1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated): The Year Civilization Collapsed

I’ve been obsessed with the Bronze Age Collapse for a good fifteen years. I only bought Cline’s 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed because I’d run out of other books to buy. Would I learn anything new from Cline after I’d studied the primary literature and other more approachable works like Drews’s and Yasur-Landau’s? Also, I was certain that Cline would get things wrong. In fact, I learned some things that were new to me. In fact, Cline gets nearly everything correct. In 1177 B.C., Cline provides an enjoyable, easy-to-read overview of one of history’s greatest mysteries: what caused the collapse of eastern Mediterranean civilizations in the beginning of the 12th century B.C.? (Use of B.C.E. accomplishes nothing since year one is still based on an alleged year of Christ’s birth.) Cline provides a comprehensive and evenhanded presentation. Cline’s prose is lively, engaging, and conversational. There is occasional humor and a “revolting” inside joke on p. 138 that Bill Devers should enjoy. 1177 B.C. is thoroughly researched. Cline knows the literature. The book is rich with specifics to back up its assertions. But to understand the enormity of what was lost, we have to understand the Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean. Cline spends quite a few words explaining the Bronze Age before we get to the collapse. This is necessary. The Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean was a high point in Western Civilization. It was a time of trade, international correspondence, and generally peace. Here the newbie may suffer. There are a lot of names of places and people. Reread. Rereread. The places and people will start to come together. Cline does a great job summarizing the hypotheses that have been proposed to explain the Bronze Age Collapse. In the end, he opts for some combination of factors, and he may be right. However, a “perfect storm of circumstances”, some combination of “drought, famine, earthquakes”, and invading Dorians lusting for the taste of human flesh need not be invoked to explain the Bronze Age Collapse. As a scientist, I can tell you that the simplest explanation is not always the correct one, but here is my simple explanation. The Hittite Empire and a united Mycenaean kingdom, which the Hittites called Ahhiyawa, both fell apart. As such, they could no longer exercise their police function in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean (Hittites policed through their vassals). Groups already prone to piracy took advantage and went on a series of plundering expeditions. The result was mass destruction. Mycenaeans fled to the relative safety of the east, taking their pottery with them, except for the Mycenaeans in Tyrins, who thrived. The Sea Peoples have to have home bases somewhere (here I agree with Elizabeth French). Hatti’s demise is easily explained. Hatti was surrounded by enemies and had hardly any natural defenses (read Trevor Bryce). Whenever the Hittites went to war in one direction they were necessarily weakened on other frontiers. The capital, Hattusa, had already been abandoned once to the Kaskans (pronounced Kashkans) attacking from the north. We know that the capital was abandoned again at the end of the Bronze Age. Presumably it was the Kaskans once more. We also know the last Hittite king had to campaign along the south to recover lost vassal kingdoms. The Hittites may have lacked the military strength to fight both in the north and the south, and so the Hittite ship sank. The end of Ahhiyawa is trickier. In Hittite annals, Ahhiyawa is a united kingdom. In the Mycenaean records, we see only isolated city-states. But those records were only preserved because they consisted of clay tablets that were fired when the palaces that stored them were burned during the Collapse. Older tablets had been erased and reused. A united Ahhiyawa must have existed earlier, but then broke up. It’s fun to speculate as to the cause of the break up. We have a letter from a Hittite king to an unnamed king of Ahhiyawa whose brother, who also seems to be a king, was named Tawagalawa. It may not look like it, but Tawagalawa is equivalent to Eteocles. We see Eteocles and his brother, both kings, in the much later tradition of Seven Against Thebes, in which there is civil war. The attempted creation of a wall across the Isthmus of Corinth points to just that—civil war. Pirate attacks followed naturally. All it takes is the collapse of those two polities, Hatti and Mycenaean Greece, to account for the disastrous rise in piracy and city sacking that made up the Bronze Age Collapse. What to read next? Michael Wood’s In Search of the Trojan War is a fun history of archeology in general and the search for the Trojan War more specifically. “In Search of” is a little out of date, and Wood goes off the deep end when he imagines conversations with Agamemnon. But that’s towards the end of the book. Most of the “In Search of” is great. You can watch the TV version on YouTube. (Warning: at one point I was reminded of Robert Plant’s trousers in The Song Remains the Same.) Yasur-Landau’s The Philistines and Aegean Migration at the End of the Bronze Age is more focused on one topic, technical, and scholarly than Wood’s book. Drews’s The End of the Bronze Age is also more technical and scholarly. Drews provides a good overview of the destruction, demolishes all previous explanations for it, but then offers his own hypothesis which is highly speculative. Redford ridiculed Drews’s minimalism in an endnote to Egypt and Western Asia in the Late New Kingdom: An Overview. That endnote is key. “Islands in the midst of the sea” must refer to the Aegean. Throughout all of your reading, keep in mind an idea that Cline attributes to Annie Caubet: “One cannot always be sure that the people who resettled a site after its destruction are necessarily the same ones who destroyed it in the first place.” Caubet’s idea should be obvious, but it is neglected in much of the literature. I do not attribute the LH or LC IIIC pottery scattered from Cilicia south to what became the Philistine pentapolis to the Sea Peoples but rather to the peaceful migration of Mycenaean refugees mentioned above, in spite of the linguistic equivalence of Peleset to Pelishtim.

