What was life like after the Bronze age collapse?

What was life like after the Bronze age collapse?
This video is sponsored by my Patrons over on Patreon
/ epimetheus1776
Sources/related reading:
Collapse of the Bronze Age (Manuel Robbins)
A history of the Ancient Near East (Wiley Backwell)
End of the Bronze Age (Robert Drews)
1177 (Eric Cline)
Chronicle of the Pharaohs (Perter Clayton)
Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the ancient near east (Michael Roaf)
A political history of the Arameans (K lawson Younger)
Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age Mediterranean (Raffaele D’Amato)
#history #epimetheus

[@WoefulPie]

"Seemed to have failed at living." I concur with your diagnosis, Doc

[@Albukhshi]

He's dead, Jim :P

[@WoefulPie]

@@Albukhshi LMAO😂

[@obi-wanadoobie9917]

fantastic name you've got there

[@schechter01]

Yep, that's a corpse alright...

[@porothashawarma2339]

🥲

[@shinsenshogun900]

When in doubt, be a mercenary, shepherd, merchant, and garrison-farmer in an societal apocalypse

[@oscareliasson5595]

In the post apocalyptic wordl, this will be expanded to include carpenters, electricians and plumbing technicians.

[@davidegaruti2582]

@@oscareliasson5595 monks fared fairly well in the collapse of rome ...

[@oscareliasson5595]

@@davidegaruti2582 i guess someone has to keep the brewering and fermenting-bizznizz going :)

[@davidegaruti2582]

@@oscareliasson5595 they also copied the bible and are the reason we are not withing in arabic script ...

[@CountingStars333]

@@oscareliasson5595 plumbing? Lol

[@saredodevil]

collapse of the bronze age has to be the most mysterious and intriguing episode in human history.

[@gregoryeatroff8608]

Intriguing, yes. Mysterious... not really.

[@sirrathersplendid4825]

There are plenty more. But we don’t know about them. LoL.

[@SimuLord]

In 5200, they're going to look back on "the Information Age Collapse, which happened 3,200 years ago and about which we know almost nothing" the way we study the Bronze Age Collapse today.

[@sirrathersplendid4825]

@@SimuLord - The way we store information digitally, and in increasingly obscure formats on ever smaller devices, is not going to help our culture stay preserved.

[@SimuLord]

@@sirrathersplendid4825 Good point, that's going to baffle archaeologists because it'll look like there are minimal written records but our materials science will clearly show we were an advanced civilisation. Even if they figure out how to get some of the electronics working (unlikely since they'll have corroded over millennia), they'd still have to break the encryption to get at the data.

[@AJKecsk]

Imagine the shock on the bronze-age people's faces to imagine a world where premium-quality bronze can be had for $2.02 a pound.

[@FSM1138]

what's the conversion rate for whatever the hell currency they used to USD I wonder...

[@RealBoiJare]

@@FSM1138 a minimum wage worker today could buy multiple pounds of bronze after an hour of work whereas it would probably take an average person months to earn enough for a pound back then. Just a guess/comparison

[@scottcantdance804]

@@RealBoiJare given the fact that it can be rapidly mined, smelted, refined, cast and shaped all by machine instead of by hand, and transported by machine, I'm guessing you're right.

[@GeldUndKokaine-kc1hp]

You could simplify the concept to them by saying that a pound of bronze (converted to their own measurement) is priced at or below a loaf of bread

[@sigurdrobertsson2231]

It also holds less value as we don't have as many high skilled blacksmiths capable of working with bronze

[@Dell-ol6hb]

Assyrian empire: being torn apart Asur bel kala: ok guys let’s make a zoo

[@johntitor1256]

Gotta get that +1 Amenity somehow.

[@dionysius4353]

It’s like politicians wasting money and race baiting while America decays

[@ninja393]

@@dionysius4353 politicians be like "ok guys lets make a race zoo"

[@CountingStars333]

Asurs..

[@tsonobi]

Basically the Assyrian Joe Exotic of late bronze age

[@setflavius8049]

This would be an amazing RPG setting

[@Victurio]

My fisrt Glorantha playthrough is going to be in this scenario

[@MinesAGuinness]

@@Victurio Glorantha? That mention that RuneQuest still is played fills me with joy and happy memories! Thank you, Victor!

[@jerdna021]

I was about to say RuneQuest and Glorantha, too!

[@xzGAB]

Not possible. Everyone wants full plate armour no matter how inaccurate this is.

[@diadokhoi5722]

Conan exiles type stuff

[@DontKnow-hr5my]

That would be such a cool era for an RPG, the ruins of the Bronze Age Collapse

[@davidgantenbein9362]

Isn’t basically anything Conan the Barbarian this? Conan is always about conflict between tribes and city states and mercenaries and short lived kingdoms in hard and barbaric times.

