“Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men, a brazen race, sprung from ash-trees; and it was in no way equal to the silver age, but was terrible and strong. They loved the lamentable works of Ares and deeds of violence; they ate no bread, but were hard of heart like adamant, fearful men. Great was their strength and unconquerable the arms which grew from their shoulders on their strong limbs. Their armor was of bronze, and their houses of bronze, and of bronze were their implements: there was no black iron. These were destroyed by their own hands and passed to the dank house of chill Hades, and left no name: terrible though they were, black Death seized them, and they left the bright light of the sun.”
Why did Greeks leave so many written records while the equally sophisticated Anatolians didn't? Same issue with Israelites and Phoenicians and also with the Greeks and Persians. Its crazy to me we get the perspective of a small Greek states but not of the Persian Empire in their wars. Its as if in the wars between Romans and the Britons, its the Britons who left all the written records.
I swear I subbed to you before but I was unsubbed when I got this article recommended. I wonder if Substack is doing the YouTube thing where it seemingly randomly unsubscribes users from certain channels.
Oh wow! There is literally Ukraine spreading way way into Russia but NO Russia on the Britannica map - what year is it from? Bronze age??? What was the capital of Ukraine then and who was the Tsar? Emperor? Maybe enlighten us with the next post
Masterful post, well worth the time it took to make it, thank you for this.
A wonderful quote from Hesiod and overall an excellent post.
New reader here, just saying thanks.
Excellent essay. Your command over a huge breadth and depth of subjects is apparent.
Any recommendations for books to delve into specifically the spread of the Celtic peoples during this time?
Very interesting. I was particularly interested on the P and Q Celtic division and how it affected Britain and Ireland.
Why did Greeks leave so many written records while the equally sophisticated Anatolians didn't? Same issue with Israelites and Phoenicians and also with the Greeks and Persians. Its crazy to me we get the perspective of a small Greek states but not of the Persian Empire in their wars. Its as if in the wars between Romans and the Britons, its the Britons who left all the written records.
I found the Cline book pretty dry. He seemed to end up saying Bronze Age collapse was mainly environmental.
I did enjoy learning more about the Hittites which I wasn’t too familiar with.
I swear I subbed to you before but I was unsubbed when I got this article recommended. I wonder if Substack is doing the YouTube thing where it seemingly randomly unsubscribes users from certain channels.
Is there any history to the Uralic peoples? After reading that the indo-Aryans were originally slaves to the Uralics I need to know more
Oh wow! There is literally Ukraine spreading way way into Russia but NO Russia on the Britannica map - what year is it from? Bronze age??? What was the capital of Ukraine then and who was the Tsar? Emperor? Maybe enlighten us with the next post