The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. - Third Edition

by Robert Drews

Overview

The Bronze Age came to a close early in the twelfth century b.c. with one of the worst calamities in history: over a period of several decades, destruction descended upon key cities throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, bringing to an end the Levantine, Hittite, Trojan, and Mycenaean kingdoms and plunging some lands into a dark age that would last more than four hundred years. In his attempt to account for this destruction, Robert Drews rejects the traditional explanations and proposes a military one instead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691209975
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	726,205
File size:	14 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Robert Drews is Professor of Classics and History at Vanderbilt University and the author of The Coming of the Greeks: Indo-European Conquests in the Aegean and the Near East (Princeton).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Pt. 1	Introduction
Ch. 1	The Catastrophe and Its Chronology	3
Ch. 2	The Catastrophe Surveyed	8
Pt. 2	Alternative Explanations of the Catastrophe
Ch. 3	Earthquakes	33
Ch. 4	Migrations	48
Ch. 5	Ironworking	73
Ch. 6	Drought	77
Ch. 7	Systems Collapse	85
Ch. 8	Raiders	91
Pt. 3	A Military Explanation of the Catastrophe
Ch. 9	Preface to a Military Explanation of the Catastrophe	97
Ch. 10	The Chariot Warfare of the Late Bronze Age	104
Ch. 11	Footsoldiers in the Late Bronze Age	135
Ch. 12	Infantry and Horse Troops in the Early Iron Age	164
Ch. 13	Changes in Armor and Weapons at the End of the Bronze Age	174
Ch. 14	The End of Chariot Warfare in the Catastrophe	209
Bibliography	227
Index	245

Editorial Reviews

"[The End of the Bronze Age] provides a concise overview of the problem and the present state of our knowledge.... Drews has produced a thought-provoking work with an intriguing thesis, informative and thorough in its scholarship, sound and imaginative in its arguments."—-J. P. Karras, The Journal of Military History

"[Drews] has differentiated between evidence and speculation so that those who will continue to debate the Catastrophe can use the book effectively. What is more important is that he has laid to rest some archaeological factoids which in their turn were based on no more than guesswork."—-David W. J. Gill, Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews

"Unusually sophisticated.... Well argued and learned."—-A. M. Snodgrass, The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Unusually sophisticated.... Well argued and learned.

The Times Literary Supplement - A. M. Snodgrass

[The End of the Bronze Age] provides a concise overview of the problem and the present state of our knowledge.... Drews has produced a thought-provoking work with an intriguing thesis, informative and thorough in its scholarship, sound and imaginative in its arguments.

The Journal of Military History - J. P. Karras

[Drews] has differentiated between evidence and speculation so that those who will continue to debate the Catastrophe can use the book effectively. What is more important is that he has laid to rest some archaeological factoids which in their turn were based on no more than guesswork.

Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews - David W. J. Gill

Unusually sophisticated.... Well argued and learned.

The Times Literary Supplement - A.M. Snodgrass

[The End of the Bronze Age] provides a concise overview of the problem and the present state of our knowledge.... Drews has produced a thought-provoking work with an intriguing thesis, informative and thorough in its scholarship, sound and imaginative in its arguments.

The Journal of Military History - J.P. Karras

[Drews] has differentiated between evidence and speculation so that those who will continue to debate the Catastrophe can use the book effectively. What is more important is that he has laid to rest some archaeological factoids which in their turn were based on no more than guesswork.

Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews - David W.J. Gill

[Drews] has differentiated between evidence and speculation so that those who will continue to debate the Catastrophe can use the book effectively. What is more important is that he has laid to rest some archaeological factoids which in their turn were based on no more than guesswork.
— David W. J. Gill

Bryn Mawr Classical Reviews

[The End of the Bronze Age] provides a concise overview of the problem and the present state of our knowledge.... Drews has produced a thought-provoking work with an intriguing thesis, informative and thorough in its scholarship, sound and imaginative in its arguments.
— J. P. Karras

The Journal of Military History

Unusually sophisticated.... Well argued and learned.
— A. M. Snodgrass

The Times Literary Supplement

[Drews] has differentiated between evidence and speculation so that those who will continue to debate the Catastrophe can use the book effectively. What is more important is that he has laid to rest some archaeological factoids which in their turn were based on no more than guesswork.
— David W. J. Gill

Bryn Mawr Classical Review