Archaeologists Uncovered a Lost City Hidden Beneath the Desert for 1,200 Years
One of the last cities ever founded by Alexander the Great, later dubbed Charax Spasinou, has finally been rediscovered.
By Michael Natale
Published: Feb 12, 2026 2:00 PM EST
5 min
https://tinyurl.com/4h59r3uj
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ancient stone fortress on rocky hill in kocarli, aydin
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Some ancient cities are entirely unknown to us today, lost to time like the accomplishments of Shelley’s Ozymandias. Their buildings have long since crumbled and their written records have failed to survive the ages.
But in the case of Charax Spasinou—the Alexandria of Iraq, which was founded during the fourth century military campaign of its namesake Macedonian ruler—scholars have long been sure of its existence. They simply quibbled over where exactly it was located. Military conflicts within modern-day Iraq have prevented on-the-ground analysis for decades, but recently, researchers have finally been able to locate the precise site of the port city called the Alexandria on the Tigris.
Then known as Persia, Iraq played a crucial role in the saga of Alexander the Great. As Biography.com notes, it was there that, while plotting conquests of Carthage and Rome, Alexander succumbed to pneumonia and died in 323 B.C.E. at the age of 32. Charax Spasinou was one of the last cities Alexander would establish, founding it in 324 B.C.E.
The Roman author Pliny the Elder offered a history of Charax Spasinou in the sixth book of his Naturalis Historia, noting that the “original town was founded by Alexander the Great with settlers brought from the royal city of Durine, which was then destroyed, and with the invalided soldiers from his army who were left there. He had given orders that it was to be called Alexandria.”
More:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a70250032/lost-city-alexander-the-great/
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