Hi, thanks for tuning in to ancient Greece, Declassified.

Episode 2, Bronze Age Apocalypse 1177 BC.

In the previous episode we encountered various Bronze Age civilizations, such as Egypt

and Mycenaean Greece, which thrived before 1000 BC.

In this episode, we will meet the remaining major players of the late Bronze Age, and

we will investigate

why most of these civilizations were mysteriously destroyed at around the same time

in the 12th century BC.

Archaeologists have been debating what caused this destruction for over a century.

Was it invaders, an earthquake storm, famine and drought, plague?

Was it the mysterious sea peoples mentioned in the Egyptian sources as destroying everything in their path?

With us here today to help solve this mystery is Eric Klein, archaeologist and ancient historian

at the George Washington University, and author of the

award-winning book 1177 BC, the year civilization collapsed.

In order to follow this dramatic and exciting story, here are a few important names and places

you should be familiar with.

There are basically three major powers in this time period besides the Mycenaeans.

To the south of Greece, across the Mediterranean, you've got Egypt.

To the east from Greece, across the Aegean Sea, you've got the mighty Hittite Empire,

in what is now Turkey.

And to the southeast from there, in present-day Iraq, you've got Babylon and the Assyrian Empire.

These three great powers, Egypt, the Hittites, and the Assyrians, form a triangle, in the middle of which is a territory that they're often fighting over. This territory, present-day Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Jordan, is referred to as Canaan or the Levant.

...