as noted. Fascinating thread, thank you **HeyHomie** for starting it, Jim {Great Magazine and two fun books now} ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/34 "2007-02-27T15:22:33Z")
[QUOTE=cckerberos] Not the biggest, but worthy of mention: [Port Royal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Royal) [/QUOTE] Ditto, [Troy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/35 "2007-02-27T15:55:39Z")
Regarding Ephesus – where is the modern Turkish city of Efes in relation to the ruins of Ephesus? I thought it was the same city continued through time, but perhaps Efes was builf on top of or near Ephesus? ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/36 "2007-02-27T16:03:56Z")
Has the 3 Gorges Dam in China displaced any large cities? ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/37 "2007-02-27T17:16:56Z")
Hmm…let’s see…a few that spring to mind. [Petra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra) is the first one I think of. Hmmm…while not actually one city, the carved underground cities of [Cappadocia, Turkey](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/08/04/TR111893.DTL) seem to fit into the catagory nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/38 "2007-02-27T17:21:15Z")
[QUOTE=bordelond] Regarding Ephesus – where is the modern Turkish city of Efes in relation to the ruins of Ephesus? I thought it was the same city continued through time, but perhaps Efes was builf on top of or near Ephesus? [/QUOTE] There is no modern Turkish city called Efes, it’s the Turkish name for Ephesus. (It’s also a Turkish beer.) There’s nothing there but ruins – the nearby town with the hotels, restaurants, etc, is called Selçuk. Does anyone know anything about [Gelonus?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelonus) From what I can make of this Wikipedia page (written by someone with a shaky command of English) it seems like the ruins describe a huge city, but I can’t find any estimate of its peak population, or in fact very much on the Web at all that isn’t in Ukrainian. Oh, and I had no idea Angkor Wat has such an enormous population. I got a little smarter today despite myself. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/39 "2007-02-27T22:21:52Z")
[QUOTE=Tastes of Chocolate] Has the 3 Gorges Dam in China displaced any large cities? [/QUOTE] Yes, but don’t ask me what their names are or what the population figures are. I was watching a program about it, and got really upset when I saw that several historical landmarks were going to be lost forever because of that damned dam. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817/40 "2007-02-27T22:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=cckerberos] Not the biggest, but worthy of mention: [Port Royal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Royal) Wikipedia also has a [Lost Cities category](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lost_cities_and_towns) that might be of interest. [/QUOTE] The city of Ys may or may not fit into this Thread, but the circumstances make a definitive answer problematical. > **[Ys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ys)** > > Ys (pronounced /ˈiːs/ EESS), also spelled Is or Kêr-Is in Breton, and Ville d'Ys ("City of Ys") in French, is a mythical city on the coast of Brittany that was swallowed up by the ocean. Most versions of the legend place the city in the Baie de Douarnenez. In the original Breton, the city receives the name of Kêr Ys, which translates as "low city". Kêr is the Breton word for "city", and is related to the Welsh caer, Cornish ker- and more distantly the Irish cathair, while Ys/Is is related to Wels... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-city-to-be-completely-abandoned/393817.md?page=3)