[@DontKnow-hr5my]

@@davidgantenbein9362 Yeah but Conan seems to lack this "post apocalypse" feeling for me

[@KlaussMarcellus]

And also Conan is a low-fantansy setting in a different universe if i'm not mistaken. The only RPG I know that is close to a Bronze Age RPG is Age of Decadence, which is based shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire

[@alecmorris4979]

Age of empires

[@diegoochoa572]

This is awesome! It's sad how easily and quickly this part of history gets overlooked. These periods are rich in history and have so much we could learn from.

[@Idontwantahandle6669]

These people are primitive compared to us, there’s nothing to be learned from them, as we were born from them through technological advancement.

[@helenamcginty4920]

I dont think its overlooked by anyone who studies history.

[@jonathandewberry289]

It's not that anyone wants to 'overlook' but as you saw in the beginning of this, scribes seem to die off for a while. Then again, maybe we never found a lot of their scribblings. Realistically, Historians are looking looking and looking and just can't find enough to look at. From what they have looked at: the lack of records squares with a relatively chaotic period of collapsing societies, marauders and looters, the old torchy-torrchy burn stuff down thing and back to the beginning of this video, it may be that a lot of city people (so, that includes scribes) died off when urban collapse, hygiene and medicine was failing and plagues ripped through dense areas.

[@InfernosReaper]

@@helenamcginty4920 It is overlooked or glossed over by many school textbooks, though. They talk about different eras, but not don't really mention much about the falls of those eras. It's "this was a thing that existed and then one day it didn't. Moving on"

[@AGS363]

This is the first KZbin video with a truly convincing sponsor...

[@Tomahawks360]

Fuck Bronce. I mean, why having 90% cooper when you can have 100% cooper? Let that sink in.

[@borysvengerov3398]

@@Tomahawks360 that's not even woke, that's COLD-SHOWER-WOKE!

[@antonteodor6305]

@@Tomahawks360 one the most stupidestest comment I ever seen, congratz

[@mpforeverunlimited]

@@antonteodor6305 i think yours tops it

[@antonteodor6305]

@@mpforeverunlimited lul

[@rotopope]

Current year seems like a good time to look into becoming a semi-nomadic pastoralist.

[@angelbear_og]

I, too, was intrigued by that. Or maybe a Merchant. ^_^

[@shorewall]

@@angelbear_og I'm on Robinhood. :D

[@ingold1470]

Were the Euboeans the original doomsday preppers?

[@TitanV]

My thoughts exactly.

[@morganrobinson8042]

The Mongols are doing pretty well for themselves, from what I understand.

[@AKu-xs5vg]

"Wastelanders" - you can see the effects of this even today. Arabian, and Jordanian peoples have a high rate of lactose tolerance. While the Northerners are mostly intolerant (farmers). Living as pastoralists in the harshest desert locales would have necessitated the ability to extract every last calorie, including the +50% locked up in lactose.

[@andr0meda313]

Pastoralism ruined the environment. It was single handedly worse than farming. Every pastoralist either lived in a wasteland or flat grassland.

[@MichaelDavis-mk4me]

@@andr0meda313 I doubt people gave a crap about the environment back then. Staying alive was more of a concern than anything else.

[@suriaauslander7251]

They didnt even touch arabia and jordan. These “wastelanders” cone from sourthen to eastern syrua. Are you that bad at maps?

[@OrochiCr]

Kudos again to you for the map being present all the time, and I may add that putting mountains and rivers really helps us to understand the relationship between geography and civilization development. I can not think of a better way to understand the bronze age collapse than the one you used in this video.

[@celebalert5616]

"What happened after this post-apocalyptic age?" *t h i c c Assyria* : allow me to introduce myself

[@OmegaTrooper]

@@superm530 Charlemagne wouldn’t be able to handle the assyrians.

[@JBGarrison72]

Charlemagne WAS Assyrian (...so to speak)

[@alexanderrahl7034]

@@OmegaTrooper a Feudal king in medieval Europe Vs. A bronze age superpower? I think Charlamagne would win that fight.

[@tsuxi11]

@CELEB ALERT! I read your comment like Sympathy for the Devil. I'm a man of wealth and taste I've been around for a long, long years Stole million man's soul an faith

[@SomasAcademy]

13:52-13:55: "Hey gimme your shoes" "Okay :("

[@bomschhofmann1644]

They could marshal thousands of boots into battle

[@avtaras]

Hahaha

[@masteroutlaw100]

smh can't have shit in mesopotamia

[@sanghoonlee5171]

It would really open people's eyes to realize that life SUCKED for 99.9% of the time the human race has existed, and that we are the most fortunate and privileged group of humans ever to have lived. Edit: Well, the comments are getting out of control. So here are some stats. The human race is 200,000 years old. For the first 199,800 of those years(99.9%), living conditions were almost universally horrible by modern standard. In 1750, the average life expectancy was only 35 and in 1850, barely 40. In 1850, a quarter of newborn babies didn't survive their first year and a full half died before adulthood. At that time, 80% of world population--even in Europe--lived in extreme poverty, which is to say they were always struggling to earn their next meal. In 2020, that number is down to just 10% of the global population. Anesthesia was invented in 1846, meaning that all medical procedures before then were done without pain-numbing. The first antibiotic, penicillin, was discovered less than 100 years ago--before that, you might have lost a finger from a paper cut. And for those of you who say that the climate change will kill us off, may I gently remind you that our ancestors lived through the goddam Ice Age? And THAT's what I mean when I say we are the most priviliged humans ever to live.

