Collapse of Late Bronze Age Empires

Gate in Hattusa, one of the Late Bronze Age empires that collapsed — Gate into Hattusa, Hittite capital

Historians widely recognize a period of almost complete collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires around 1200 BCE. Undeniably, a lot happened and the great empires like the Hittites who inspire my fiction disappeared or continued in a dramatically different form. One of the assertions scholars make is that many of the archaeological sites, such as the Hittite capital Hattusa, show signs of destruction around this time. For Hattusa, the destruction is conclusively present, although who cast the final blow is unclear. Equally important to the discussion, years of economic and social decline may have preceded the burning of Hattusa.

“False Destruction” and Late Bronze Age Sites

An article in Ancient Near East Today, “The Fall of the Bronze Age and the Destruction that Wasn’t” examines the evidence for these many destruction events throughout the Near Eastern, Minoan, and Mycenaean areas. To start out, the author defines various “false destruction” types. He goes on to conclude that many of the maps showing a multitude of destroyed sites dating to around 1200 BCE are inaccurate.

City Destruction versus Empire Collapse

There is, of course, a difference between the destruction of a city, even the capital of an empire, and the collapse of an empire. The author is not denying the historical reality of the collapse of the Late Bronze Age empires. Instead, he’s pointing out that being burnt to the ground was not nearly as common a fate as previously asserted. To the extent that historians blamed such destructions for the overall collapse of empires, we will need to seek other causes. The best scholarship on this subject has in fact identified many underlying causes. These startling findings are actually less disruptive of current theories than you might assume at first. Getting an accurate sense of which cities actually suffered violent ends around 1200 BCE is a useful correction.

Hattusa in Flames

Hattusa, remains of walls showing collapse of late
Bronze Age empires — Hattusa, remains of a temple’s walls

I’m still reading and sifting the ever-growing evidence regarding the final days of Hattusa. That period is a bit after the one I portray in my fiction. One of the big picture ideas that’s informing my thinking blames long term problems such as crop failures, climate problems, disease, disruptions in political, religious, and cultural identities, among other things. Therefore, my characters–or the actual historic persons–may need to take some of the blame as these forces built up over two or three generations. The actual flames that left all those signs of “destruction layer” may have had a more minor role than the dramatic scene of a torched city would lead us to believe.

Getting History Right

I recommend this interesting article, particularly for its examination of how scholarship can get things wrong and perpetuate it, but also for how we can correct these long held misconceptions.