What Hisorical location (most likely city) would you like to see (at its prime). Personally I would like to have seen Tenochitlan, before the Spanish destroyed it (Well, they didn't raize the city, but they systematically changed it's infrastructure). Rome would be cool too, during the time of Nero (I really would like to have seen his grand palace).

There's a question! I would say, off the top of my head:

Athens at the time of Socrates
Alexandria at the time of Origen
Timbuktu at the height of Malian power and wealth
Cordoba at the peak of Spanish Muslim civilisation
Medieval Baghdad

Babylon circa Nebuchadnezzar II.

Ooh, yes, or Uruk in the time of Gilgamesh! assuming that's historical, natch.

Rome at the time of Caesar
Carthage at the time of Hannibal Barca
Athens at the age of Socretes
Timbuktu in the 1st milenium AD
Mecca at the height of Arabic power

I second Alexandria (I assume your speeking of the grand Alexandria of Egypt... with the library, etc... not some desolate town in Jazira or Khorasan) And of course: Constantinople at the time of Justinianus (or as CIV fans would say... at the time of Theodora)... then later Istanbul at the time of Sinan.. well at the time right after the time of Sinan --> when his mosques were all constructed.

Also Samarkand and Bukhara right before Genghis arrival (well like 10-20 years before)

Rome at the time of Septimus Severus

Alexandria in it's prime for the Great Lighthouse and Great Library,
Samarkand in it's prime for the mosques and palaces,
Tenochitlan in it's prime
Cuzco in it's prime
Calicut in it's prime.

Xian at it's prime
Hangzhou at it's prime
Baghad at it's prime
Novogord at it's prime
Great Zimbawe at it's prime

:p

Whew what a choice:

Tenochitlan 1490 AD
Rome 100 AD
Kyoto 1500 AD
Giza 2200 BC
Cuzco 1500 AD
Tikal 800 AD
Forest primieval East coast of US 1400 AD
Babylon
Theodora's Constantinople

I'm not sure, tough question. Here are a few in order of importance (which is not to say I wouldn't want to see those at the bottom of or not on this list):
Constantinople around the time of Justinian
Athens several years before the Peloponnesian War
Rome at the empire's height
Cordoba during the rule of Abd al Rahman III
Near the Nile, about 2000 BC.
China during the Han dynasty.
Great Zimbabwe at it's height

It would also be splendid to see Dongola in the eleventh or twelfth centuries.

By the way, I don't want to say it, but *please*, everyone, there is NO apostrophe in "its" when it is possessive! You should say "Alexandria in its prime" etc.

Memphis in the Fifties ...

It would also be splendid to see Dongola in the eleventh or twelfth centuries.

By the way, I don't want to say it, but *please*, everyone, there is NO apostrophe in "its" when it is possessive! You should say "Alexandria in its prime" etc.

Alexandria in it is prime. :p

Memphis in the Fifties ...

Memphis was going downhill in the 50s - it would be better in the 20s, in the heady days of Beale Street's greatness, when a musician could start at one end and not get to the other end by daybreak, there would be so many people to play for!

Alexandria in its prime
Baghdad in its prime
Tenochtitlan and Cuzco ~ 1500 AD
Kyoto 1500 AD
Potsdam 1765 (to meet Frederic the Great)
Königsberg 1925
Berlin 1925

Adler

Adler, Why 1925 Berlin?

It is the time of the golden twenties. The time of the first German republic and it had a special flair. It is hard to describe. Königsberg because parts of my family came from there, although at this time nobody of them lived there anymore.

Adler

Alexandria is my favourite. Then comes Constantinople or Istanbul. Followers are Tenochtitlàn or some of the first cities in India (Moyen Daro is the name, right?)

mfG mitsho

Babylon, sometime in the 480s BC
Persepolis, 334 BC
Rome, during the age of Caracalla
Tenochtitlan, 1518

I'll think of more.

Samos in the time of Epikuros or Athinaï in the time of Socrates.

Two, people mentioned Great Zimbabwe, why? The place isn't that great and (with no intention of insulting anyone) it probably wasn't that swinging at its prime either. I'd rather say Kongo at it's prime (IMO before the destructive european slave traders came, so before the reign of Affonso).

