Introduction: Why cities are lost: exploring the actions of man and nature. Chapter 1: Cities of the Sea. How natural disasters have drowned such beautiful cities as Mahalbalipuram in India and Heraklion near Alexandria and how underwater archaeology is helping us reconstruct them. Chapter 2: Cities of the Desert and Plains. Examines some of the most prosperous cities ever seen on the planet including Ur in Iraq, Leptis Magna in Libya and the great lost cities of the Silk Road. Chapter 3: Cities of Hills and Mountains. Explores fabled cities such as Machu Picchu, Nemrud Dagi in Turkey and Petra in Jordan and how the mountains both protected and destroyed them. Chapter 4: Cities of Jungle and Forests.

How and why nature reclaimed such sites as Ciudad Blanca in Honduras, Great Zimbabwe in Africa and Ayutthaya in Thailand. Chapter 5: Cities of Kings, Queens and Emperors. Examines the overweaning ambition of great rulers which may have led to the collapse of cities such as Troy, Persepolis and Carthage. Chapter 6: Sacred Cities. Explores how fabled cities of purity and enlightenment including Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Akhetan in Egypt and Paestum in Italy came to be abandoned, neglected or destroyed. Index.