1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed

A “perfect storm of calamities”—earthquakes, droughts and rebellions—caused the demise of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500–1200 B.C.). The great empires and mighty kingdoms of the ancient world—the Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots and Canaanites—all suddenly collapsed. Learn how the lessons of this amazing historical era relate to the ongoing turbulence and uncertainty of our own day.