Daily History Challenge · No. 51 · Tuesday 18 August 2026 · Chain
Puzzle No. 51: Chain
The anchor was Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples (1200 BCE). Every challenger is listed below with its year.
The anchor
Across roughly 1200 to 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.
The 10 challengers, in order of date
Before Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples
After Late Bronze-Age Collapse and the Sea Peoples