AFTER 1177 B.C.

A brilliant survey of the ancient world’s recovery from a series of crises.

In 1177 B.C., classicist Cline described the cataclysmic end of the Bronze Age, its civilizations undone by war, climate change, famine, and other ailments. In this follow-up, he examines eight civilizations of the ancient eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, including the Greeks, Egyptians, and “Neo-Assyrians,” to show different responses to those crises. This period is often termed “the first dark age,” but that designation is useful in only a few cases. For example, the Egyptians, beset by invasions and a decline in imperial power, turned inward, “hobbled by a government riddled with intrigue, not to mention problems with succession and rivalries that occasionally resulted in two, three, and sometimes even four rulers in different parts of Egypt at the same time.” Having lost nearly half their population, the Greeks rebuilt, while the ancient Israelites took advantage of the power vacuum to dominate the region that forms the present country and beyond. Cline is as interested in continuities as in ruptures. He discounts the idea of a “Dorian invasion” of Greece, for example, to look at survivals from the doomed Mycenaean civilization, including the belief in gods such as Zeus. Cline also explores historical moments seldom mentioned outside the professional literature, such as the coalition of kings that allied against the Assyrian king Shalmaneser—unsuccessfully, as it happens, allowing him to expand his empire. The author writes with an eye to the present and future as well as the past, applying the characteristics of the “winners” among these societies to draw lessons for what may be hard times to come, given war, disease, and, yes, climate change. One lesson: “Be as self-sufficient as possible, but do call on friends for assistance when needed.” Another: “Keep the working class happy.”

A superb work to interest history buffs of every period.