How Civilizations Recovered, or Didn't, from Armageddon -

Thirty-two hundred years ago, something terrible happened across the eastern Mediterranean world. More accurately, a series of terrible things led to the collapse of multiple highly interconnected civilizations stretching from Greece to Afghanistan. Cities were abandoned, populations crashed, international trade broke down, and in many places the art of writing was lost - so we have few surviving inscriptions to tell the story.

As we often see in history, there were multiple causes of the collapse. Climate change produced long droughts that led to famine. A storm of earthquakes shattered cities and palaces. A variety of warlike tribes, known as the “Sea Peoples” migrated in search of better conditions, invading their more civilized neighbors.

In his 2014 book, 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed, Eric Cline described this so-called “Late Bronze Age Collapse,” which led to a “Dark Age” that lasted for decades in some places, and centuries in others. In this new book, he revisits the story with a different objective - to examine how the survivors coped with the aftermath.

Cline considers how eight different cultures responded to the collapse: Assyrians, Babylonians, “Central Canaanites” (who became the Phoenicians), “Southern Canaanites” (including the Hebrews), Cypriots, Egyptians, Hittites, and the Mycenaeans and Minoans (Greeks). Some of these cultures virtually disappeared, such as the Hittites in Anatolia and Syria, and the Minoans on Crete. Others survived and adapted, notably the Phoenician city-states, which developed new trade networks spanning the Mediterranean, and even reaching out into the Atlantic. Egypt, however, strongly conservative, with reliable irrigation from the Nile, endured, but never reached the height of power and wealth it achieved under the New Kingdom (c. 1550 - 1070 B.C.E.), eventually being taken over by the Persian empire.

As the supply of scarce tin, brought from the remote Badakhshan province of Afghanistan, dried up, the technology of bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) gave way to iron, a more abundant element, providing stronger tools and weapons, but considerably more difficult to refine and fabricate.

For our world, teetering on the edge of collapse, the most significant thing in the book may be Table 8 (p. 194) summarizing “Lessons Learned”:

1. Have multiple contingency plans in place, and redundant systems to fall back on if your primary ones fail.

2. Be resilient enough to withstand whatever blows may come and strong enough to withstand any enemy invasions or attacks.

3. Be as self-sufficient as possible, but do call on friends for assistance when needed

4. Be innovative and inventive, ready to turn nimbly and adapt or transform.

5. Prepare for extreme weather conditions: if they come, you will be ready, if they don’t it won’t matter.

6. Be sure to have dependable water resources.

7. Keep the working class happy.

The text is supplemented by six clearly drawn maps that locate most of the places mentioned. There are only 14 monochrome illustrations – many of the artifacts mentioned in the text are not pictured.

After 1177 B.C. will be of great interest to readers of Cline’s earlier books, and more generally to those who enjoy reading about ancient history informed by the latest findings of archaeology. Eric Cline is Professor of Classics and Anthropology at The George Washington University, in Washington DC.

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Our Reviewer: Mike Markowitz is an historian and wargame designer. He writes a monthly column for CoinWeek.Com and is a member of the ADBC (Association of Dedicated Byzantine Collectors). His previous reviews include, The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, , The Emperor in the Byzantine World, The Politics of Roman Memory: From the Fall of the Western Empire to the Age of Justinian, Theodosius and the Limits of Empire, Byzantium Triumphant: The Military History of the Byzantines, 959–1025, Rome Resurgent: War and Empire in the Age of Justinian, Bohemond of Taranto, The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada, Ancient Rome: Infographics, Byzantium and the Crusades, A Short History of the Byzantine Empire, Theoderic the Great, The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium, Battle for the Island Kingdom, Vandal Heaven, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome, Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World, Caesar Rules: The Emperor in the Changing Roman World, Ancient Rome on the Silver Screen, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, Persians: The Age of the Great Kings, Polis: A New History of the Ancient Greek City-State, At the Gates of Rome: The Battle for a Dying Empire, and Roman Emperors in Context .

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Note: After 1177 B.C. is also available in audio- and e-editions.

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