'The Great World War 0' - the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations

Second millennium BC. Civilizations developed throughout the eastern Mediterranean region. The new Egyptian kingdom coexisted with the Hittite civilization in central Asia Minor (a peninsula also known as Anatolia), the Greek Mycenaean civilization as well as numerous other civilizations.

However, in just over a generation, all have collapsed. The cause is not climate change, earthquakes or social unrest. Archaeologists have just announced that they have found the final piece to explain the collapse of civilizations in the period they called "World War 0".

"Sea Man"

Eberhard Zangger of the International Luwian Research Non-profit Organization in Zurich, Switzerland says the organization has found that important piece. It was a mighty civilization in western Anatolia that was ignored by archaeologists for a long time.

The conflict between the winner and the vice president.

The Luwian Research Organization's survey shows that the western Anatolia region is extremely rich in minerals and metal ores. That means this area is very important in ancient times. Through studying satellite images, Mr. Zangger discovered that area is crowded with people living in the late Bronze Age. But so far, only a few of the 340 large, urban-like areas have been excavated.

Hittite documents refer to some small kingdoms in western Anatolia that speak the same language as Luwian. According to Mr. Zangger, that means we can treat them as Luwian civilians . Not long after the Hittite civilization collapsed, the Egyptian document recorded an attack force they called "Sea Man".

Combining these two information, Mr. Zangger said that "Sea Man" is the Luwian himself - civilization participated in the war between civilizations that archeologists call "World War 0".

According to the new Luwian hypothesis of the Luwian Research Organization, a scenario was given to explain the decline of the Bronze Age around 1200 BC. In it, many small Luwian kingdoms together form an alliance to attack the neighboring Hittite empire. After destroying the Hittite Empire, the Luwians ruled a vast territory from northern Greece to Lebanon.

In the second millennium BC, Luwian speakers lived throughout Asia Minor. They are each other's trading partners, sometimes enemies of famous civilizations like Minoan, Greek Mycenaean and Hittite of Asia Minor.

The modern world knows the above "Sea People" through texts from Anatolia, Syria and Egypt. However, the name "Sea Man" is a word mentioned by French Egyptologist Gaston Masspero in 1881. Egyptian scripts often refer to the names of attacking tribes suddenly "from the middle of the sea" and "from the mainland". They consisted of separate tribes combined into a military alliance to attack Egypt and the Near East.

Details of the "Sea Man" are depicted on the walls of the temple of Pharaoh Ramses II in Medinat Habu near Luxor (Egypt) today. Through it, people know what they look like, how to dress, what weapons they use, what ships to ride.

According to these inscriptions, the "Sea Man" first appeared around 1208 BC, the fifth year of the reign of Pharaoh Merenptah. At this point, Egypt is facing attacks from Libya - enemies in the west are approaching the border with some allies called Northerners.

On a famous victory stele discovered in 1896 at the Merenptah temple in Thebes, Pharaoh Merenptah claimed he had defeated the enemy and produced a list of Libya's allies - whom we call "Man Sea " : Shardana, Lukka, Meshwesh, Teresh, Ekwesh and Shekelesh. Most of these tribes seem to come from the Aegean and it is still unclear why they came to join Libya. It is unclear whether the claim to defeat the enemy of Pharaoh Merenptah is correct because after this battle, Egypt almost fell into civil war.

World War

30 years after the confrontation between Pharaoh Merenptah and "The Sea" , around 1177 BC, Pharaoh Ramses ordered the construction of a temple and a private mansion at Thebes. The architecture and inscriptions on the wall reiterate the great events of the previous decades. Accordingly, the "Sea Man" has returned, this time to attack the Mediterranean coast.

Small kingdoms (small dots) speak Luwian synergies against the Hittite empire (big dot).

The words describe as follows: Foreign countries have conspired in their lands. The places where they came all shook, dissipated during the war. No country can withstand their weapons. Hatti, Kizzuwatna, Carchemish, Arzawa and Alasiya are cut off. They destroy people and lands as if nothing ever existed. They went to Egypt when the fire was prepared. Their alliances are Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh. They put their hands on this land with a heart full of confidence that "Our plan will succeed".

