During the Bronze Age, the Mediterranean was inhabited by many peoples, many of whom had thriving empires and bustling cities. Most of these civilisations went up in flames seemingly overnight during the mysterious Bronze Age Collapse, which led to a ‘dark age’ of economic and cultural decline in the Mediterranean. The Sea Peoples, an enigmatic group whose details remain somewhat unclear, might have had something to do with this dramatic change.

Theme: Darkness descends - The end of the Bronze Age empires

• Mark Schwartz, 'Introduction to the theme'
• Bridget McDermott, 'The Harris Papyrus'
• Josho Brouwers, 'Mycenean warfare'
• Duncan Campbell, 'Homes for Heroes - Mycenaean citadels'
• Paul McDonnell-Staff, 'Bronze age battle axes'
• Raffaele D'Amato and Andrea Salimbeti, 'The battle of the Delta'
• Ross Cowan, 'Bringer of dark death - the bronze sword in the Iliad'
• Stephan Berry, 'Cutting edge technology - elucidating early mettalurgy'

Features

• John Diamond, 'Unorthodox tactics in Thucydides'
• Jasper Oorthuys, 'The debate: fleets of the Roman empire'