S8 Ep582: 2. This interview shifts to the aftermath of the Bronze Age collapse, focusing on the resilience of the Assyrians. Cline attributes their survival to strong leadership and redundant systems, such as their enduring military and government structures. While
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
2. This interview shifts to the aftermath of the Bronze Age collapse, focusing on the resilience of the Assyrians. Cline attributes their survival to strong leadership and redundant systems, such as their enduring military and government structures. While their previous trading partners struggled, the Assyrians adapted by using military force to acquire necessary resources and conducting near-constant warfare. The discussion also covers the complex, shifting relationship between the Assyrians and the Babylonians, who cycled between being allies and enemies. Ultimately, the Neo-Assyrians emerged as the dominant Near Eastern power for several centuries before being superseded by the Neo-Babylonians. (2)
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| 0:27.9 | authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. I'm John Bachelor. This is the John Bachelor show. Eric Klein's new book is 1177 BC. The year civilization collapsed. This is the late Bronze Age, which I learned from |
| 0:56.9 | Professor Klein, archaeologist shorthand, is the LBA, late Bronze Age. What follows is the Iron Age. |
| 1:03.6 | So this is a period where the ability to manufacture, and especially bronze swords, bronze |
| 1:10.2 | arrow tips, was the top of armoring, arming yourself as an empire. |
| 1:15.4 | It was also an expression of trade. |
| 1:17.8 | Professor, I want to focus not just on the Egyptians, but also the Hittites, because my reading of your book is that that's a powerful but little understood transformation what happened to the Hittites. |
| 1:28.8 | They had a capital city, Hattasa. |
| 1:31.5 | Their governance, was it like the Egyptian governance? |
| 1:34.1 | Did they have a king and an elite around the palace? |
| 1:38.0 | Yes, absolutely. |
| 1:39.2 | The Hittites who are based in what we would now say is the central plateau of Turkey, |
| 1:44.3 | they did, they had a king, they had an elite. They had all the tractions that you might imagine, as befits a royal empire. |
| 1:53.3 | The capital city is at Hatsuzas, modern-day Boazcoi, the Germans of been excavating it for more than a century now, |
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