From Rubicon by Tom Holland, I remember it being mentioned how Alexandria was considered grander than Rome up until the late Empire. Then of course there were other cities in the later empire that were as grand as Rome, which never dominated the Orient trade to the same extant as closer cities such as Antioch, Palmyra or Byzantium did (Tom Julius Norwich).

To the east, the Persians surprisingly never built any cities quite as large (Penguin's History of the World). Moreover, few ancient cities matched Rome because development takes time, and most cities suffered from sack or economic dislocation every century or so.

The Chinese dynasties in fact are not an exception; except for the Early Han, the other ancient dynasties of China were turbulent and unstable. But Chang'an during the Han dynasty was according to literary records, very well-planned and vast. It's dimensions dwarfed Rome's main city. However, it was made of wood. Few ruins survive so we have to be careful about guessing sizes.

Edit: Persian citation: the Sassanids were more rural/feudal than urban. To summarize, I was only considering things to around 500 CE. The Chinese, unlike their contemporaries from the Occident and steppe, recovered more quickly from the barbarian invasions and early plagues. They were definitely at a higher order of municipal civilization during the 'medieval era' under dynasties like the Tang and Southern Song

Absolutely there were! China was a major center of trade and commerce and had some massive cities. The best example that comes to mind is Chang'an which was capital of the Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties (near modern day Xi'an). The city wall encompassed 84 kilometers at its height, and had 108 rectangular wards with a giant 500 foot wide avenue running from the south to the north cutting the city in two. The Western and Eastern sections each had a giant market as the city was the start of the silk road. Over one million people lived in city with another million outside the city walls.

For more descriptions of the city read "The Open Empire" by Valerie Hansen and "China's Cosmopolitan Empire" by Mark Edward Lewis and Timothy Brook

According to, "August: The Life of Rome's First Emperor" by Anthony Everitt - Rome was a mega-city and wealthy by the end of the Republic, beginning of the Empire. However, it was not opulent or grandiose. By all accounts, it was cramped and in disrepair.

Augustus and Agrippa (essentially, Augustus' second in command) spent time in Egypt and were influenced by Alexandria - which was widely held to be the grandest city of the ancient world.

When the two were finally secure as leaders of the Empire, they began to implement changes in Rome. They widened streets, restored older buildings and had epic building projects that made extensive use of artistry and the finest building materials.

Because of the work during his reign, Augustus was able to confidently say on his death bed: "I found Rome of clay and leave it of marble."

So, Alexandria was probably the grandest city of the ancient world - only to be eclipsed by Rome (which it directly influenced.)

Surprised this thread leaves out a very urbanised civilisation - India. Pataliputra (modern day Patna) for instance was according to Megasthnes was fairly massive.

Dieter Schlingoff in his Fortified Cities on Ancient india states that many ancient cities were in size equal to contemporary Greek and Roman cities.

He clearly states that Pataliputra (back to Pataliputra) was much larger than both Alexandria and Rome. He estimates that these cities were roughly 1/3rd the size of Pataliputra.