The author makes a persuasive case that socioeconomic interdependency of the late bronze age nations of the eastern Mediterranean made them more susceptible to environmental and biological changes leading to internal unrest and less able to fight off opportunistic enemies; drawing parallels with our current-day global warming, COVID pandemic and the ongoing civil conflicts in the Middle East.For the novice historian the timeline is hard to follow as the author switches between the various nations whilst describing events that are taking place simultaneously. Add to that the unfamiliar and barely pronounceable names of people and places, some of which have more than one name depending on the language, and you have quite the mess of confusion.However, as I chose to "not sweat the small stuff", knowing that I'll probably read the book again later, the writing style makes for easy reading. The author even drops a few nuggets of humor along the way.I gave this four stars instead of five because a more comprehensive map(s) would have made the book far more accessible to general readers. The author does include a very detailed list of people mentioned in the book, a section on notes accompanying the text and a very comprehensive bibliography of the various works cited in his book.If you are not a stickler for details, this book makes for easy reading and the proposals put forth by the author deserve pondering, especially taking into account the current global situation.

Fascinating! Gives one a wider grasp of the history behind the Eastern Mediterranean in the LBA. Seems to be very well researched and documented. I chose a few of the cited references and the book was faithful to them.I only wish I were young enough to undertake further study on the ground in that part of the world.Unusual parallels with our current times. Well written and definitely worth doing so.

Evidently, the Bronze Age crashed in 1777BC. Well established kingdoms and city states of the ‘then’ civilized world of the Eastern Mediterranean and Fertile Crescent (all the way inland to Babylon) were all destroyed or critically weakened by the crash. This was a major turning point in world history.Studies suggest that these kingdoms (ancient Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Crete, the early Greeks, Hittites, Philistines and Babylonians) had well established communications and commercial trade (both land and sea) throughout the whole region and civilization seemed to be flourishing . So, what happened?This book brings together hundreds of years of Bronze Age archeology and historical study to try and find an answer. Wars, earthquakes, volcanoes, climate change, famine and disease were thoroughly analyzed, with nothing conclusive. The best bet is that the area experienced a little of ‘all of the above’ and a severe prolonged drought (lasting many, many decades) which forced people to either relocate or die.Although the book is fairly easy to read, I found a lot of the archaeology and scientific info to be dry and repetitive. However, while laying it all out, the author provided a very good history of all those ancient civilizations....and it was worth the read just for THAT.Except for Egypt and Greece, my only knowledge of those other kingdoms was from the Bible’s Old Testament. Evidently, Moses and Joshua made war against the Canaanites and Philistines during this time period, so the history in this book gives Exodus a little international context.

In the annals of history, there are pivotal moments that alter the course of civilizations. "1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed" takes us back to a tumultuous era—the Late Bronze Age—when the world as it was known came crashing down. Marauding groups, shrouded in mystery, swept across the Mediterranean. These enigmatic "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt, triggering a chain of events that reverberated far beyond the Nile. Eric Cline meticulously unravels their impact, revealing how their assault weakened Egypt and set off a cataclysmic domino effect. Cline presents a compelling case for a "perfect storm" of interconnected failures. Natural disasters, political intrigues, and cultural clashes converged, leading to the collapse of not one but several powerful civilizations. The Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians—all found themselves on the precipice of oblivion.Before this book, the prevailing theory attributed the collapse primarily to the Sea Peoples. Cline's research transcends this simplistic narrative. He delves into the complexities of trade, commerce, and cultural exchange among these heterogeneous societies. The Bronze Age, with its brilliance and grandeur, crumbled under the weight of multiple crises. Cline's work is a testament to meticulous scholarship. He sifts through archaeological evidence, ancient texts, and historical accounts to construct a vivid tapestry of a bygone world. His prose is accessible, making complex ideas digestible for both scholars and curious readers.Whether you're a history enthusiast, an archaeology buff, or simply curious about the rise and fall of ancient cultures, 1177 B.C. offers a riveting journey through a pivotal year that reshaped the world.

The book not only helps us see the world as it was 3,000 years ago, it also shows how it was similar to our world today, and does so in a clear and entertaining way.