[@grillygrilly]

"Noooo but I literally have to go to school!!!"

[@BirdRaiserE]

and there will still be more saying how much they wish they could just kill the rich and politicians like the good ol' days, forgetting entirely that the days were in fact not good and that's the only reason they could do it in the first place.

[@Rg-kp4nw]

It's all subjective

[@idontknowhatmynameshouldbe]

Yup I keep seeing people cry about life on tik tok and I’m like try living during the feudal age or Ancient Rome 😂😂

[@cleoalexandria8435]

So now we find pathetic things to complain about all day every day.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

damn, your raspy voice and somber tone is so great to hear it feels like listening the tales of a mysterious traveller on a dark tavern, he might as well have just been an eyewitness of the very histories he tells

[@arkadeepkundu4729]

_Imagine chilling in the bronze age with you fancy trojan pottery & imported Indus valley spices._ Then the *Boaty Bois™* arrive

[@VarietyGamerChannel]

And after that the mountain bois, followed by the wasteland bois.

[@mateuszslawinski1990]

Then they wage war over one city for ten years and after than claim "it was about woman"

[@gregtroll]

And they got their boats stuck sideways

[@janeappleseed2154]

@@mateuszslawinski1990 Booky Lad: That's a nice war you got going there. Shame if I were to.... Write an epic poem about it.

[@ccp6696]

this is gold

[@NONO-oy1cu]

Bronze age collapse is definitely the most interesting topic in history.

[@kool9174]

You have no idea. They can’t have people figure out that the Bible is actually historically accurate and it is the word of God. If something world changing were to happen in our generation and kept it to ourself, 300 years later it will be forgotten.

[@SuphaNinja]

@@kool9174 Huh?

[@somebodyekkee]

@@kool9174 The Bible is somewhat of a historical textbook but in no way does it prove that God exists XD Nice reach though.

[@kool9174]

@@somebodyekkee My guy you can believe whatever you want to believe. We are not getting into a rhetoric debate of whether God is real or not. Believe what you believe and be happy, God is real and I’m laughing at you saying he isn’t.

[@somebodyekkee]

@@kool9174 It is a rhetorical debate considering you wouldnt have any solid evidence to prove your point anyway. Nice cop out though. I'm laughing at how much you lack critical thinking lol. Boi gtfo of here

[@ezforsaken]

We never stop one second to think that the gift of knowledge dissapeared from centuries, no reading or writing, no libraries, no scrolls, no history, a dark spot in history.

[@xBINARYGODx]

And it has happened more than once. However, instead of mourning this, think of it as a necessarily evil as specious evolve on planets on their paths to the stars.

[@reahanallaway5683]

"Seems to have failed at living" is now my favourite way of saying "died".

[@connorgolden4]

I love how the wastelanders viewed the ruins of the old world as something great lol.

[@LuisAldamiz]

They were the first proud archaeologists, although they were awful at keeping record of their fascination.

[@mairidberz1450]

something straight out of a post apocalyptic novel. like a canticle for leibowitz or something

[@killthecensors58]

I feel the same way whenever I find a ruin in Civ V

[@hawkevick9184]

Like the covenant.

[@fatmanyevo6235]

It was

[@Artur_M.]

The real-life post-apo setting.

[@mairidberz1450]

there have been 100s

[@ffxiarcadius]

it's coming to America soon 4-5 years

[@SmolTerribleTornado]

Take a look at failed colonies in the american continent before the definitive settlers were able to make homes. It's amazing the amount of post-apocalyptic settings we had in our history, some even pretty recent.

[@mohammadtausifrafi8277]

@@mairidberz1450 Any other in such a large scale for the existing collective human civilization?

[@abelardodelatorresolis3966]

@@mohammadtausifrafi8277 na, only regional ones. But whenever we hot the collapse point its going to affect all civilisations east and west will come barreling down and depending of the severity, we'll either end up in a regression to the levels of 1700 or 1800, or if everything that could go wrong goes wrong well face the level of civilisations similar to the Sumerian level.

[@Biggly_Diggly]

I’ve seen this story told dozens of times but your animated map and voice over really made this a fun watch. Great work.

[@fukingidiot9156]

I only remember my history class briefly mentioning this period of time but it's interesting to hear about all the specific groups and conflicts of that time. You can make a movie out of this

[@PcCAvioN]

It's crazy to think that ancient Egypt had it's own Military Industrial Complex. The more things change, the more they stay the same

[@LuisAldamiz]

"Power is in the barrel of a gun". The problem is that any "gun" needs good logistics behind. That's all what society is for power: logistics.

[@mairidberz1450]

@@LuisAldamiz replace gun with spearhead

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@mairidberz1450 - Arrowhead, head-smashing club, kopesh, whatever. What matters is what it means.

[@Xaiff]

@@superm530 but but but.... splitting up is a collapse by definition... and they were split for a long time.... :D

[@slambrew3849]

@ilove bigbrother Google “USSR Manchuria”

[@OmarSlloum]

last time I was this early copper was still sold at crappy quality by Ea-Nassir

[@lemmeuseyourecvmassunscree9389]

Man of culture

[@MikaelDryden]

He can't keep getting away with this!

[@ChIGuY-town22_]

Internet..."Finish Him!" fatality.

[@mixererunio1757]

Imagine selling such shitty copper that people remember it almost 4000 years later. This comment is sponsored by Nanni.

[@salineademoiselledefortune9766]

sponsor of epimetheus' next video

[@jamoonji5163]

Now I know what Werner Herzog with a North American english accent sounds like narrating the Bronze Age collapse.

[@ReidHenderson]

So one thing I've learned all through out history there have been hillbillies in every mountainous country!

[@Amir-mq4jy]

In the next episode, we will explore the most terrifying group of invaders: The Air Peoples

[@Alaryk111]

@Hunter Smith Fortunately! Could you imagine what the world would look like if those savages were not defeated? It is said that they were sheaving their heads to better sens other people. Now would they do that if they didn't have malicious intentions? *They wouldn't!* They were closing up to the people to kill them by removing air from their lungs! Would the air monks be nomads if they were peaceful? *They wouldn't!* They had to be nomads constantly fleeing from the wrath of their victims! They were not even kind to their own kind! taking away children from their mothers at their infancy! How inhumane is that!? They were tattooing their bodies to monger fear in the eyes of their victims! Using flying buffaloes to sneak attack them from the sky.! They had "Temples" all over the world that where in fact their basses from where they were terrorizing the common people! Thanks Lionturtle armies of brave Firelord Sozin were able to stop this madness!

[@Ozymandias1]

If the Bronze Age Collapse hadn't happened there would probably have been airplanes for a thousand years and spaceflight for centuries.

[@Alaryk111]

@@Ozymandias1 Why? BE collapse didn't occure in China and they are not quite a space civilization.

[@richardwhite6062]

@@Alaryk111 false. Definitely had a huge effect on their commerce and society. Especially western china and northern. Also not in the path of destruction. so its not really a fair comparison.

[@Alaryk111]

@@richardwhite6062 Do you have any evidence for that or have you just made it up?

[@thenewcaliph766]

A total conversion Mount and Blade mod for this period would be sick, especially for Bannerlord !

[@davidking6242]

The ancient and late medieval middle East would be perfect settings for mount and blade

[@thenewcaliph766]

@@davidking6242 Ikr!

[@yaqo6577]

Shadows in the Desert for Warband never finished development ufortunately

[@friedlemons5201]

there's one on moddb called Ancestors: 2112 BC but I think it's in beta or something

[@blazko1908]

@@friedlemons5201 thank you for this information

[@AJaxdoesgaming]

Pretty sure I lived with a guy who called himself "The Viceroy of Kush"

[@ThreeNinjaDucks]

Me learning from history to figure out what I should do in the next 20 years

[@AsiniusNaso]

I would love to see a total war game set in this period. Maybe a scenario dlc for Troy.

[@afz902k]

Would be awesome. I loved Troy for being set in the bronze age. We need more of this stuff for sure

[@hotsan2776]

Total War Saga: Troy

[@leandroingrassia]

It should be the other way round.

[@d0gl0gic80]

Anything would be better than another Warhammer game

[@crystllclr3743]

They did lol

[@thedoruk6324]

Man These Original Bronze Age civilazations have had so much potential I wish alternatehistory producers actually looked into these instead of using same cliche tropes

[@yaralikatil]

Sana nasıl ulaşabilirim,uzun zamandır yorumlarını görüyorum hepsi üste çıkıyor bilgili bir üniversiteli olduğunu düşünüyorum 🤨

[@connorgolden4]

From what i can see I think it just comes down to there being more (often reliable) information in later eras. We just know more about say the ancient Greeks and Romans or the medieval French and Eastern Romans than we do about Mycenaean Greece or the Hittites.

[@thedoruk6324]

@@yaralikatil DecimatingDarkDeceit on Reddit Grisador on Deviantart

[@thedoruk6324]

@@connorgolden4 Thanks!

[@thedoruk6324]

@@yaralikatil kendimi Doxx lamak olur o biraz :/ Link veremiyorum instagramı veririm ama KZbin ta yorum linklerini siliyor istersen Gmail den konuşalım yada youtube tan devam

[@jt4369]

And people think history is boring. No, history is fascinating and as important to study today is it will be again in the future-if we have a future.

[@fatalpenguinful]

Does anyone else wonder how life was like during this time, and before the collapse? There's so much we don't know about life and society during this time. So. MUCH. Literally 700+ years before the Roman Republic was born. My mind melts trying to think about it.

[@seanbeadles7421]

Well, as a student of the past I would like to add something here. Pre-industrial life has been pretty homogenous in agricultural societies in the sorts of activities that had to be done. Maybe their thinking and the details change, but a lot of pre-industrial writings on daily life end up being quite similar in terms of activities with mostly material culture being the difference. Gotta tend your crops and livestock, and a shovel is a shovel regardless if it’s bronze or iron or stone. The way they thought of their lives and how they interacted socially are impossible to know outside of their own words.

[@madderhat5852]

Ok, ok, I confess. I was the one who collapsed the Bronze Age. It started with an argument that got out of hand during a game of Jenga.

[@jeune_turc9404]

thnx for the joke

[@lgosuberalles4336]

*Boggle

[@bentonrp]

Ya big jerk! I'm glad we finally found you !!! :D

[@umbra6771]

Long ago the bronze Age empires lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the sea people attacked.

[@sophiawilson8696]

It was not only the Sea People.

[@ddwkc]

More like don't show weakness or we chariot you to death type of harmony.

[@jurikurthambarskjelfir3533]

@@sophiawilson8696 The sons of the Skyfather too.

[@alwaysangry2232]

was no longer the "age of empires"

[@dylanroemmele906]

Assyrians: We lived in harmony?

[@larryroyovitz7829]

"Failed at living" that's my new favorite line.

[@fpvillegas9488]

Wow, excellent video! Very clear and sufficiently detailed. Nice graphics too. Thanks.

[@hhhieronymusbotch]

This adaptation of Dune went in a very different direction.

[@klausbrinck2137]

The downfall of the family of the Atreides (Agamemnon) came cause of the bronze age collapse... "Nostoi/Homecomers" is a series about the fates of the victoriously homecoming greek hero-kings (after Troy). Some are (deservedly) killed by their wifes (Agamemnon/Mycenae, Oidomeneas/Crete), others are ridiculed by their own subjects upon arrival, and hunted out of the town, I guess total dissorder followed...

[@pineapplethief4418]

Reminded me more of the Dark Sun setting tbh

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

Still a better Dune adaptation than that SyFy nonsense.

[@gabrielnoronha2759]

Also looks like The Foundation setting

[@pineapplethief4418]

@@gabrielnoronha2759 Yes, absolutely! I'm reading second novel right now. The whole series is quite... unique. I'm curious how they adapted it to tv series, gonna check that one out when it's out

[@SacredCowStockyards]

17:00 introducing BRONZE! made with special ingredient tin, from the faraway lands of tin land! (Idk, my dealer won't tell me where he gets it.)

[@dlwatib]

It's on the map where it says "Here be dragons".

[@drew_mb]

That's great! My metal is so lame and lumpy.

[@Mikebumpful]

Gotta wonder how they found that mixing a semi-soft metal with an even softer (and rare and expensive) one could make a strong metal in the first place!

[@DarthWillSmith]

16:16 The Shoshenq Redemption

[@chrish9698]

Very well researched, highly informative and wonderfully presented. Excellent video!

[@no1uknow32]

This is the best explanation i've found of this period. I've always been confused by the various invasions of the mountian peoples and always wondered where the Arameans came from and why. This video really describes it all quite well!

[@dnegel9546]

i got lost

[@shawnruby7011]

@@dnegel9546 you weren't there this video is about the arameans

[@Goethite_A]

In

[@giuliogiuliani4054]

the warhammer references on chaos and sickness are not lost. good job

[@ThatOneGuy-iv9sn]

Well korne is just awakening at that time

[@jacklang3314]

The Assyrian's also worshiped a god known as Nergal, who was closely related to war, disease and the underworld.

[@rexmundi3108]

Just discovered this channel and I have to say, I'm impressed. I'm not sure if I've seen such a well told overview of this period. New subscriber for sure.

[@NotAnnaJones]

This is a great video!!! I love your animation style and your voice over work it perfect!! This is my new favorite ASMR history channel to relax to. Keep it up! ❤️

[@nature337]

This would be an amazing setting for anything from a D&D campaign to a TV series. The adventures of a scribe, a butcher, and a priest as they try to survive in their ruined homelands, dodging bandits and raiders.

