Introduction
The Bronze Age collapse was a sudden fall of cultures that had thrived for hundreds of years into the dark ages, where there was no writing, art, poetry, or sculpturing.
Egyptians vs Hittites
The Bronze Age was one of the most powerful and glorious periods of the world. There were four main kingdoms: Anatolia, Egypt, Greece, and Assyria. Egypt expanded farther than its modern borders, taking control of Palestine and Israel. This put them into conflict with the Hittites, people from Anatolia, in Turkey. The Hittites were warriors, and only they could stand the might of Egypt. The Hittites had tributary states in Syria and Iraq, and that also put them sometimes in conflict with the Assyrians, a fierce warrior people from the East.
Canaanites, masters of the sea
The Canaanites are the ancestors of today’s Syrians and Israelis. They traded extensively with the Greeks, and designed the trireme, a type of ship that nearly everyone used later. Their first mentions come from Egypt, like: “…Shasu of Yhw…”(referring to the Aramaeans of Syria; Yhw refers to Yahweh), and “…Israel weeps in her captivity…”, etc. The Shasu were traveling nomads who picked up traditions from Egypt, like a phonetic alphabet.
Sea Peoples
Greece at the time was ruled by two people: The Dorians in the north and the Mycenaeans in the south. The Mycenaeans, who were much more developed than the Dorians, were in economic problems, as well as the other kingdoms.
- There was famine in the land
- Famine disabled the ability to export local foods and import exotic goods
- An increase of population and scarcity of food leads to poor condition
- A fear of attack from the Dorians, a warlike Celtic people who already had conquered Laconia and Messenia and made the Dorian state of Sparta (for Egypt and Anatolia, Dorians are replaced by Assyrians)
- Volcanic activity and earthquakes were becoming
The Mycenaean populations were decreasing as people ran away to escape the volcanoes, war, and strife, to new places. They also joined other peoples from Canaan and Anatolia as a barbaric fighting elite raiders called the Sea Peoples. Hundreds of tribes were in this, and it wasn’t very organized, either. A list of the common Sea Peoples.
- Sherden – Sardinia
- Shekelesh – Sicily
- Lukka – Lycia
- Tjeker – Teucri
- Peleset – Philistia
- Denyen – Danaan (Dorian)
- Teresh – Trojan
- Ekwesh – Achaeans (Mycenaeans)
The Trojan War is something is real, although it didn’t happen exactly the way Homer and Virgil describe it. Denyen and Ekwesh people are Greeks, and they were driven by hunger and lust to attack Troy. Troy was heavily fortified, and was stationed on top of a hill, so the Greeks found it very hard to break through. Once Troy was conquered, the survivors either fled to Italy or became Sea Peoples.
Conclusion
With all of these reasons, the Bronze Age finally fell into darkness. It held too much in its hands, and everything fell. The Dark Ages to come would be truly dark. Pottery became basic. Writing simply vanished everywhere except in Canaan. Art and poetry would be lost. And it is such, that Greece was the first to emerge from the Dark Ages.
Anay Ganesh 