Books like 1177 B.C. by Eric H. Cline

In 1177 B.C., the Sea Peoples assaulted Egypt, and although the pharaoh’s forces repelled them, the hard‑won victory severely weakened Egypt and the broader Late Bronze Age world. The result was a rapid, cascading collapse of major cultural and economic centers—Minoans, Mycenaeans, Trojans, Hittites, and Babylonians alike. Eric C. Cline argues that the downfall was not caused by a single event but by a series of interconnected failures: military invasion, internal revolt, natural disasters such as earthquakes and drought, and the disruption of international trade routes. His analysis presents a panoramic view of the interconnected empires and peoples that once stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, and shows how their interdependence ultimately hastened their demise, ushering in a prolonged “First Dark Ages” that paved the way for the rise of classical Greece.

First publish date: 2014