If this was Civ, any city no longer owned by those who built the wonder would have much chance. Recaptured cities would be OK if they weren't razed, i guess....
IF you allow Italy to be "Roman" then Rome has a chance of top spot. Beijing must be up there too. Other than that it gets messy.
Paris and London have both been national capitals for ~1000 years, so are starting to get to the culture doubling level. They must have a chance in the also-ran category, as I suspect does Moscow. Berlin hasn't been a capital long enough. Vienna perhaps.
Have to agree that the Americas are out - cities are either just too young or were razed/captured.
Although India is short-served by the in-game wonders, the temple factor might swing it for an Indian city if there's one with a decent chance of continuity of ownership.
The fertile crescent cities have a huge problem of frequent swaps of owbnership. In the game the cultural buildings would be razed, even if the city were not. That makes it hard to rack up a lot of points. If they had stayed continuously controlled by their original owners then Athens, Alexandria, etc would be good bets. But they didn't.
So, after all that waffle:
1. Rome (cultural heart of western civilization)
2. Beijing (ditto chinese)
3. Paris (France was Europes prime country for centuries)
4. London (19th century world capital)
5. Tokyo (oriental also-ran)
If America retains it's current world status then the US capital (or NY) might creep up that list. But starting so late in the game is a huge handicap. I don't think anyone could win a 20k victory with a city founded in the 1600s????