However, Pharaoh Ramses and soldiers defeated the invaders. When the loser pleaded for forgiveness, the Pharaoh allowed them to settle on their land. The words of the Pharaoh Ramses are written as follows: "I killed the Denyen people on the islands, the Tjeker and Peleset were turned to ashes. The Shardana and Weshesh came from the sea to be prisoners of Egypt. I let them settle. In their stronghold, they have hundreds of thousands of people, every year, we tax them everything in the form of cloth, grain. "

By the time the "Sea Man" attacked Egypt for the second time, most of the area mentioned in the words of the Medinat Habu was occupied or an ally of the Hittite kingdom in central Anatolia. Therefore, the purpose of the raids may be to weaken the Emperor Hatti in the outer circle by attacking his allies. According to the royal contact information from Ugarit and Cyprus, the "Sea People" fleets landed in the southwestern tip of the Anatolia peninsula. From here, they attacked the west coast of Cyprus first.

However, battles between the "Sea People" and Hittite soldiers also took place in Anatolia. King Hatti had to ask vassals in the port city of Ugarit in northern Syria to offer support for more soldiers and food. However, Ugarit himself was also threatened by the "Sea Man" .

While desperately looking for support, the teenage king of Ugarit wrote to the king of Cyprus: "The enemy ships are here. They burned my cities and caused great damage to my country. . Didn't you know that all my soldiers were stationed in Hittete, that all my ships were still anchored in Lycia and not yet returned? Therefore, the country was abandoned. The enemy ship has arrived and caused great damage.Now, in case there are more enemy ships, let me know so I can decide what to do. "

This letter never left Ugarit. Archaeologists found it in a furnace - the place King Ugarit intended to burn before the postman took it. Being at the height of economic and cultural development, there is no sign of recession, yet Ugarit has been wiped out, can never be re-established.

At this time, the pressure on Emperor Hatti was high. He commanded soldiers to counterattack the enemy. However, later, enemy forces reached Hittite's capital, Hattusa, completely destroying this 600-year-old civilization.

Similar destructive features also appear in most of the "Sea" cities. They aimed at government buildings, palaces, temples, but did not destroy residential areas and rural areas. "Sea Man" only aims at power control centers to preserve strength and shorten the war. After Hattusa and Ugarit, many other cities in Anatolia, Syria and Palestine fell to the "Sea Man".

Self-destruction

When Emperor Hatti was defeated, "The Sea" suddenly became the owner of a large area stretching from the Aegean to Palestine. Later, they were weakened by internal struggles and no longer strong enough to fight the enemy. Only one country is strong enough to fight with Anatolia allies, it is the Greek civilization of Mycenae.

Although Greece was not attacked, it was clearly facing a difficult future with a powerful neighbor like Anatolia. After a lot of preparation, a Greek army was in battle, intending to attack the city centers. When the Anatolia were busy in the Near East and Egypt, Greek soldiers swept the center of Anatolia, forcing the Anatolia people to retreat to protect the stronghold.

Finally, the two opposing teams in Troy of Anatolia - the battle determines the outcome of the unprecedented war. The battle of Troy took place around 1186 BC and lasted for several months. Troy fell. Mycenae civilization of Greece won.

However, after the war, no one was really the winner. Many famous Greek nobles lost their lives. Those who live still struggle to regain leadership from the vice-president when they return. The victorious army was exhausted, unable to regain what was occupied at home after returning in victory. Civil war broke out. Mycenae civilization was torn apart.

Researchers at the Luwian Research Foundation said the scenario could explain why the end of the Bronze Age suddenly ended. However, not all archaeologists immediately believe in the concept of Luwian civilization.

Mr. Christoph Bachhuber of Oxford University said: "Archaeologists will need to detect similar art and architectural art patterns throughout western Anatolia and the scripts from these areas to verify the accuracy of the claim. Mr. Zangger's father about a civilization " . The concept of "World War 0" is also controversial. Most archaeologists will debate the use of this term when referring to the ancient international conflict.