The Bronze Age Collapse is one of the most mysterious events in the history of the ancient world. Civilizations all around the Mediterranean suffered a dramatic decline, and in some cases, almost a complete societal collapse. Could the famous and equally mysterious Sea Peoples, who raided some of these very same civilizations, have been responsible for the Bronze Age Collapse?
What was the Bronze Age Collapse?
First, let us briefly review what exactly the Bronze Age Collapse was. The Late Bronze Age was the period that lasted from approximately 1550 BCE to c. 1200 BCE, when several powerful civilizations existed.
The Hittites ruled a large empire covering most of Anatolia. The Mycenaean Greeks had a powerful palatial society. Egypt was in the New Kingdom era, the height of its power. Canaan, between the land of the Egyptians and the Hittites, was part of the Egyptian empire.
Then, after 1200 BCE, all these civilizations suddenly and dramatically declined, albeit to varying degrees. Palaces all across Greece were destroyed, leading to the complete collapse of the palatial society. The use of writing disappeared, and the Greeks entered their centuries-long Dark Ages.
Various important sites were destroyed and burned in Anatolia. The Hittite Empire completely collapsed, and various smaller kingdoms and states emerged in the power vacuum that it left behind.
Egypt itself survived the Bronze Age Collapse, although it was severely weakened. While Ramesses II had ruled Egypt near the height of its power in the 13th century BCE, the 12th century king Ramesses IV ruled over a much-reduced domain. Numerous Egyptian garrisons in Canaan were abandoned, and some were destroyed during the Bronze Age Collapse; the Egyptians generally retreated from that territory.
The Sea Peoples and the Bronze Age Collapse
Egyptian records at this time speak of a group of nations from the sea, known collectively in modern sources as the Sea Peoples. These Egyptian records refer to nations such as the Sherden, the Denyen, the Ekwesh, and the Peleset as aggressive raiders who attacked their territory.
The Sea Peoples are also mentioned in the Ugaritic texts. These texts come from Ugarit, ancient Syria, and preserve correspondence between the king of Ugarit and the king of the Hittites. These texts refer to the aggressive attacks from the Sea Peoples.
These letters date to the first few decades of the 12th century BCE, meaning that they correspond very well to the time of the Bronze Age Collapse. For this reason, many scholars over the decades have suggested that the Sea Peoples were primarily responsible for causing the Bronze Age Collapse.
In other words, the Bronze Age Collapse was a result of the Sea Peoples aggressively attacking and raiding the lands of these powerful empires, such as Mycenaean Greece, Egypt, and the Hittites.
On the other hand, many scholars today argue that the Sea Peoples did not cause the Bronze Age Collapse. Rather, a popular view is now that they were a symptom of the collapse. In other words, it was due to the Bronze Age Collapse itself that certain nations from the Mediterranean became violent raiders—the Sea Peoples—rather than the other way around.
Chronological problems with the symptom theory
One major problem with the idea that the Sea Peoples were a symptom of the Bronze Age Collapse is that this completely contradicts the chronological evidence from ancient Egypt. As already noted, ancient Egyptian records state that the Sea Peoples attacked their territory.
Notably, the earliest references to the Sea Peoples in Egyptian records date to the first quarter of the 13th century BCE. This is a record from the second year of the reign of Ramesses II. This king speaks of:
“The unruly Sherden whom no one had ever known how to combat, they came boldly sailing in their warships from the midst of the sea, none being able to withstand them.”
This confirms that at least one of the main groups among the Sea Peoples was actively raiding Egypt by c. 1278 BCE. This was almost a century before the Bronze Age Collapse. Therefore, the idea that the rise of the Sea Peoples was a symptom of the Bronze Age Collapse is transparently incorrect.
How the Sea Peoples contributed to the Bronze Age Collapse
The chronological evidence makes it clear that the raiding activities of the Sea Peoples were not a symptom of the Bronze Age Collapse. Of course, that does not mean that they necessarily caused the collapse. Nevertheless, they did contribute to it.
For instance, the Sea Peoples appear to have been constantly attacking Egypt from the last quarter of the 13th century BCE until their final defeat at the Battle of the Delta in the first quarter of the 12th century BCE. While the Egyptians were ultimately victorious, this put a lot of strain on them and undoubtedly contributed to their weakening and withdrawal from Canaan.
Regarding the Hittites, the Ugaritic texts clearly show that the Sea Peoples were attacking those territories. These attacks date to the first quarter of the 12th century BCE, exactly matching the era where archaeological evidence shows widespread destruction.
There is evidence from the controversial, but probably genuine, Beykoy texts that says the king of Mira led the Sea Peoples’ attacks in that era. This was a kingdom in western Anatolia that fought against the Hittites.
Of course, we cannot say that the Sea Peoples caused the Bronze Age Collapse as a whole. For instance, they do not explain the collapse of Mycenaean Greece. The Greeks appear to have composed part of the Sea Peoples.
Therefore, it is clear that the Bronze Age Collapse was the result of other factors as well. Undoubtedly, it was largely the result of climate change, famine, and perhaps other types of natural disasters, as many scholars have now established.
Nevertheless, the chronological evidence shows that the Sea Peoples were a cause, and not a symptom, of the Bronze Age Collapse.
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