Alright, here are my thoughts in 2nd city locations, from easiest to hardest:
Malakim should probably settle the NW city first. There's a number of reasons for that such as the plains river incense, doesn't need a border expansion for the corn or spices and is partially sheltered from barbs since Amurites are to the NW. Also the other spots require fishing or BW to be truly effective, neither of which we'll get in the near future.
A city to the W is just about the only possible spot right now. It's exact location is debatable though, it can stay where it is or it can go 1W for corn in the first ring and a extra deer in exchange for some useless ocean and inability to work the incense. Possible Amurite GP farm?
Hardest one since the capital pretty much claims most of the resources nearby, and Kurio's can't afford to waste any cities.
Cow/Corn to the NW is pretty much the best spot we can see, but for a megacity that's still pretty weak. Perhaps farm everything and make it the Kurio GP farm? I guess there's nothing wrong with cottage spamming either, even though there's not a lot of river nearby.
EDIT: Oh, and next tech. Hrm, probably Mining I think. Education is the other option, but we're researching at a good pace right now and Mining gives Amurites gold anyway. Don't need exploration for connecting resources just yet, everything else waits until after Edu.