How Civilization Collapsed in the Late Bronze Age

Episode 18: The Late Bronze Age and End of Peace

Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization

Dr Amanda H Podany

Film Review

This lecture concerns the mysterious collapse of all Near East civilizations during the 12th and 11th century BC.

Podany begins by describing the vast Near East trade network established by 1300 BC. The immense wealth of this is clear from the remains of a ship sunk off the coast of Turkey around 1250 BC. Departing from the kingdom of Alashiya (Cyprus), from its cargo it had clearly visited several Mediterranean ports before sinking off the coast of Anatolia.

In its hold were 10 tons of copper ingots from Alashiya, glass ingots and a ton of tin from Canaan, 150 enormous jars of terebinth resin (used as incense and in perfumed oils), ebony, ivory, three ostrich eggs, spices and olives from Africa, Mycenaean* drinking vessels and swords, 800 pounds of Egyptian gold, glass and shell Murax (a vivid purple dye) from Syria.

The Late Bronze Ange diplomatic/trading alliance first started to break down when Hittite invaded Canaan, which was under Egyptian control. The result would be a a direct confrontation between Egyptian and Hittite armies at the Battle of Qadesh in 1274 BC. The outcome was a stalemate, with the Hittites continuing to control the territory they conquered at Qadesh.

A century later the Hatti (Hittite) empire would collapse (1185 BC). Babylonia collapsed in 1155 BC, after being invaded by the Elamites (from Syria). The Alashyian kingdom on Cypress collapsed around the same period, as did the Assyrian empire (formed when eastern Hatti declared independence from Hittite-controlled western Hatti) shrinking back to the single city-state Assur. In 1070 BC, Egypt’s New Kingdom collapsed after 400 years of rule.

The root cause of these simultaneous collapses is obscure. There are  written accounts (the most complete by pharaoh Ramses III) of unidentified Sea Peoples* in kilts attacking major cities and destroying palaces and citadels. Some historians blame grain shortages famines and others a flurry of earthquakes and fires that destroyed several cities.

The explanation Podany (and I myself) seems to prefer relates to popular anger and civil unrest stemming from the heavy oppression and exploitation the opulent elite of these empires imposed on their impoverished populations. This is supported by evidence that 1) only palaces and citadels were destroyed in most cities, with private dwellings left untouched 2) only some cities were attacked while others remained intact and 3) many inland cities beyond the reach of the “Sea Peoples” were destroyed.

This theory is consistent with research David Graeber and David Wengrow present in The Dawn of Everything reveal that (prior to the last 500 years) humankind has had an extremely low tolerance of extreme exploitation. See https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.com/2021/12/14/the-dawn-of-everything-a-new-history-of-so-called-civilization/

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*Evidence, along with two Mycenaean ambassadors on board prior to the shipwreck, that the Mycenaean Greek city-states (which preceded the classical Greek city-states by several hundred centuries – see https://stuartbramhall.wordpress.com/2021/11/16/the-prehistoric-phoenician-hebrew-minoan-and-mycenaean-civilizations/) participating in the large Near East trading and diplomatic network established in the Late Bronze Age (1600 – 1200 BC).

**Believed to originate from Mediterranean island near Cyprus, Anatolia and Mycenaea), these Sea Peoples have been identified as originating from Pelest (origin of the name and the ancient Philistine people), Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh. Egypt repelled them, though some settled north of Egypt in Caanan. Podany raises the possibility that the Trojan War described by Homer in the Iliad was a Sea Peoples war.

This film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/video/5754238

The History of Ancient Egypt

Egypt’s First Pharaoh Menes

Episode 9 Divine Rule in the Black Land

The Big History of Civilizations (2016)

Dr Craig G Benjamin

Film Review

Benjamin briefly covers the founding of Egypt’s First Dynasty by Narmer (aka Menes), around 3000 BC when he unified Upper and Lower Egypt founded Memphis, the first Egyptian city. The period 3100-2600 BC was characterized by continual conflict with its southern neighbor Nubia. After Egypt gained control of upper Nubia, Nubian males formed a large proportion of the Egyptian army and intermarried with Egyptian women.

The massive pyramids on the Giza Plateau were built during the Fourth Dynasty (2613 -2494 BC) as tombs for their pharaohs. Pyramid building declined during the Sixth Dynasty (2345-2181 BC) owing (Benjamin believes), perhaps due to climactic changes that reduced food production* and the onset of civil war.

The Egyptian empire reached its zenith during the New Kingdom (the 18th, 19th and 20th dynasties 1515-1150 BC). During this period, Egypt’s pharaohs ruled over a population of four million people and a territory comprising modern day Syria and Palestine.

By the 14th century BC, the Egyptian pharaohs had adopted bureaucratic templates devised by the Sumerian kings Sargon (founder of Akkhadian Empire in the 24th century BC) and Hammurabi (who brought nearly all of Sumer under Babylonian rule in the 18th century BC). Egypt’s rich agricultural system, based on the Nile and a complex system of irrigation canals, also played a big role in the stability of the Egyptian empire.

Benjamin focuses special attention on the reign of the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (aka King Tut), whose tomb was discovered in 1922. Ascending the throne at age nine in 1332 BC, he and his advisers reunified Egypt by restoring the sun god Amon as the supreme god. This allowed Egypt to successfully wage war against the Nubians and assimilate their territory. 

Genetic testing reveals that King Tut’s parents were brother and sister. He was born with a number of birth defects, including cleft palate, scoliosis and club foot. He died, with no heirs, at age 19, the last ruler of the 18th dynasty.

Under Ramesses II (1279 – 1213 BCE, Egypt had a brief respite from continual war after he negotiated a peace treaty with Hittites who controlled Mesopotamia to the north. Following his death, Egypt was invaded and occupied first by Libya, then by the Nubian rulers of Kush, and finally by the Assyrians who ruled Mesopotamia.

The Assyrians continued to rule Egypt until the 26th Dynasty (663-525 BC) finally expelled them.

In 525 BC, Egypt was conquered by the Persians and in 332 BC by Alexander the Great. It would continue to be ruled by foreign powers (the Roman, Ottoman and British Empire) for 2,000 years.

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*It’s estimated that construction of a single pyramid required 84,000 workers to work 80 hours a year for 20 years. Archeological evidence suggests they weren’t slaves (as is commonly believed) but received wages for their labor.

 

 

 

https://pukeariki.kanopy.com/video/egypt-divine-rule-black-land