The History of Rome, Istanbul, and Jerusalem

Why have cities like Rome, Istanbul and Jerusalem all flourished? And these not fallen by the wayside, but disappeared or maybe suffered a downturn in their fortunes. I mean, one of the big ones actually is earthquakes. Antioch has been raised by earthquakes multiple times over the centuries. It sits on the joining of three tectonic plates. There are devastating earthquakes in Antioch that have completely destroyed the city every couple of hundred years. If Tyre were not in quite an unstable area politically, many more people would visit Tyre. The best preserved Roman temple I've ever seen is Baalbeck and Lebanon. Some of the amphitheaters in North Africa are just as impressive as the Colosse