Alexandria, Egypt at its height.
Tenochtitlan
Philadelphia in the mid 1700s
Amsterdam in 1600s
Stalingrad - 1944 (definately not in its prime, but)
Pre-war Richmond/Atlanta/Vicksburg

I like the Texan Revolution. Always thought it would be interesting if the Republic of Texas still stood on its own.

Why Baghdad? What was so great about Baghdad?

BAGHDAD!!! The Eternal City (No, wait, that's Rome) I mean of course Al Mãdînah al Salãm (the city of Peace). The perfectly round city founded by Al Mansur with its four gates (Bãb Khurãsãn, Bãb Basra, Bãb Kûfa and Bãb Asysham) and the magnificent Jãmi Al Mansur (the Mansur mosque) in the centre must have been gorgeous site in its prime, with the smell of dates from the west, frank incense from the south, melons from the east all and more being sold at the markets. And the Statue of the Mounted Warrior who pointed in the direction of any danger threatning the capital of the caliphate (or so we're told). A splendid choice in my opinion. Much better than Great Zimbabwe.

Memphis was going downhill in the 50s - it would be better in the 20s, in the heady days of Beale Street's greatness, when a musician could start at one end and not get to the other end by daybreak, there would be so many people to play for!

I had more in mind than just music, but I wouldn't call Jackie Brentson & Ike Turner, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis (to name a few) "going downhill". Expand that to the Sixties with what was going on at Stax & American Studios you can add Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Booker T, and Alex Chilton, not to mention people like Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Chips Moman, Sam Phillips and Isaac Hayes behind the scenes ... all much more exciting in my opinion than Beale during W.C. Handy's heyday.

whoops, forgot Al Green ....

Waterloo 1815
the Incan Capital Cusco (sp?) before the spanish came
Paris & Berlin 1914 (the very beginning of the war)
Helsinki 1880
Rome when Ceasar was in charge
The great wall of China around the Ming Dynasty

Atlantis, if it really existed. But not at the time of the flood!

I had more in mind than just music, but I wouldn't call Jackie Brentson & Ike Turner, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis (to name a few) "going downhill". Expand that to the Sixties with what was going on at Stax & American Studios you can add Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Otis Redding, Booker T, and Alex Chilton, not to mention people like Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Chips Moman, Sam Phillips and Isaac Hayes behind the scenes ... all much more exciting in my opinion than Beale during W.C. Handy's heyday.

True, but I don't think you'd have found BB King and Roy Orbison busking on the streets. In the heyday of Beale Street you could have seen Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, maybe even Blind Willie McTell - I think the place was much more "happenin'" then. But I agree, naturally if one had access to the studios, the 50s and 60s might have been the time to be there.

Maybe I should add 1930s Mississippi to the list, for the chance to see Robert Johnson - although I suspect it wouldn't be much fun in any other way. Perhaps tenth-century Baghdad would be better after all.

Baghdad, 12th century
Berlin, 1890s
Constantinople, 6th century
Cordoba, 12th century
New York, 1920s
Paris, 1860s
San Francisco, 1905

Firenze at the height of the Medici's power...

...don't ask me when because I don't know. What I do know is the art exhibits where in a much better state back then.

Although the sewage system has improved, I'll grant you that.

Carthage at it's height, or possible at it's first foundation.
Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, Tenochitlan, Moscow, when the Kremlin was first built.

-Mid 1700's Charleston, SC (PIRATES!)
-1700's Edinburgh (Hang with David Hume, Robert Burns, etc.)
-1880's Butte, MT (Silver rush days)
-1987 Tokyo (so...much...neon...)

Still nobody has answered my question why Great Zimbabwe was so great. Relly why would you chose that place?

Maybe I should add 1930s Mississippi to the list, for the chance to see Robert Johnson - although I suspect it wouldn't be much fun in any other way. Perhaps tenth-century Baghdad would be better after all.

Me walking into a Clarksdale or Greenwood juke joint in the days of Robert Johnson would be about like Pee-Wee Herman walking into that biker bar, but with far less hilarious results ...

