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Title: The End of the Bronze Age by Robert Drews ISBN: 0-691-02591-6 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 22 December, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Well done and interesting account
Comment: This is an excellent book on an important and transitional period of history that saw the beginning of a new "dark age" after about 1200 BC. This was a critical period in the history of the ancient world, a time that saw the end of the great, elite city and state civilizations of Greece, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Minoan Crete, and even to some extent of upper Egypt.
During this time the Mycenaean civilization was attacked from the north by an unknown race, and The Sea Peoples attacked and defeated Crete, Minos, cities of the coastal Levant, the Hittites, and as I mentioned, even upper Egypt and Mesopotamia suffered somewhat, although the Sea Peoples were stopped and defeated by Egypt. They might even have been responsible for the fall of Mycenaean Greece. They were originally thought to have come from further north in Europe, but it seems more likely now that they were from the area around the Black Sea.
Drew's theory is that the Sea Peoples use of better equipped infantry with more modern iron weapons, including better swords but also better armor shields and helmets for defense, instead of Bronze Age metal weapons and battle chariots, allowed them to defeat their seemingly stronger and more powerful opponents.
Another important facet of the book is the author discusses the important technological innovations of the period and how that affected military tactics, strategy, and technology, such as the widespread use of the battle chariot, and how that ultimately may have contributed to the fall of the region's great civilizations at the hands of the Sea Peoples. The author also does an excellent job of discussing the other competing theories of the fall and overall, this is a well-researched and well-written account of this important period in ancient history.
Rating: 4
Summary: Study this book!
Comment: This is a great book that anyone interested in ancient history should have and be familiar with. Drews fills in a long neglected area of study on ancient warfare during the 16th to 12th centuries BCE. Most books simply explain what happened. Drews shows "why" it happened. He shows how and why the Bronze Age civilizations came to an end, and in the process opens a new window into the ancient world.
Warfare during this time was based on the chariot. Drews presents a wide range of ancient records (including Egyptian) with solid reasoning to show how chariots were used. He covers their advantages and consequent limitations. His presentation of the development of infantry weapons and tactics is most significant. The Bronze Age civilizations depended too much upon the chariot. When new infantry weapons and tactics became widespread, the shift in power brought about their downfall.
It is clear the empires during this time period (i.e. the Egyptian New Kingdom and the Hittites), were on a precarious balance. They were not as strong or powerful as historians have suggested, nor did they collapse because of drought or catastrophe.
Rating: 3
Summary: Catastrophe without Catastrophism?
Comment: Drews has written a book surveying the conventional views, both contemporary and those which have endured. The author discusses various possible explanations for the seeming universal destruction of civilizations throughout the region. It's worth reading, but suffers from reliance on the mistaken consensus chronology of the ancient Near East.
While this is a mostly academic work, most adults won't have any trouble with it.
Those interested in the Bible and its synchronisms with other ancient peoples would do better to read one of the works listed below, but will find things of interest in this book.
See also Immanuel Velikovsky's (new and used) "Ages In Chaos", "Ramses II and His Time", "Peoples of the Sea", and "Worlds In Collision", as well as David Rohl's "Pharaohs and Kings", Peter James' "Centuries of Darkness", Ryan and Pitman's "Noah's Flood", Mary Settegast's "Plato Prehistorian", and Robert Schoch's "Voices of the Rocks".
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Title: Collapse of the Bronze Age: The Story of Greece, Troy, Israel, Egypt, and the Peoples of the Sea by Manuel Robbins ISBN: 0595136648 Publisher: Authors Choice Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Coming of the Greeks by Robert Drews ISBN: 0691029512 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 17 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Hittites: And Their Contemporaries in Asia Minor by J. G. MacQueen ISBN: 0500278873 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: 01 November, 1996 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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Title: The Aegean Bronze Age by O. T. P. K. Dickinson, Oliver Dickinson ISBN: 0521456649 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Ancient Iraq by Georges Roux ISBN: 014012523X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1993 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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