Timeline

The Shifting Tides of the Late Bronze Age

This sequence of events echoes the model for the collapse of Late Bronze Age cultures introduced by Eberhard Zangger in 1994 in his book Ein neuer Kampf um Troia (A new struggle for Troy).

Reconstructed fortification wall of Hattuša

Reconstructed fortification wall of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša (© Luwian Studies #1008)

1250 BCE – Heroic Age: Peaceful Long-Distance Trade Enables Wealth of Aristocrats

Until c. 1250 BCE, the cultures around the eastern Mediterranean region blossomed; among them New Kingdom Egypt, the Mycenaean culture in southern Greece and the Hittite kingdom in central Anatolia. Thanks to functioning long-distance trade, raw materials and valuable products reached their markets sometimes several thousand kilometers away. In all involved regions writing systems were in use, primarily for accounting purposes but also to keep track of liturgies and festival procedures. Outstanding events were the Battle of Kadesh between Hatti and Egypt in 1275 BCE and the subsequent peace treaty in 1258 BCE, as well as the construction of the Mycenaean citadels around 1250 BCE.

Reconstructed fortification wall of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša (© Luwian Studies #1008)

Sunrise in Hattuša on Winter Solstice 2018

Sunrise over the foundations of Temples 2 and 3 and the Büyükkale Palace in Ḫattuša on Winter Solstice 2018 (© Luwian Studies #1015)

1230 BCE – Hatti versus Assyria: A Declining Kingdom

The most influential power in the northeast of the Mediterranean was undoubtedly the Hittite kingdom in central Asia Minor. However, the Hittite royal family in Hattuša had weakened itself with dynastic turmoil. Throughout the thirteenth century BCE, elements of the Luwian culture that dominated western and southern Anatolia grew stronger in Hittite lands – including the capital Hattuša itself. Inevitably, the Hittite kingdom lost strength and shrank. In the west former vassal states fell off and then appear to have formed a coalition. In the east Assyrian forces advanced and conquered the important ore mines of Išuwa. In the north, the Kaškians gained strength. In the south, Tarhuntašša, a previously reliable vassal, fell off. Only Syria, ruled by a collateral line of the Hittite royal house, still remained connected to the kingdom – but the hegemony of the Hittites was inexorably coming to an end.

Sunrise over the foundations of Temples 2 and 3 and the Büyükkale Palace in Ḫattuša on Winter Solstice 2018 (© Luwian Studies #1015)

Middle Bronze Age cylinder seals from Seyitömer Höyük (after Bilgen et al. 2021; © Luwian Studies #0186)

1200 BCE – The Luwians: The Overlooked Culture in Western Asia Minor

The western part of Asia Minor has drawn little attention in prehistoric research, aside from Troy. Yet recent surveys, primarily by Turkish archaeologists, have identified around 500 large settlement sites dating to the second millennium BCE. Roughly half of the region has been systematically examined, so that number could easily double. Many sites exceed 500 meters in diameter and have been occupied for about 5000 years yet remain barely investigated archaeologically.

A significant culture between the Mycenaeans and the Hittites appears to have been overlooked: the Luwians. According to Homer, these neighbors and contemporaries of Troy were even allies in the Trojan War. For about 1400 years, the Luwians used their own script – the Luwian hieroglyphs – which became dominant in Hattuša by the thirteenth century BCE. Agriculture, mineral extraction, and trade had already shaped the region’s economy at the time. Settlement patterns consisted of locally organized communities working cooperatively, with fertile valley floors for crops and surrounding hills for pasture.

Middle Bronze Age cylinder seals from Seyitömer Höyük (after Bilgen et al. 2021; © Luwian Studies #0186)

The northern wall of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III in Medinet Habu, western Thebes, Egypt, with the depiction of the battles against the Sea Peoples (© Luwian Studies #4051)

1192 BCE – Sea Peoples’ Invasions: The Luwian Petty States Form a Temporary Alliance

Shortly after 1200 BCE the golden age ended abruptly. Egyptian temple inscriptions describe invasions of several tribes, who suddenly appeared in nimble ships on the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean to loot and pillage various port cities. The tribes’ names, which we summarize today under the abstract term “Sea Peoples,” can be traced back in part to the states in western Asia Minor, but also, it seems, to Libya, southern Greece, Crete, and Sardinia.

A remarkable testimony to these events can be found in the Archaeological Museum of Nicosia (Cyprus): a clay tablet about the size of a fist with Cypriot writing (Enkomi 1687). According to the Dutch linguist Fred Woudhuizen, it contains the letter of a Cypriot admiral who, while patrolling the Aegean Sea around 1192 BCE, unexpectedly encountered a large fleet. The ships had set out from Troy and were under the command of a Trojan prince named Akamas. Overwhelmed by the sheer superiority of the enemy, the admiral breaks off his patrol and heads for a safe harbor in Limyra on the southwestern Anatolian coast. From there, he dictates an urgent warning to his king in Cyprus and asks for reinforcements.

This dramatic scene is depicted on the cover of the page “Why the Luwians are important today” – if it proves to be correct, it shows the earliest documented sighting of the Sea Peoples’ invasions. It thus marks the beginning of an era of upheaval that led to the collapse of the Bronze Age kingdoms.

The northern wall of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III in Medinet Habu, western Thebes, Egypt, with the depiction of the battles against the Sea Peoples (© Luwian Studies #4051)

Artistic reconstruction of Odysseus’ slaying of the suitors upon his return to the royal palace of Ithaca (Midjourney AI; © Luwian Studies #6403)

1190 BCE – Wave of Destruction: A Carnage from East to West

The Sea Peoples advanced from the Aegean to Lycia (Southwest Anatolia), to Cyprus and ultimately to Ugarit in Syria. Hammurabi, the last Bronze Age king of the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit, wrote a vivid letter (RS 18.147) in response to a plea for assistance from the king of Cyprus.

