After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

by Eric H. Cline

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The follow-up to the epic 1177 B.C., Eric Cline shifts his focus to, as the title suggests, the rise and fall of empires after 1177 B.C. Centered on the Bronze Age in and around the Mediterranean, this is an exhaustive look at society and humanity at such a pivotal time and place.

In this gripping sequel to his bestselling 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever

“A landmark book: lucid, deep, and insightful. . . . You cannot understand human civilization and self-organization without studying what happened on, before, and after 1177 B.C.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, bestselling author of The Black Swan

At the end of the acclaimed history 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. Now, in After 1177 B.C., Eric Cline tells the compelling story of what happened next, over four centuries, across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration.

After 1177 B.C. tells how the collapse of powerful Late Bronze Age civilizations created new circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Taking the story up to the resurgence of Greece marked by the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., the book also describes how world-changing innovations such as the use of iron and the alphabet emerged amid the chaos.

Filled with lessons for today's world about why some societies survive massive shocks while others do not, After 1177 B.C. reveals why this period, far from being the First Dark Age, was a new age with new inventions and new opportunities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691192130
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Series:	Turning Points in Ancient History , #12
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	8,445
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Eric H. Cline is professor of classics and anthropology at George Washington University. He is the author of Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology, Digging Deeper: How Archaeology Works, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, and (with Glynnis Fawkes) 1177 B.C.: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed (all Princeton).

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In this worthy sequel to his masterpiece 1177 B.C., Eric Cline takes us into the chaos and confusion of the ancient Mediterranean in an era of social breakdown. We see the fall and sometimes rise of great empires, the persistence through troubled times of fabled cities, and the loss and ultimate revival of writing, long-distance trade, and elevated arts. Above all, Cline insightfully reveals that even in times of the direst crisis, some people find ways to control their fates—while some do not.”—Ian Morris, author of Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World: A 10,000-Year History

“Cline uses his encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world to give you a front-row seat to a fascinating and controversial time in human history—a period that faced the same question we face today: What happens to civilizations after climate change, war, and disease? After 1177 B.C. is a tour de force that will open your eyes—and give you much-needed hope for today and our future.”—Sarah Parcak, author of Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

“Eric Cline wrote the landmark book on the Late Bronze Age Collapse, and now he gives us the sequel: what happened after and what came out of it? This too is a landmark book: lucid, deep, and insightful. I’ve learned more about the mechanisms of collapse from Cline than from any other contemporary historian. You cannot understand human civilization and self-organization without studying what happened on, before, and after 1177 B.C.”—Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

“Eric Cline is the modern prophet of antiquity, finding the real and often uncomfortable lessons for today in an ancient world much larger than most scholars dare to tread. In this compelling book, an era once known only for decline and failure emerges in all its color and noise. At once an enthralling read and an up-to-the-minute guide to the latest ideas and discoveries, this is the ancient history we need now.”—Josephine Quinn, author of How the World Made the West: A 4,000-Year History

“To say that this is an important book doesn’t do it justice. It is wonderful. Covering a broad timespan, Eric Cline deals cogently and evenhandedly with the Mediterranean, the Aegean, Egypt, and the Near East, and is fully at home with his sources, whether Greek, Egyptian, Levantine, Mesopotamian, or central and western Mediterranean. Lucidly and elegantly written, this a seminal work that is both exciting and fun to read.”—John K. Papadopoulos, University of California, Los Angeles

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/18/2024

Historian Cline follows up 1177 B.C., his bestselling study of the end of the Bronze Age, with a sweeping account of what came next. Picking up immediately after a “megadrought” resulted in broken trade networks, mass migrations, and political crises that caused the collapse of the ancient Mediterranean’s interconnected civilization, Cline moves on to recount how various remnants adapted. In Egypt, the reduction of the Nile’s flow due to drought caused economic slowdown and ultimately a loss of military might, leading to an era of coups and intrigues. Meanwhile, Greece underwent the collapse of the palace system that epitomized Homeric society; Cline notes that its demise “may have actually freed” regular people “from a tremendous burden.” The Assyrians and Babylonians proved more resilient; hit by “drought, famine, and plague,” they repeatedly bounced back. But it’s the innovative Phoenicians, Cline suggests, who really flourished in a freer, less hierarchical world order. Arising on the Levantine coast in a post-Hittite power vacuum, the Phoenicians were a collection of allied city-states who launched themselves west, establishing trading colonies across the Mediterranean. They brought with them a standardized alphabet (the ancestor of nearly all alphabetic scripts used today) and a game-changing metallurgic invention from Cyprus, iron. Cline distills an immense amount of material into a highly readable narrative that in its conclusion draws startling parallels with contemporary climate change. It’s a dizzying feat of scholarship. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Expert, ingenious and endlessly fascinating. . . . First in 1177 B.C. and now in After 1177 B.C., Mr. Cline has rewritten our understanding of a distant but resonant age."---Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal

"Brilliant. . . . A superb work to interest history buffs for every period."---Kirkus, starred review

"Cline distills an immense amount of material into a highly readable narrative that in its conclusion draws startling parallels with contemporary climate change. It’s a dizzying feat of scholarship."---Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Sequels aren't just for Hollywood blockbusters. Historian Eric H. Cline enjoyed a huge hit with his book about the end of the Bronze Age. In 1177 B.C.–The Year Civilization Collapsed he showed how remarkably interconnected the ancient world was some 3000 years ago and how that and a convergence of events led to its downfall and the First Dark Ages. Now what? That's the question he answers in After 1177 B.C., showing which nations rebuilt themselves, which new ones emerged and why? And keep an eye out for the "Sea Peoples;" they are a wily bunch."---Michael Giltz, Parade

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2024

Why do some societies survive massive shocks while others fold? In an age of global crisis (pandemics, climate change, wars), Cline (classics and anthropology, George Washington Univ.) looks back on an earlier era when many of the same things happened: the late 1100s BCE. Following his study 1177 B.C., Cline looks at eight societies that either made it through the Iron Age or didn't. By 1177 BCE, the Bronze Age civilizations had all waned. The stressors: drought, plague, economic decline, and barbarian invasion. Some societies, including the Mycenaeans and the Minoans, never recovered; others, notably Assyria and Babylonia, did. New states joined in a new power constellation, and the Mediterranean became a Phoenician lake. Technological changes occurred in the appearance of alphabets and iron smelting. Cline mixes archaeology, history, climate science, and social theory in this insightful work that never pushes evidence beyond its weight. The book closes with an analytic chapter that systematizes its historical details in the context of the relatively new field of resilience theory. VERDICT The topic may appear arcane, but Cline makes it relevant and tells a compelling, original, and fruitful story. This title has significant meaning in an overstressed world. For more than just history buffs.—David Keymer

Library Journal

★ 2024-01-17
A brilliant survey of the ancient world’s recovery from a series of crises.

In 1177 B.C., classicist Cline described the cataclysmic end of the Bronze Age, its civilizations undone by war, climate change, famine, and other ailments. In this follow-up, he examines eight civilizations of the ancient eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, including the Greeks, Egyptians, and “Neo-Assyrians,” to show different responses to those crises. This period is often termed “the first dark age,” but that designation is useful in only a few cases. For example, the Egyptians, beset by invasions and a decline in imperial power, turned inward, “hobbled by a government riddled with intrigue, not to mention problems with succession and rivalries that occasionally resulted in two, three, and sometimes even four rulers in different parts of Egypt at the same time.” Having lost nearly half their population, the Greeks rebuilt, while the ancient Israelites took advantage of the power vacuum to dominate the region that forms the present country and beyond. Cline is as interested in continuities as in ruptures. He discounts the idea of a “Dorian invasion” of Greece, for example, to look at survivals from the doomed Mycenaean civilization, including the belief in gods such as Zeus. Cline also explores historical moments seldom mentioned outside the professional literature, such as the coalition of kings that allied against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser—unsuccessfully, as it happens, allowing him to expand his empire. The author writes with an eye to the present and future as well as the past, applying the characteristics of the “winners” among these societies to draw lessons for what may be hard times to come, given war, disease, and, yes, climate change. One lesson: “Be as self-sufficient as possible, but do call on friends for assistance when needed.” Another: “Keep the working class happy.”

A superb work to interest history buffs of every period.

Kirkus Reviews