Ruins No. 3 · Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Where they stood

The day's five sites and where they are today.

Delos

1TodayCyclades, Greece

2EraDelian League

3Greek myth names this island as the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

4It held the Delian League treasury until Athens moved it in 454 BC.

5Forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus assaulted it in 88 and 69 BC.

1TodayMuthanna Governorate, Iraq

2EraSumerian city-states

3Gilgamesh, hero of the famous Mesopotamian epic, was remembered as a king of Uruk.

4Some of the earliest known writing was found here, dating to around 3300 BC.

5Its White Temple stood in the city's Anu district.

1TodayEaster Island, Chile

2EraBirdman cult village

3It was the center of the annual Tangata manu birdman contest.

4Competitors raced to bring the first sooty tern egg back from the islet of Motu Nui.

5The village stands on the southwestern tip of the Rano Kau caldera.

1TodayTell el-Dab'a, Egypt

2EraHyksos

3It was the capital of the Hyksos rulers of northern Egypt.

4Ahmose I captured it, ending Hyksos rule.

5Manfred Bietak's team found Minoan-style wall paintings here.

1TodayWijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands

2EraFrankish Empire

3It was a major trading port of the Frankish Empire.

4Vikings raided it in 834 AD and the town seems never to have fully recovered.

5It disappeared as a trading town in the 860s.

Five new sites every day at midnight.