“My father behold, the enemy’s ships came here; my cities were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka? Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.”

This letter, found during excavations in the port city of Ugarit, documents the king’s desperate attempt to mobilize help – but his city was one of the first to fall victim to the invaders. The wave of destruction spread further and eventually engulfed major Bronze Age centers such as Hattuša, Troy, Mycenae, and Pylos. These conflagrations, however, occurred over a period of at least 20 years and were most likely due to different agents/attackers.

Artistic reconstruction of Odysseus’ slaying of the suitors upon his return to the royal palace of Ithaca (Midjourney AI; © Luwian Studies #6403)

Laomedon killed during the first Trojan War

Laomedon, King of Troy, dies from an arrow shot by Heracles during the first Trojan War; eastern pediment of the Temple of Aegina, Glyptothek, Munich, Germany (© Luwian Studies #2011)

1182 BCE – The Trojan War: The Fall of Troy in the Context of the Sea Peoples’ Invasions

The fall of Troy coincides with the time of the Sea Peoples’ invasions and, despite this, has rarely been put into a causal connection with them. Today we link the memory of Troy and its destruction almost exclusively to Homer’s Iliad. Homer’s works, however, are only excerpts of a large Epic Cycle. And in addition to Homer, various other sources for the Trojan War exist; in some of those the information given coincides with the results from recent archaeological studies. Somehow historical details must have been transmitted correctly. The so-called ship catalogue provided by Homer, in which the Greek contingents in the Trojan War are listed, is particularly helpful for the reconstruction of the political geography. Homer also lists the Trojans’ allies – a source that has been studied far less intensively to date, but which may provide valuable insights into the geopolitical situation in western Anatolia at that time.

Laomedon, King of Troy, dies from an arrow shot by Heracles during the first Trojan War; eastern pediment of the Temple of Aegina, Glyptothek, Munich, Germany (© Luwian Studies #2011)

800 BCE – Phrygians and Lydians: Rebuilding after the Upheaval

After the dust had settled, it became clear which regions had suffered great losses and which benefited from the upheavals. The role of Hattuša was taken over first by Gordion, the capitol of the Phrygian kingdom, and later by Sardes, the center of the Lydian realm. Thanks to its rich mineral resources, its extensive fertile arable land and the long-distance trade routes, Asia Minor benefited particularly. Greece, on the other hand, had to go through a dark age for four hundred years, in which even the knowledge of writing was lost.

At the same time, new cultures were flourishing in other places: the Phoenicians developed a trade network that extended across the entire Mediterranean. The Etruscans established themselves in northern Italy. Both cultures show striking parallels to the earlier Luwian culture in western Asia Minor, indicating cultural transfer processes. Meanwhile, Greek settlers began to establish themselves in Asia Minor and to assimilate the local achievements. The profound cultural impulses from Anatolia are also reflected in philosophy: Almost all Greek thinkers before Socrates – including Thales, Anaximander, and Heraclitus – were born and raised in western Asia Minor.

400 BCE – From the Classical to the Modern Era: The Enduring Memory of the Heroic Age

The memories of the heroic age were ubiquitously present in Classical Greece. Some of the traditions had been preserved in the so-called Epic Cycle that was exploited by Homer. The Cyclopean walls and traces of collapsed hydraulic engineering systems from the Mycenaean era were still visible in the landscape for many centuries.

In Classical Greece, practically all writers explained the end of the heroic age with what they called the “Trojan War.” However, this was apparently an abstract term for what we today call the “Crisis Years,” rather than just the battle over Troy related in the Iliad. In retrospect, the sympathies were largely with the losers, the Trojans. Many European aristocratic families – from Julius Caesar till Medieval times – attempted to derive themselves from Trojan ancestors. It was only with the excavations by Heinrich Schliemann in the nineteenth century that Troy began to lose its legendary splendor. Instead of a radiant metropolis, a city emerged that – despite its importance – was nowhere near the size attributed to it in literary tradition.

Luwian states attacked the eastern Mediterranean around 1192 BCE

According to this model, a coalition of Luwian states attacked the coastal cities of the eastern Mediterranean around 1192 BCE (© Luwian Studies #0113)

2025 CE – New Explanatory Models: A Systemic Collapse with Many Factors

Dozens of theories have been put forward over the past few decades to explain the collapse at the end of the Bronze Age. A possible causal chain – the one described here – begins with Hatti’s loss of the copper mines in Išuwa in eastern Asia Minor to Assyria. The great king Tuthalija IV compensated for this loss by annexing Cyprus and establishing military bases there in order to retrieve copper from the island. The annexation of Cyprus was likely condemned by Aegean states who depended on raw materials and unhindered access to ports.

The Aegean powers took advantage of the weakness of the Hittite kingdom, secretly built a fleet, and first expelled the Hittites from Cyprus. They then turned to Syria, where they attacked the last remaining vassal state of the Hittite kingdom. The Hittite Great King still reports on these battles – an indication that his forces were tied up in the south and that there were no more resources left to defend the Hittite heartlands. Meanwhile, the Kaškians were advancing from the north into central Anatolia. The Hittite capital Hattuša was evacuated, abandoned, and probably plundered and burned down by these northern Anatolian groups.

According to this model, a coalition of Luwian states attacked the coastal cities of the eastern Mediterranean around 1192 BCE (© Luwian Studies #0113)