1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting book on the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations. Before reading this book, I really didn’t know much about this period of history, other than this is when the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age began soon after. The author sets the scene for what civilization looked like in the 12th Century BC before the collaps, and then backs up a few hundred years and there are chapters devoted to the 15th, 14th and 13th centuries BC. Then we come to the main event in the 12th century BC.

It’s almost like a murder mystery when we get to the period 1200 to 1150 BC: we know what happens, but how and why does this civilization collapse? The various kingdoms in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East had well established trading and political connections, not unlike the world today. There are many possibilities and the author takes us through them: internal rebellions, climate change, drought, famine, earthquakes and invasions from outside, like the Sea Peoples. And the result seems to be that there was no one overriding cause, but rather a combination of causes which ended the Bronze Age civilization.

The title comes from an attempted invasion of Egypt by the mysterious “Sea Peoples” in 1177 BC. The Egyptians were victorious, but the struggle weakened Egypt enough that it began to decline.

It is a very interesting and well-written book and if you’re interested in this period of history, I highly recommend it.