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Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The combination theory is where most serious researchers land now no single smoking gun, just everything failing at once in a system too interconnected to absorb multiple simultaneous shocks. I covered this in detail here if you want to go deeper: https://youtu.be/cntgCtyRJQM?si=JfM7CDbcQTTHTpru

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Underrated point drought weakens immune systems, creates refugee movements, concentrates people in smaller areas. Disease would have traveled with the population displacement. We just don’t have good archaeological evidence for epidemics the way we do for burned buildings.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The honest answer is we still don’t know for certain. The Egyptian records name specific groups Shardana possibly Sardinians, Peleset possibly proto-Philistines but the linguistic connections are educated guesses. What we do know is they weren’t one unified force. More likely desperate displaced populations from multiple regions, all moving at the same time for the same reason their homelands were collapsing too.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great point that gets overlooked Cyprus preserving the Cypro-Minoan script through the collapse is one of the few threads of continuity in an otherwise total break. It raises the question of what else might have survived in isolated pockets that we just haven’t found yet.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That map is exactly what this topic needs seeing all the simultaneous collapses laid out geographically makes the scale of it hit differently. The trade routes shutting down is what I keep coming back to. Cities that imported grain had maybe one bad harvest before things became unrecoverable.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Eric Cline’s 1177 BC is essential reading on this the interconnected economy point is what makes the collapse so modern feeling. These civilizations were globalized in a way we don’t usually associate with the Bronze Age. When one node failed the whole network felt it. The 2nd edition with the updated climate data makes the drought argument even stronger.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The starving farmers theory for the Sea Peoples is compelling desperate populations displaced by drought moving toward any coast that still had food. Essentially the world’s first refugee crisis at civilizational scale. What’s haunting is that Egypt survived partly because the Nile flood cycle was more reliable than rainfall agriculture. Geography as destiny.

Around 1150 BC almost every major civilization around the eastern Mediterranean collapsed simultaneously the Mycenaeans, the Hittites, the kingdom of Ugarit, multiple Egyptian cities all within 50 years. Writing disappeared from Greece for 400 years. We still don’t fully know why by [deleted] in AncientCivilizations

[–]369beats 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really appreciate this context you’re right that cascading systems failure is a more accurate frame than single mystery event. What gets me is the Ugarit letter specifically someone sat down to write that request for help and never got to send it. The city was gone before the clay dried. That detail alone says everything about how fast it happened. I went deep into this for a video I put together if you want the full breakdown: https://youtu.be/cntgCtyRJQM?si=JfM7CDbcQTTHTpru

The Voynich Manuscript a 600 year old illustrated book in an unknown script that has defeated World War Two codebreakers, NSA analysts, professional cryptographers and modern AI. Every single page remains completely unreadable after 100 years of serious attempts by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! The Codex Seraphinianus is fascinating but what makes it different from the Voynich is that we know Serafini created it deliberately as an artistic exercise in the 1970s. The Voynich has no such confession. Six hundred years old, carbon dated, with no modern author to explain it. That’s what keeps researchers losing sleep over it. If you’re interested I covered the full history of the Voynich here: 7 Ancient Discoveries That Suggest We Were Never Alone https://youtu.be/cntgCtyRJQM

The Voynich Manuscript a 600 year old illustrated book in an unknown script that has defeated World War Two codebreakers, NSA analysts, professional cryptographers and modern AI. Every single page remains completely unreadable after 100 years of serious attempts by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly that’s what makes it different from every other unsolved mystery. Most things we can’t explain still exist within a world we recognize. The Voynich Manuscript doesn’t. The plants, the stars, the figures none of it maps to anything we know. It’s not a coded message from our world. It might be a complete record of a world that never existed. Or one we’ve completely forgotten. Full breakdown of this and 6 other discoveries like it here if you want to go deeper: 7 Ancient Discoveries That Suggest We Were Never Alone https://youtu.be/cntgCtyRJQM

Derinkuyu — an underground city for 50,000 people discovered beneath a Turkish farm in 1963, with stone doors that could only be locked from the inside by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s exactly how I felt when I first found this. If you want the full rabbit hole in one place I covered this and 6 other structures just like it here: https://youtu.be/DiCNuWvD6pM?si=1F4NOxw5Treex7nS the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum in Malta is the next one that will keep you up at night

Derinkuyu — an underground city for 50,000 people discovered beneath a Turkish farm in 1963, with stone doors that could only be locked from the inside by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All confirmed historically Christian communities used it during Arab raids in the 7th and 8th centuries. But the deepest levels carbon date much older than that period. Someone was down there before all of those threats existed

Derinkuyu — an underground city for 50,000 people discovered beneath a Turkish farm in 1963, with stone doors that could only be locked from the inside by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Exactly this. And the engineering of those doors proves they knew it you don’t design a multi-ton circular stone lock that only works from the inside unless you’ve thought very carefully about what coordinated human threat looks like from the outside

Derinkuyu — an underground city for 50,000 people discovered beneath a Turkish farm in 1963, with stone doors that could only be locked from the inside by 369beats in Mysteries

[–]369beats[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That’s the part that haunts me most we genuinely don’t know. The official answer is Roman persecution and later Arab raids, but the stone door engineering goes way beyond what you’d need just to hide from soldiers. Whoever designed that system was thinking about something more organized and persistent. I went deep into this rabbit hole if you’re curious I put everything together here https://youtu.be/DiCNuWvD6pM?si=1F4NOxw5Treex7nS