BAGHDAD!!! The Eternal City (No, wait, that's Rome) I mean of course Al Mãdînah al Salãm (the city of Peace). The perfectly round city founded by Al Mansur with its four gates (Bãb Khurãsãn, Bãb Basra, Bãb Kûfa and Bãb Asysham) and the magnificent Jãmi Al Mansur (the Mansur mosque) in the centre must have been gorgeous site in its prime, with the smell of dates from the west, frank incense from the south, melons from the east all and more being sold at the markets. And the Statue of the Mounted Warrior who pointed in the direction of any danger threatning the capital of the caliphate (or so we're told). A splendid choice in my opinion. Much better than Great Zimbabwe.

Still, great description for a crudhole.

Id like to see you make the same type of description for Detroit...

@Jack the ripper are you really that naive? There's not only the western world. There really are other things (yes! believe me!). And I can tell you that Baghdad certainly was the city of its time.
ok let's compare detroit with Baghdad (each at its prime):
the first is a industrial city with loads of smog and such things, not well known for culture, science, entertainment or such 'nice' things, but only for cars.
The second is the capital of one of the 'biggest' empire of its time, newly founded, with great mosques, bazaars and the palace of the caliph (thanks to corsair for telling me the writing :)).

Ok, this may be a bit subjective, but that's the way I see it as a non-muslim/arab/etc. and non-Detroitian.

mfG mitsho

It's caliph, and yeah, I wouldn't want to visit anywhere post-Industrial Revolution- too much smoke, cars etc.

Hiroshima! But about 400-km away :D

Hmm, lot of the good ones have already been mentioned. So ... a few more additions:

Paris with the Expatriates in the 20s. I'd love take on Hemingway in drinking match.

Renaissance Firenze at its cultural height (before Savaronola).

San Francisco in the 1950s w/ Kerouac and the Beats.

Knosses, before, during (and well above), and after Thera/Santorini. Surfs up!

rome at it's height.

the Suez canal in the 19th century

Dublin 1916

Paris after the revolution

battle of cannae
battle of guagamela
battle of waterloo
constantinople at the time of justinian
battle of el alamein

I'll say

Kyoto during Tokugawa's reign
Mongolia durning genghis and kublai khan's reigns
Plymouth Rock at the arrival of the mayflower
Redmond, Washington late 1980's (Microsoft and Nintendo in the same place)
New York anytime (there usually is something happening there whether it's the dutch walling up,erm wall street, or the building of the skyline)

battle of cannae
battle of guagamela
battle of waterloo
...
battle of el alamein

you would actually wanna be at these locations during these battles?

My hometown area anytime from about 1850 to 1960. Camel Lairds building some of great ships, William Lever building Unilever, and across the water in Liverpool even more besides that. Plus towards the end of that period the Beatles and others were just coming about and playing in the area I lived.

Failing that it would have been interesting to have been on some of the napoleonic battlefields, but only if I was safe. Standing on the field of Waterloo during the battle is to invite the loss of a limb ;)

All the cities mentioned before me are all excellent choices, and would gladly go there. But then again, I’d prefer going any that it is at least fifty years distant from the present. I guess when you live in New Jersey ( where everything is covered in pavement ), you yearn for a ‘simpler time’, which of course doesn’t exist. But still.


By the way, the reason Baghdad has such an interesting focus on it during the medieval era was its association with free hospitals, bathes, and markets. It was the center of the Arabic world, almost like New York City; except in the middle of trade between the East and West. Granted, I would assume the crime to be something else. .and I wouldn’t leave my wallet unguarded. It was still some what a ‘pearl’.

Paris 1789

What Hisorical location (most likely city) would you like to see (at its prime). Personally I would like to have seen Tenochitlan, before the Spanish destroyed it (Well, they didn't raize the city, but they systematically changed it's infrastructure). Rome would be cool too, during the time of Nero (I really would like to have seen his grand palace).

Excellent thread, and a reminder of CFC's lost virtues; it was a thread like this that actually convinced me to post my first post many years ago.

Chichen Itza, I've seen now, and I'd like to see the historic version.

Number two on the list would be London circa 1600 or 1700 (but not the more dangerous middle bits); I think the chaos would be interesting to witness, and I'm a printing history geek and would love to work a press in its native habitat.

R.III