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1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated)

The Year Civilization Collapsed

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1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated)

Written by: Eric H. Cline
Narrated by: Eric H. Cline
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This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages.

In 1177 BC, marauding groups known only as the "Sea Peoples" invaded Egypt. The pharaoh's army and navy defeated them, but the victory so weakened Egypt that it soon slid into decline, as did most of the surrounding civilizations. Eric Cline tells the gripping story of how the end was brought about by multiple interconnected failures, ranging from invasion and revolt to earthquakes, drought, famine, and the cutting of international trade routes. Bringing to life a vibrant multicultural world, he draws a sweeping panorama of the empires of the age and shows that it may have been their very interdependence that hastened their dramatic collapse. Now revised and updated, 1177 B.C. sheds light on the complex ties that gave rise to, and eventually destroyed, the flourishing civilizations of the Late Bronze Age - and set the stage for the emergence of classical Greece and, ultimately, our world today.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Eric H. Cline (P)2021 Princeton University Press Ancient Archaeology World Middle East Ancient History Africa Imperialism
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What the critics say

"The memorable thing about Cline's book is the strangely recognizable picture he paints of this very faraway time.... It was as globalized and cosmopolitan a time as any on record, albeit within a much smaller cosmos. The degree of interpenetration and of cultural sharing is astonishing." (Adam Gopnik, New Yorker)

"Engaging.... [An] absorbing tour of the Late Bronze Age." (Josephine Quinn, London Review of Books)

"A fascinating look at the Late Bronze Age, proving that whether for culture, war, economic fluctuations or grappling with technological advancement, the conundrums we face are never new, but merely renewed for a modern age." (Larry Getlen, New York Post)

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If want to begin to grapple with the calamity that befell the bronze age this is absolutely essential reading.

The standard

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Great book with great narration. Eventually my head began to spin with all the names of people and places, but that's the nature of the thing. My only quibble is that I felt the plot was lost somewhere in the middle.

Bring a map!

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This book goes too deep into context that isn’t necessarily required, although it is interesting to know the many facets of Bronze Age life and civilizations, I wanted to understand the collapse, which the book didn’t really address until the last chapter - and then it got really interesting! I still recommend the book, it’s worth knowing if you’re a fan of history.

The last chapter is all that’s needed here.

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This is an excellent book, coming from someone who knows nothing about the Bronze Age and heard this book recommended on NPR. The narrator is .... not great. But if you can get past that, it’s quite interesting.

Great book okay narrator

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A solid but unspectacular introduction to current academic thinking on the bronze age collapse. Unfortunately, given the excessively positivistic epistemology of the current consensus, this means that much of the book is given over to reminding the reader that we, like, can't ever really know anything for sure, you know. Standard confusion and conflation between absence of evidence and evidence of absence, etc. This is not so much a criticism of the author as the academic climate he is introducing the reader to.

It's fine.

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