Reputation of old city within country (7)
I believe the answer is:
stature
'reputation' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'old city within country' is the wordplay.
'old city' becomes 'ur' (ancient city state).
'within' is an insertion indicator.
'country' becomes 'state' ('state' can be a synonym of 'country').
'ur' put into 'state' is 'STATURE'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for stature that I've seen before include "Natural height or greatness" , "Body height or high reputation" , "moral greatness" , "Height - prestige" , "Consequence" .)