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Hi everybody, from Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.

I'm Patrick Weimann, thanks for joining me.

In the story of ancient civilizations, their eventual collapse marks the climax, the dramatic

high point. We read prior events and processes in the light of the end that we know is coming.

We look to the causes of the eventual collapse for signs of political, economic, or even moral

failings, things to warn about in the present and attempt to avoid. But the past is in a

story. Ancient societies aren't narratives to be pulled off a shelf and read as commentaries

on our day and age, and collapse is never really the end. In reality, collapse is a multifaceted,

phenomenon. It's not a moral judgment or a plot point. Yet we still have to understand

collapse because it's never too far away. Few people are better suited to shed light on one

famous instance of collapse that of the late Bronze Age and collapse as a general concept

than today's guest. Dr. Guy Middleton is visiting fellow in the School of Classics and Archaeology

at Newcastle University. He's a specialist in the Archaeology of the late Bronze Age

of Jan and he is a prolific researcher. Most recently, he edited the volume, collapse, and transformation,

the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age in the Aegean. He's the author of Understanding Collapse,

Ancient History and Modern Myths, a book that has really shaped my thinking about collapse,

and also a boatload of excellent book chapters and journal articles. Dr. Middleton, thank you so

much for joining me today. Thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me. So how did you get

interested in the late Bronze Age Aegean and what brought you around to the topic of collapse?

I had one of those Edward Gibbon moments. I think that he wrote about how very romantically he was

...