Eric Kline’s 2nd Edition of the book 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed is an epiphany for those who stood before the mute stones of Mycenae, Troy, Egyptian Pyramids, and Armageddon trying to decipher events a thousand years hence. Professor Kline’s book presents hard facts, dates, and direct Bronze age reports of mythological events recorded centuries later in the Iliad, Odyssey, and Hebrew Bible. We know the stories but what is the reality reflected in the folk memory of such cataclysmically important events.Decades of science and scholarship slowly reveal a sometimes-frightening story of vibrant lives snuffed out by uncontrollably violent, tragic events. The most direct reports come from cuneiform letters on clay tablets between kings, merchants, and high official recording treaties, marriages, gift exchanges, requests for foreign aid, and so many other events of the day sounding as if they were yesterday’s CNN news reports. These tablets from sites in present day Egypt, Israel, Syria, Cyprus, Crete, and Iraq summarize the results of over 100 years of archeological excavations, documentation, and scholastic study of clay document records. A historical literature describing a highly sophisticated cooperative societies existing over thousands of years.The intensity of trade and interchange of Bronze age civilization is most poignantly portrayed in careful reports of underwater excavations of trading ships off the coast of Greece, Egypt, and Turkey. George Bass from Texas A&M created a new field of study by documenting the 1300 BC shipwreck at Uluburun, Turkey with goods from sources in Egypt, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, Mycenae, Minos, and many other ports of call around the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Most important were the discovery of tin ingots from Afghanistan and copper ingots from Cyprus, used for smelting of Bronze. Enough to create swords and armor for 300 soldiers of the king’s army. This lively trade, interchange and prosperity over centuries came to a crashing close for multiple collaborating empires – Hittite Empire, Kingdom of Minoa, Kingdom of Mycenae, and Babylonia. Only the weakened Egyptian Empire survived following their triumph over the invading sea people in 1177 B.C. It was the end.What caused the rapid decline and collapse of such a vibrant civilization. For almost a century scholars attributed downfall to invasion by the “sea people” mentioned in multiple Egyptian documents. This convenient explanation could not be corroborated with archeological evidence to show who they were, where they came from and why they so suddenly appeared with forces sufficient to topple established empires with powerful armies. Using instrumentation developed in physics laboratories, experts dated events of destruction using Carbon-14. Electron microscopy of pollen deposition in cores from lakes, rivers, and seas show a clear century-long picture of mega-climate change relating to written historical events. The global summary is a chilling picture of one possible future for present-day civilizations. A mega-drought lasting centuries caused famine, political unrest, revolution by the lower classes and organized emigrations of forces – raiding armies – to find better living conditions. Trade collapsed due to roaming bands of bandits and pirates.The final chapter of Kline’s book ponders the constant rise and fall of empires, kingdoms and entire collaborative groups forming a coherent civilization. He concludes “we should not think our current world is invincible, for we are in fact more susceptible than we might wish to believe.”1172 B.C. is a worthwhile read especially when considering the ever-crazier people behavior in response to stresses. Many wish to ignore the risks of increasing carbon dioxide gas content in the atmosphere caused by human activities. Science competes with magic for the attention of the masses. Science appears to be losing.

Don't think you are going to read a nice easy novel. This book about the reasons for the fall of the Bronze age kingdoms, is written in a scholarly manner with a large number of citations to back up statements. First, you will be impressed with the reliance on archaeological knowledge including written texts where available to support the author's statements. But, the author also let's the reader know when there are disagreements by various historians as to the history. One thing that appalled me was how often kingdoms would go to war even over retribution for old family disputes. I wonder how many young men died to satisfy the power-hungry urges of a king. The same thing that is happening now in Ukraine. Finally, there is a huge lesson to be learned about climate change. I feel that climate change that occurred for 200 years during this period, was the cause of the increase in the fall of kingdoms, the escalation of war over resources, and the eventual loss of bronze age trade. An ominous message for us today! IF there is one failure in this book, and it is one readily acknowledged by the author, it is that there is very little information on the lives of the common laborer and of women and children during this time. Since the archaeological record is written by the aristocracy and by tradesmen, we know very little about the common life of the different kingdoms. But, I also can't help thinking that archaeologists and historians just aren't interested in what the common peoples lives were like. Maybe not enough gold, ivory, silver, swords, arrows, and heroic stories.

I'm a history buff with a soft spot for the Ancient times. The book has given me all the fantastic narratives, the details on the events and all the inspiration I was hoping for to get from it. And even more! The chapter on complex systems and some network perspective on the Collapse rhymed with my network analysis activities in social and computational research. I can't wait for the sequel! Thank you, Professor Cline!

muito bem referenciado

Love it, well written

Good read, but a hard read. Not for for the typical t novice reader. But worth the effort. Very detailed and informative.

Cline presents a gripping exploration of the Late Bronze Age collapse, weaving together archaeology, history, and mystery to examine how interconnected societies suddenly unraveled around 1177 BCE. Rather than offering a single cause, he presents a compelling mosaic of contributing factors: climate change, earthquakes, internal rebellions, and invasions by the enigmatic Sea Peoples. The book’s strength lies in its accessible storytelling and its refusal to oversimplify a complex historical puzzle, making it a fascinating read.