Full name: 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

Author: Eric H. Cline Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History Culture: Egypt Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780691140896 0691140898

In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age--and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece. Similar books: Mesopotamia by Gwendolyn Leick The Persians by J. M. Cook The Babylonians by Gwendolyn Leick The Ancient Mediterranean by Michael Grant Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson The Hittites by O. R. Gurney The End of the Bronze Age by Robert Drews The Mycenaean World by John Chadwick The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce The Celts by Dale M. Brown Early Greece by M. I. Finley The Secret of the Hittites by C. W. Ceram The Egyptians by Alan Gardiner Champollion the Egyptian by Christian Jacq A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan Rubicon by Tom Holland All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings