The bronze age civilisations in the Middle East, the Mitanni, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Assyrians and Hittites, have gone. Only Egypt and the Elamites survived the chaos of the bronze age collapse, both weakened and soon to be conquered by a resurgent Assyria. Surprising survivors, barely affected internally, although they lost much of the bronze age trading network, were the southern Canaanite city states.

From the ashes of the bronze age collapse, the Arameans, Assyrians and the Greeks, began to carve out new territories and redraw the map of the eastern Mediterranean. At the same time, the coastal Canaanite cities, Byblos, Sidon and Tyre, expanded their maritime trading networks west. The Greeks later called these traders, Phoenicians. This is their story.

Introductory Video

Video by: Julie Evans