The Collapse of the Bronze Age

The fall of the ancient Bronze Age Mediterranean civilizations is one of the most intriguing yet curiously indecipherable areas of history. It is not entirely clear when the events that would lead to the fall of all but the strongest of these early peoples even began. It is believed to have really begun to occur not long after when the Trojan War is meant to have taken place in around 1100BC. Over the next century the intricate structure of trade and diplomacy that had been carefully woven in the region for the last millennia would all come unravelled  and would throw these seemingly advanced people's back into a time with little to no literacy or understanding of the complex societies they had come from. These times would become known as the Classical Dark Age. A time so dire that it would only be matched by the Early Medieval Ages of Western Europe nearly 1500 years later.

The most famous factor for the fall of these incredibly powerful civilizations is simply and eerily known as the Sea People’s. Referenced in Egyptian sources of the time, they are said to be raiders that struck all along the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean from the shores of Mycenaean Greece, into modern Syria and down into Egypt’s very own River Nile. Below I have attached a map of the currently known raids conducted by the Sea People’s (as well as those caused by other peoples who were more traceable). However despite an account by the Pharaoh of Egypt defeating some of these Sea People’s in the Nile we have no clear or obvious conclusion as to who they were or where they came from. It is debated as to whether they are a symptom or a cause of the Bronze Age collapse but one thing is for sure, they were no idle threat and were very active in the sacking and looting of wealthy coastal cities seemingly indiscriminately.

Another factor is that of climate change. It definitely led to mass starvation and drought in regions such as Mesopotamia where such things would have a much larger impact. This could have easily led to internal conflicts within these Empires. A final factor is the element of natural disasters such as earthquakes being particularly active at this time which could not have been particularly helpful with the desperate need for trade, and the migration of people fleeing their own homes, being an already unbearable weight on an incredibly early version of human governance and globalization.

Ultimately what this boils down to is that it was the perfect breed of circumstances to cause the fall of these once powerful empires and people’s. What makes this particular collapse so interesting is the fact that it is the fall of not one singular government or empire but instead the fall of an interconnected web of trade between mighty empires, that when pushed far enough fell apart in a near civilization ending collapse. There are tons of parallels between this globalized ancient world and our own one and many of the same weaknesses still exist. It goes to show just how fragile we really are despite our own perceived advancement and strength.