Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
- Date
- c. 1177 BCE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Eastern Mediterranean and Near East
- Era
- Ancient Civilizations
- Significance
Across roughly 1200–1150 BCE the interconnected civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean collapsed in a few decades: Mycenaean palaces in Greece were destroyed and abandoned, the Hittite Empire fell, the great Syrian port of Ugarit was burned, and Egypt was attacked but survived in weakened form.
Cities were destroyed, writing systems such as Linear B fell out of use, long-distance trade contracted, and populations declined, ushering in a 'Dark Age'. A recurring element in the sources is the 'Sea Peoples', coalitions of raiders and migrants whom Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III claims to have defeated around 1177 BCE (his Year 8), recorded in reliefs and inscriptions at his mortuary temple of Medinet Habu. Modern scholarship, popularised by Eric Cline's book '1177 BC', sees the collapse as a 'perfect storm' of interacting stresses — drought and famine, earthquakes, internal rebellion, the breakdown of fragile trade networks, and migration — rather than a single cause. The disruption reshaped the political and cultural map of the ancient world and ended the Bronze Age in the region.
One piece of history in your inbox, weekly
New empires, events and features as they land — one good email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Empires active in c. 1177 BCE
- New Kingdom of Egypt1550 BCE – 1077 BCE
- Shang Dynasty1600 BCE – 1046 BCE
- Hittite Empire1650 BCE – 1178 BCE
- Phoenician City-States1200 BCE – 539 BCE
- Elamite Kingdom2700 BCE – 539 BCE
Related military & conflict events
- Battle of Muye and the Zhou Conquest of Shangc. 1046 BCE
- Battle of Kadesh between Egypt and the Hittitesc. 1274 BCE
- Battle of Megiddo under Thutmose IIIc. 1457 BCE
- Thutmose I Conquers Kush and Destroys Kermac. 1500 BCE
- Hittite sack of Babylon ends the Old Babylonian dynastyc. 1595 BCE
- Battle of Mingtiao and the Founding of the Shang Dynastyc. 1600 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
The Kingdom of the Hittites
The standard readable narrative history of the Hittite state.
Get it on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.