Vreemd. Dit is een uitstekend en genuanceerd overzicht van de al jaren aanslepende discussie over het (plotse) einde van de Bronstijd in het oostelijk Middellandse Zee-gebied. Eric H. Cline (professor of ancient history and archaeology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.) overloopt gedetailleerd hoe er tussen 1500 en 1200 bce in dat gebied in toenemende mate connecties ontstonden in de vorm van (ruil)handel, politieke en diplomatieke uitwisselingen, culturele interactie, enzovoort. En hij schetst vooral hoe daar rond 1200 bce vrij plots een einde aan kwam. Of toch, hoe in tal van opgravingen en schriftelijke bronnen aanwijzingen zijn te vinden van wat we nu ‘disruptie’ zouden noemen. Cline is niet blind voor de vele onduidelijkheden en tegenspraken die dat bronnenmateriaal bevat, vooral in de chronologie. En terecht neemt hij afstand van de oude theorie dat golven van Zeevolkeren het Oude Nabije Oosten rond 1200 bce in de as legde. Volgens hem (en vele andere hedendaagse experts) was er sprake van een complex geheel van oorzaken (klimaat, politieke opstand, invasies, migraties, enz.) die cumulatief leidden tot een echte ‘system collapse’.
Allemaal hoogst interessant en zoals gezegd, genuanceerd benaderd. Maar dan is het wel vreemd dat zowel de titel, als de proloog en het besluit van dit boek die nuance bijna compleet negeren, en Cline boudweg beweert dat de menselijke beschaving rond 1177 bce ten einde kwam, en pas eeuwen later weer opveerde. En dat is manifest fout. Ik heb de indruk dat Cline een neus heeft voor public relations, en weet hoe hij iets met succes in de markt moet zetten. Zo is hij niet te beroerd om een parallel te trekken met onze huidige, ‘disruptieve’ tijd. In dat verband vind ik zijn slotzin zeer onrustwekkend, want die bouwt voort op denkbeelden die in de 19de eeuw erg populair waren, en vooral in heel reactionaire kringen nog altijd opgeld maken: “Soms is er een grootschalige bosbrand voor nodig om te zorgen dat het ecosysteem van een oud bos zich verjongt en tot nieuwe bloei komt”. Slik, is dat echt gemeend? Neen, ondanks de verdiensten van dit boek, moet ik dit toch een lage rating geven, want de auteur zet de historische werkelijkheid veel te veel naar zijn hand.
Meer details daarover in mijn History account op Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3234681737 ( )

Professor Eric H. Cline is an archeologist, and his 2014 book, “1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed” is an effort to bring together all of the archeological and literary information available to date to explain how and why many ancient civilizations in the Aegean, Mediterranean and Near East at the end of the Bronze Age collapsed and, if not entirely disappeared, became much smaller and more insular than they had been previous to that decline. The book takes into account numerous theories about the event or events, while also taking a lot of time showing how all of those ancient kingdoms interacted, particularly with respect to international trade. I was a bit disappointed that the copious footnotes primarily cited sources, with very little in the way of bits of extraneous information that didn’t fit into the main body of the work, but that’s just my little quirk. Given that I read this some 10 years after publication, there could well be newer findings that change some of the ideas outlined in this book, but it remains highly readable for the lay reader such as myself, and the era and events described continue to fascinate thousands of years later; recommended! ( )

"In 1177 B.C., marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy managed to defeat them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. After centuries of brilliance, the civilized world of the Bronze Age came to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Kingdoms fell like dominoes over the course of just a few decades. No more Minoans or Mycenaeans. No more Trojans, Hittites, or Babylonians. The thriving economy and cultures of the late second millennium B.C., which had stretched from Greece to Egypt and Mesopotamia, suddenly ceased to exist, along with writing systems, technology, and monumental architecture. But the Sea Peoples alone could not have caused such widespread breakdown. How did it happen? In this major new account of the causes of this "First Dark Ages," Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life the vibrant multicultural world of these great civilizations, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires and globalized peoples of the Late Bronze Age and shows that it was their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse and ushered in a dark age that lasted centuries. A compelling combination of narrative and the latest scholarship, 1177 B.C. sheds new light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and ultimately destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age--and that set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece"--

Rise and eventual destruction of Late Bronze Age, giving way to the Iron Age. 1177 BC has been chosen as an arbitrary date only. Some events took place a few decades afterwards. The first chapters are concerned with the rise and development of this civilization, stretching from Egypt to Canaan and including mainland Greece and islands in the Mediterranean Sea--Cyprus and Minoan Crete. We see the globalization of that era through trade and intermarriage of the rulers. We are told archaeological discoveries at each step; I most enjoyed the development of underwater archaeology with the invention of scuba gear, the subsequent discovery of sunken ships and their cargo and the author's theories about the Biblical Exodus [in his view not quite the same as the Biblical events] and of Troy [not the same as Homer's epic--written centuries later.] The reasons for the Collapse of that whole civilization were to be found in the last chapter and epilogue, a "perfect storm", so to say, a combination of events. A fact new to me was that the Arabic name of present-day Egypt, Misr, was similar to the word the ancient Egyptians used for their country. I've always wondered about that. ( )

A bit more dry and rambling than I was expecting, at times this book struck me more as a catalog of relevant archeological digs rather than the sweeping historical narrative I was looking for. ( )