eli5: Why were some ancient cities like Palmyra and Machu Picchu left to ruin and fall apart over hundreds of years instead of being repopulated?

Question

eli5: Why were some ancient cities like Palmyra and Machu Picchu left to ruin and fall apart over hundreds of years instead of being repopulated?

In: 1677

Answer 1

It’s very hard to rebuild Palmyra after Aurelian ordered it razed, it’s people either enslaved or told to never return under pain of death.

Aurelian made it abundantly clear that Palmyra would never return to success because of the fact he had to siege it twice. It was personal on that front.

As for Machu Picchu, I thought it was abandoned due to the Spanish conquest diverting resources away from what was actually more of a palace for royalty than an actual city.