1177 BC: Year of the collapse of civilization

In 1177 BC, Egypt was invaded by groups known as the "Sea Peoples." The pharaoh's army and navy managed to repel them, but the victory weakened Egypt so much that it soon began to decline, like most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of prosperity, a sudden and catastrophic end befell the civilized Bronze Age world; kingdoms fell like dominoes within just a few decades, the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations were wiped out, and there was no trace left of the Hittites or Babylonians. Suddenly, the thriving economy of the late second millennium BC disappeared, and the civilizations that once stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia vanished, along with writing systems, technology, and architecture. But the "Sea Peoples" alone could not be responsible for such a widespread collapse; so how did it happen then? In this new account of the causes that led to the "First Dark Ages," Erik Klein tells a story that captivates the mind; the story of an end resulting from multiple intertwined failures, from invasion and rebellion to earthquakes, droughts, and the cutting off of international trade routes. Klein paints a breathtaking panoramic picture of the late Bronze Age empires and their peoples, shedding new light on the complex connections from which these civilizations arose—connections that ultimately contributed to their destruction and the coming of a dark age that lasted for centuries.