Summarize of 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed (Eric Cline, PhD)

1177 BC

A specific year historians and archaeologists point to as a time when several civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean region experienced significant decline or collapse, often called 'the year civilization collapsed' in that area.

Late Bronze Age

The historical period in which widespread societal collapse occurred around 1177 BC in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Sea Peoples

A group of maritime raiders mentioned in ancient Egyptian and other Near Eastern records from the late Bronze Age, believed to have invaded and disrupted many civilizations, contributing to the widespread collapse.

Peleset

One of the groups identified among the 'Sea Peoples' in ancient Egyptian records, widely believed to be the same people who later settled in the southern Levant and became known as the Philistines.

Southern Levant

A historical geographical region in the Middle East that generally encompasses modern-day Israel, Palestinian territories, and parts of Jordan.

Broader Levant Region

A large geographical and historical area in the Eastern Mediterranean including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes southeastern Turkey and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

1177 BC

A specific year historians and archaeologists point to as a time when several civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean region experienced significant decline or collapse, often called 'the year civilization collapsed' in that area.

Late Bronze Age

The historical period in which widespread societal collapse occurred around 1177 BC in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Sea Peoples

A group of maritime raiders mentioned in ancient Egyptian and other Near Eastern records from the late Bronze Age, believed to have invaded and disrupted many civilizations, contributing to the widespread collapse.

Peleset

One of the groups identified among the 'Sea Peoples' in ancient Egyptian records, widely believed to be the same people who later settled in the southern Levant and became known as the Philistines.

Southern Levant

A historical geographical region in the Middle East that generally encompasses modern-day Israel, Palestinian territories, and parts of Jordan.

Broader Levant Region

A large geographical and historical area in the Eastern Mediterranean including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes southeastern Turkey and the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.

Systemic Collapse

A theory suggesting that the widespread collapse around 1177 BC was not due to a single cause but an interconnected chain of events, including invasions, droughts, earthquakes, and internal rebellions, that overwhelmed highly interdependent Bronze Age societies.

Mycenaean Civilization

A late Bronze Age civilization in mainland Greece that flourished from approximately 1600–1100 BC, known for its powerful city-states and extensive trade networks, which collapsed as part of the 1177 BC events.

Hittite Empire

A major power of the Late Bronze Age, centered in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), that significantly declined and fragmented around 1177 BC due to a combination of internal and external pressures, including the Sea Peoples.

Ramesses III

A pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (reigned c. 1186–1155 BC) who famously recorded battling and defeating the Sea Peoples in inscriptions at Medinet Habu, providing crucial historical evidence for their existence and impact during the Late Bronze Age collapse