After 1177 B.C.

The Survival of Civilizations

By: Eric H. Cline

Narrated by: John Chancer, Eric H. Cline

Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

This audiobook narrated by John Chancer tells the gripping story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed—why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever

Features Eric Cline’s FAQs as bonus content

At the end of Eric Cline's bestselling history 1177 B.C., many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture was lost and the so-called First Dark Age had begun. Now, in After 1177 B.C., Cline tells the compelling story of what happened next, over four centuries, across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration.

After 1177 B.C. tells how the collapse of powerful Late Bronze Age civilizations created new circumstances to which people and societies had to adapt. Those that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Phoenicians, Philistines, Israelites, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, and Neo-Babylonians. Taking the story up to the resurgence of Greece marked by the first Olympic Games in 776 B.C., the book also describes how world-changing innovations such as the use of iron and the alphabet emerged amid the chaos.

Filled with lessons for today about why some societies survive massive shocks while others do not, After 1177 B.C. reveals why this period, far from being the First Dark Age, was a new age with new inventions and new opportunities.

©2024 Eric H. Cline (P)2024 Princeton University Press

Love the normal dating system.

I'll happily buy any history book with B.C. in the title. I hope Eric writes more.

Fantastic narrative

Great investigative work has been put into a very consumable form for all audiences. Well put together and not too heavy on details

Feels like it doesn't live up to the original

I hadn't even known this book was going to be released, and to my great delight I just randomly encountered a mention of it by someone online one day, shortly after it came out. I am a general fan of LBA material. I have listened to 1177 a few times and enjoyed Cline's abridged versions on YouTube. However, I started the book off with a bad taste in my mouth. For me, one of the draws of content about this period is that it's 'timeless'. These events happened to people thousands of years ago. They had different forms of government, often worshiped gods that no longer exist, and for a long time some had languages we couldn't even read. When I hear that the point of the book is how these civilizations lived and disappeared, and how they could serve as "lessons" for us in the modern day, you've already lost me. I want to know about a dark time in human history, not get a morality play about ancient virtues. I can listen to a book about Stoics if I wanted that kind of thing.

I don't know if it was because of this, or the content of the book itself, but soon into the first or second chapter I noticed I wasn't engaged with the story. I found myself zoning out for parts of it and not even bothering to rewind to when I noticed. Disappointed, I ended up returning it. I still like Cline and his work and will check out future releases, but this one didn't click with me.