Environs of ancient region captivate (7)
I believe the answer is:
attract
'captivate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'environs of ancient region' is the wordplay.
'environs of' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the outside letters of).
'region' becomes 'tract' (both can mean a large piece of land).
'ancient' with its middle taken out is 'at'.
'at'+'tract'='ATTRACT'
(Other definitions for attract that I've seen before include "Allure" , "Arouse interest of" , "Draw towards like a magnet" , "Exert a pull upon" , "Behave like a magnet" .)