[@jeremiahbelt3005]

Kind of sounds like Dark Sun

[@johngodfreymalig2328]

Try playing Kenshi, it's pretty close to what you described

[@junebyrne4491]

Maybe some merchants fleeing.

[@PSIRockOmega]

Thinking about it, it's kind of amazing that collapses like this don't happen more often.

[@fidalf99]

Many claim we are right now running on borrowed time. And I have to admit, it really seems like we are.

[@ingold1470]

I've heard one history buff explain that it was because Bronze Age "civilisation" primarily existed for the benefit of the kings and their courts, but the benefits of later civilisations were more widespread, so more people would have a strong interest in preserving it. So if a solar flare knocked us back into the 18th century priority #1 of the survivors once they'd secured their footing would be to rebuild the infrastructure so they could have running water and electricity again, but a bronze age goat herder wouldn't care much if his warlord could read or not.

[@oreroundpvp896]

@@ingold1470 Good point, I never thought about it like that. As long as knowledge survives in the form of books or people who can teach then its unlikely there could be as severe of a collapse as there has been in history. Although maybe this is hubris. I think the scariest thing is that if for some reason there were large scale power outages for a significant period of time then industrial farming would collapse and billions would starve.

[@lovelyhomeboy2782]

@@Zeerich-yx9po not really a collapse of this level we would need to lose alot of knowledge which would take alot of time

[@daemondost7168]

@@fidalf99 lol chill

[@infamousgamer767]

"viceroy of kush" might be the coolest title I've ever heard

[@nickmccoy85]

I've only just found the channel, but you had me at "butcher, baker, and chariot maker..." Haha

[@thatcoolasiankidjake]

2000 years later... A many, many, thanks to the merchant's guild. You're all truly welcome!

[@sivartb7273]

Hey, hey... people!

[@jeffreypeterson1364]

2:22 "Failed at living." Never heard it phrased that way before, but it is very explanative

[@Kagemusha08]

Awesome vid as always! This may be my favorite historical youtuber.

[@tinglesrosyrupeeland]

I really love your calm measured tone in narration, very soothing

[@stevengreen9536]

Barbarians: At last the land will be ours!!! Assyria: So anyway we got reorganized around a new leader and started conquering.

[@longyu9336]

0:28 The Shang dynasty is certainly a meme dynasty. Most of the sites and kings mentioned by ancient historians were backed by archaeological findings btw. The last king built a large pond filled with booze and on the shores he had an entire "forest" full of meats hung on racks. He would capture thousands of other people from neighboring states and sacrifice them en masse, sometimes by tying them to a large bronze "cannon" filled with burning coal, glowing hot red. When a small rebel army of a few thousands faced the 200 000 strong (allegedly) slave army, the slaves rebelled too and the king burned himself with his palace. Unlike the bronze age collapse the next few years under the new king were considered the best years and every later royal line would try to emulate it.

[@johnrockwell5834]

Those Kings really love to go yolo don't they.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

Lead and arsenic poisoning will do that to you.

[@Xaiff]

@@ANTSEMUT1 Ah yes... the elixir of immortality

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@ilove bigbrother going crazy from lead and arsenic poisoning leeching out of the bronze vessels they drank alcohol out of sped up that process for the Shang Dynasty. It is also hypothesised that something similar happened to the elite of the Roman empire, who ate food cooked in pots that had lead in it and had spring water piped through piping made out of lead.

[@ANTSEMUT1]

@@Xaiff wasn't that from the Qin Dynasty's imperial Alchemist feeding the emperor concoction made from cinnabar (mercury ore)? I'm was referring to the Shang Dynasty and those things leeching out of their bronze drinking vessels.

[@troglodyte4207]

Mmmm, loving them sneaky lil warhammer references, the Nurgle tri-lobe on the sickness appeals to the grandfather

[@bg1052]

Kinda makes you wonder what the world would be like if the bronze age collapse never occurred, or was less severe.

[@cyberzangoose16]

Your channel is so criminally underrated

[@lynette8299]

Assirians: I fear no wave of mountains invaders but that thing... *Arameans* It scares me

[@youtoob4life]

Nah. As he stated, the Assyrians were already worn down and stretched thin. Just because they eventually lost to them, doesn't mean they feared them.

[@LordVader1094]

Nice profile picture. Where's it from?

[@megakedar]

Assur-bel-kala's reign was not quite as grim and dire as this video makes it out to be, as all the Assyrian holdings west of the Euphrates weren't lost until the reign of Ashur-Rabi II, almost a century later (1013-972 BCE). Two towns near modern-day Til Barsip near the Syrian-Turkish border are specifically attested. That would roughly put the geographical span of the Assyrian empire up until the 10th century BCE as between Nineveh and Carchemish (modern day Mosul to Karkamis, or about 500km. Despite fraying at the edges, Assyria was still a large and powerful territory, and the frequent diplomatic interactions it had with Egypt and Babylonia does suggest that it was still able to impose some kind of order in the region. The Assyrian retreat to the heartland was really only for like half a century before Ashur-dan II (934-912 BCE) launched his campaigns of expansion to set up the neo-Assyrian period.

