The Bronze Age Collapse: Troy Was Only the Beginning
Odd Origins
1,929 views
Around 1200 BC, some of the most powerful kingdoms in the ancient world began to disappear. The Hittite Empire fragmented. The Mycenaean palaces fell. Ugarit burned. Egypt survived, but only after fighting for its life. And Troy was part of the same world.
Why did a connected, wealthy Bronze Age world fall apart within a few decades? Not because of one invasion, one drought or one earthquake: historians still debate the causes, and many now see a system in crisis, with several pressures reinforcing each other.
In this documentary we follow the metal (copper and tin), the palace economies, the climate evidence, the earthquake hypothesis, the so-called Sea Peoples, the last letters of Ugarit, and the fates of the Hittites, the Mycenaeans and Egypt. We ask what actually caused the Bronze Age Collapse, and what came afterward.
Please note: the exact causes, dates and identifications (for example Troy and Wilusa, or the origins of the Sea Peoples) are debated by scholars. We have tried to say clearly where the evidence is strong and where it is not.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Mystery
01:21 The World Before the Collapse
03:41 Why Bronze Needed a System
05:41 Troy Inside This World
08:05 The First Signs of Trouble
09:13 Climate and Drought
10:34 Earthquakes
11:36 The Sea Peoples
13:53 Ugarit
15:41 The Hittite Empire Disappears
17:24 Mycenaean Greece Collapses
19:04 Egypt Fights Back
20:35 The Domino Effect
22:04 So What Actually Caused It?
23:36 What Happened Afterward
24:55 Return to Troy
IMAGE CREDITS
Archival images in this video are public domain or CC0: Museo Egizio (Turin) photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, and public-domain engravings and plates via Wikimedia Commons. Base maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Fonts: Montserrat and IBM Plex (SIL Open Font License).
#BronzeAgeCollapse #AncientHistory #Troy
The Bronze Age Collapse: Troy Was Only the Beginning
Odd Origins
1,929 views
Around 1200 BC, some of the most powerful kingdoms in the ancient world began to disappear. The Hittite Empire fragmented. The Mycenaean palaces fell. Ugarit burned. Egypt survived, but only after fighting for its life. And Troy was part of the same world.
Why did a connected, wealthy Bronze Age world fall apart within a few decades? Not because of one invasion, one drought or one earthquake: historians still debate the causes, and many now see a system in crisis, with several pressures reinforcing each other.
In this documentary we follow the metal (copper and tin), the palace economies, the climate evidence, the earthquake hypothesis, the so-called Sea Peoples, the last letters of Ugarit, and the fates of the Hittites, the Mycenaeans and Egypt. We ask what actually caused the Bronze Age Collapse, and what came afterward.
Please note: the exact causes, dates and identifications (for example Troy and Wilusa, or the origins of the Sea Peoples) are debated by scholars. We have tried to say clearly where the evidence is strong and where it is not.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The Mystery
01:21 The World Before the Collapse
03:41 Why Bronze Needed a System
05:41 Troy Inside This World
08:05 The First Signs of Trouble
09:13 Climate and Drought
10:34 Earthquakes
11:36 The Sea Peoples
13:53 Ugarit
15:41 The Hittite Empire Disappears
17:24 Mycenaean Greece Collapses
19:04 Egypt Fights Back
20:35 The Domino Effect
22:04 So What Actually Caused It?
23:36 What Happened Afterward
24:55 Return to Troy
IMAGE CREDITS
Archival images in this video are public domain or CC0: Museo Egizio (Turin) photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access, and public-domain engravings and plates via Wikimedia Commons. Base maps: Natural Earth (public domain). Fonts: Montserrat and IBM Plex (SIL Open Font License).
#BronzeAgeCollapse #AncientHistory #Troy