[@Priyo866]

It feels like bronze age collapse (and devastation of the earlier 4.2 kiloyear event that destroyed Indus valley, Akkadian empire and nearly everyone else) was the closest humanity has ever gotten to a true apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic horror. ...So far.

[@stonehorsegaming]

Tell me more about this Bronze, it sounds like it might catch on 😉 Great video, always found this region and period of history absolutely fascinating, guess I should subscribe.

[@g3th_]

Insane quality on this one. Glad to see how you're always looking for ways to improve on your content, this was a sucess for sure. I'll never stop being curious about the Bronze Age collapse, and this particular topic was very interesting to me since I've always found it hardest to imagine what life was for people in this era. This was very illustrative, so thanks a lot and keep it up!

[@Maynard0504]

You've outdone yourself. I'm really loving the egypt segment.

[@clanwaddell5628]

I just found your channel, I want to say thank you for chronicling what is a very difficult subject area. Isis wiped out so many ancient temples in this area. When you read the Old Testament, this whole time period is chronicled, and the same names of tribes you are dictating is written down in that book. I am truly enthralled with this era of history. Persian, Israelite, Assyrian, Babylonian, Minoan, Canaanite, Philistine, so many advanced civilizations came and went in this small swath of land between the Mediterranean sea and Asia

[@shanpatrickbaker988]

Well done, this was an enjoyable watch.

[@mopspear]

Your art is improving by a lot!

[@shorewall]

I once heard a theory that the Phoenicians may have been involved with the Sea Peoples, or at least convinced them to leave them alone, since the Sea Peoples had naval transportation, and many cities of Phoenicia did alright through the Collapse.

[@shedar7387]

This may also explain why Phoenicians were so advanced at see navigation despite having a geographic position who doesn't really need to cross the see

[@Evansdrad8515]

There is genetic evidence that modern Lebanese (being Phoenician genetically just not culturally) has DNA from the Sea peoples who seem to of come from southern Europe and occasionally north Africa

[@HITBnn]

Phoenicians appeared like 1000 years after sea peoples. Sea peoples were south European

[@michael7324]

I read a lot about the bronze age collapse. And the roll of the sea peoples. This was a great video about what happened AFTER. Thank you for sharing. Well done.

[@DOMDZ90911]

In a disaster, small tight-knit family units are always better at surviving than large developed urban centers.

[@_-.-_-_.._--.-_-_----_-.--_._-]

Bronze Age Collapse: *exists" Proto-Greece: *chillin*

[@TheBacknblack92]

Greece and Anatolia actually got it worse than everyone else. That's why there's so little information about what happened afterwards over there. Written language took so long to return that it is just a blank spot. The longest lasting greek work from this time period were the iliad and odyssey, which were passed on orally for hundreds of years.

[@connorgolden4]

Always happy to see an update from Epimetheus.

[@Jinx_Skeel]

you really got me when you talked about the sponsorship of the video, strike of genius, truly apreciated

[@Sanguivore]

This is undoubtedly one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen on KZbin.

[@joshuapilling3641]

Love how you changed the narration style, feels much more cinematic.

[@philipbrody4723]

Really enjoying all the Bronze Age videos!

[@austinfigard-vara9335]

Pretty crazy that I stumbled upon this video because I've been learning about this all semester. Video is great! Only thing that I would have maybe added would be that the region of Canaan was indeed its own entity, albeit through a collection of warring city-states, but I can understand why it was simplified through Egypt and the Hittites, given that they relied on them for the most part. One other thing would be the Amarna Letters, which were excellent indicators of what relations amongst the ruling elite of these kingdoms looked like. Otherwise, not too shabby at all!

[@brianfoley4328]

This was so good I subscribed....I've been reading Christopher Starr's texts on the Ancient World and this brought together so many elements...really well done. Thank You.

[@patavinity1262]

13:52 Aramean chieftain: "I want your boots"

[@admiralmudkip9836]

Assyria's comeback is the middle east equivalent of what people think is going to happen when they play as Byzantium in EU4

[@Andrewza1]

I restored the roman empire by playing Greece in HOI4

[@yohopirate]

I use Naples for that

[@mladen7641]

This is probably the most Post-Apocalyptic History has ever been. I mean, come on, "Wastelanders"? It sounds like that name came out of a Post-Apocalypse YA novel.

[@Stunrickrollownage]

Truly amazing content don’t stop!!

[@AngryHistorian87]

I'm a simple man: I see a new Epimetheus video, I click to watch.

[@frankincensemerchant1284]

Same the way he condenses vast amounts of information into a short video is remarkable to say the least.

[@tomasramirez4985]

What Epimetheus doesn't tell you is the following: Many of these "pseudo historians" leave big parts of history behind. For example, the invaders were called sea people because they came from the Mediterranean. How? By boat, obviously. Who had the biggest navy of the time? The Phoenicians, as they controlled the cedar forests of what today we know as Lebanon, and they controlled practically all the Mediterranean sea trade. What happened to Phoenicia during this time? NOTHING. Phoenicia was completely unharmed by the Sea People. Why? Most likely the sea people were employed by them. Why "historians" never point this out?.... What are they trying to hide?.... Plus, Egypt employed the "sea people" as mercenaries, way before the Bronze Age collapse. They were pals. Why didn't Egypt fell then, when there were sea people living in Egypt for several decades? Because they were clearly working together. The Egyptians even recored that they employed them as mercenaries, they were even personal guards of the Pharaoh!!.. The problems in Egypt were later caused by famine and droughts, not by the "sea people's attacks".

[@frankincensemerchant1284]

@@tomasramirez4985 I am well aware that large chunks are left out ofc. If one wants the full picture thee are plenty of Academic documentaries and podcasts too look at.

[@tomasramirez4985]

@@frankincensemerchant1284 Really? Not even a small mention to the Phoenicians who, together with Egypt, were the only unharmed survivors of the Bronze Age collapse? You gotta be joking. Plus, the fact that the Phoenicians were the maritime power of the times, and the Bronze Age collapse involved the "sea people".... For Christ sake!

[@minisaiju7699]

You have to click the video to watch

[@ChIGuY-town22_]

Hell yeah man I'm excited, your videos rock. As a Assyrian this made me chuckle...now I'm off to buy bronze.

[@Vitorruy1]

Do you still live in Syria?

[@kiwuuspurr1927]

how tf are you assyrian, they didnt all die out or get assimilated??

[@shahriarghasemianbamy1156]

@@kiwuuspurr1927 Search assyrian people on wikipedia

[@philRminiatures]

Bronze age collapse, fascinating subject...And, as usual, a wonderful and informative video with fantastic animations...Thanks!

[@SMGJohn]

Kind of crazy that an apocalyptic event like this could also affect us, just to make a computer chip required an immense complex network of advanced manufactory and mining to accomplish it. People seem to underestimate just how fine tuned our society is and how interconnected it is worldwide economically.

[@LuvBorderCollies]

We got a tiny taste of the chaos and uncertainty in 2020 which we are still dealing with the after effects. Digging into history its apparent every era has chaos of some magnitude. Even under the Peace of Rome there wasn't much peace.

[@SMGJohn]

@@LuvBorderCollies 2020 was hardly a dent, WW2 would probably be the closest we ever come to anything like a true apocalypse. It was so bad that even in South America they felt it economically.

[@frederickstabell3796]

When he said his sponsor was Bronze I was expecting an Ea-Nasir reference, and then again when he listed merchants as likely survivors

[@angelbear_og]

Remember the Ahlamu! Haha. But seriously, we should all be taking notes right now.

[@Ranstone]

This feels like a spoiler alert for the 2020's -2030's.

[@cadensauerbrey9005]

I am new to the channel, and I love your ad reads. The sarcastic spoofing is what this world needs.

[@justinrhodes1745]

i love the art style

[@EpimetheusHistory]

Thanks Justin!

[@justinrhodes1745]

@@EpimetheusHistory Earlier today I discovered the Paleolithic Continuity Theory on wikipedia. It's quite divisive in the academic community and essentially completely contradicts PIE theories. Check it out, its a great read and maybe a good topic for a future video!

[@EpimetheusHistory]

Sounds interesting

[@cirobarachiel7696]

"With the fall of Assyria and the destruction of the Assyrian aristocracy, the Arameans virtually took over Mesopotamia" - Carl Kraeling

[@chadthunderstorm8148]

Well... linguistically yeah but not culturally since the arameans themselves got civilized from nations like Assyria and Babylonia.

[@cirobarachiel7696]

@@chadthunderstorm8148 Arameans became the majority in mesopotamia intermixed both Assyrians and Babylonians.

[@nintalespaw]

Got recommended this video, god I love when the algorithm actually finds me something worthwhile. Really good work.

[@ArnoBach]

Please do not take God's name as a profanity. Thank you.

[@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK]

What an amazing video on an under appreciated era of history! Subbed!!

[@TitanV]

Cup of coffee and a new video from my Bronze Age guy Epimetheus - that's what I call a perfect afternoon break.

[@edgregory1]

While traveling the silk road merchants swallowed gold to retrieve later if their bellies weren't sliced by bandits.

[@argonianbum]

I love the artwork that you use for these :O

[@EpimetheusHistory]

:)

[@FilthyVirus]

I just discovered this channel and I have to say, wow, what a great source and form of information. Thank you!

[@EpimetheusHistory]

Welcome aboard :) Always happy to see new people finding the channel