Cosmic Winter Ch. 3 Extended Summary

Summary by Lee Vaughn - Myth Of Ends

The Heraclids

Civilization didn’t just rise in famous river valleys like the Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, or Nile. While these areas saw some of the earliest and most well-known cities around 3000 BC, other regions were also advancing. One of these was the Aegean, to the west.

People living around the Aegean Sea were moving past their Stone Age lifestyles. At first, they may not have seemed as impressive as the river valley civilizations, but they were just as talented. By the early 2000s BC, the Minoan civilization—based on the island of Crete—had become a major power. The Minoans were known for their art, technology, and seafaring, and they traded and shared ideas with the big civilizations of their time. Eventually, they became the most important force in the Mediterranean.

We don’t know as much about the Minoans’ connections in other directions, but we do know that people were starting to move into nearby mainland Greece from the north and east. These newcomers were Indo-European settlers. While they may have spoken languages related to Latin, Sanskrit, Celtic, or Germanic, the evidence shows that by 1600 BC, they had merged peacefully with the people already living there. This blending led to the rise of the Mycenaean civilization, a Greek-speaking culture that developed on the mainland and coexisted with the powerful Minoans to the south.

Historians believe that the later classical Greeks (like those from Athens and Sparta) came from two main sources. One was the earlier native population, which might have spoken a Semitic language. The other was the Indo-European migrants from the north and east. Ancient legends say that two early regions of Greece—Achaea and Doris—show this mix of peoples, with immigrants settling on top of the native population.

It turns out that the wave of Indo-European settlers into Greece wasn't a sudden takeover. Most of them had been there since at least 2000 BC. While some thought they were warriors who ruled over the earlier people, new evidence shows that the culture of Greece developed from both the native seafaring people and the newcomers who lived in mountain valleys and along the coasts. The idea of a united Greek identity might have come from both groups, not just from invaders.

We also now know that the Greek language likely developed locally, not brought in from outside. This is supported by a writing system called Linear B, found in Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete during its final days of prosperity. Linear B turned out to be an early form of Greek, and the same language was spoken on the mainland in Mycenaean Greece. That means the Greek language was already widespread in the Aegean by the mid-2nd millennium BC.

There was an earlier script called Linear A (from about 1800–1450 BC) used during the time of the second Cretan palaces. Linear A hasn’t been deciphered yet. Even before that, the Minoans also used Cretan hieroglyphs, which are different from Egyptian hieroglyphs but share a similar name. Another offshoot script, Cypro-Minoan, also appeared around 1600 BC, though it’s unclear exactly how it developed.

What all this shows is that the Minoan civilization was powerful and advanced, likely going back to 3000 BC, but it disappeared suddenly near the end of the second millennium BC.

Archaeologists have been able to piece together a good picture of Minoan and early Mycenaean life before 1500 BC. But this has only made it more confusing why such successful and wealthy civilizations collapsed so quickly afterward.

Both the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations collapsed suddenly—but not at exactly the same time. The Minoans disappeared around 1450 BC, including their colonies across the Aegean Sea. The Mycenaeans, who lived on the mainland of Greece, fell later, around 1200 BC.

Some experts believe the Minoans were wiped out by a huge volcanic eruption on the island of Thera (now called Santorini), just north of Crete. This was one of the most powerful eruptions in history. Ash from the volcano spread across the eastern Mediterranean, including Crete and the nearby Cycladic islands. For comparison, the Krakatoa volcano (which is six times smaller) caused a massive tsunami in 1883 that killed over 36,000 people.

But there's a problem with blaming the volcano for the Minoan collapse. The Minoan civilization continued after the eruption, based on what archaeologists found in the layers of pottery. So, it’s likely that something else caused their downfall.

The timeline of ancient events in the Mediterranean is tricky. Historians use Egypt’s Sothic calendar, based on star observations and king lists written down by a historian named Manetho. But there are still gaps and possible errors, especially because different dynasties may have ruled at the same time in different places, creating overlap. That means we can’t be totally sure when these civilizations really ended—but we do know the collapse happened.

Whatever the exact dates, the damage was real. Towns and farmlands were destroyed, and at the same time, the environment began to decline. Areas that were once green and forested around the Mediterranean became drier and less fertile.

During the Bronze Age, much of the land around the Mediterranean was more fertile and forested than it is today. But something happened to destroy that environment. Deforestation, fires, and the loss of plant life led to erosion, which washed away the rich topsoil. This made it hard to farm, and many people were forced to leave their homes and move elsewhere after 1100 BC, leaving behind only a small number of survivors to rebuild.

Cities were destroyed violently, whether they were the open palace towns of Crete like Knossos and Phaestos, or the fortified strongholds on mainland Greece like Mycenae, Pylos, and Tiryns. Within just about 50 years, these cities were hit by what seems to be earthquakes, fires, or some other disasters. The population was reduced and weakened. While the first disaster—the fall of the Minoans—was likely smaller, it allowed the Mycenaeans to expand. For around 250 years, they grew powerful, building colonies or making contact with Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Troy, Sicily, and beyond.

But in time, even this Mycenaean empire collapsed. This time the damage was so severe that it caused a "dark age" lasting nearly 500 years. People lost the ability to read and write, and even forgot how to build large structures. Many areas became poor and isolated, and the people lived in much simpler ways.

Some basic traditions survived—like pottery-making, legends, and religious practices—but most of the culture and knowledge was lost. Historians are still not sure what caused such a massive disaster. It’s clear, though, that it wasn’t just one local event. It must have been a huge natural or human-made crisis that affected many places at once.

Historians are especially interested in the Mycenaean collapse not just because it happened, but because it was part of a larger pattern. All through history, great empires—like China’s warring states, the Maya, and even Rome—have risen to power, reached a peak, and then suddenly collapsed. In many of these cases, we still don’t fully understand why.

So the fall of the Mycenaeans raises a big question: did they collapse because of something inside their society, like people fighting each other or bad government? Or was there an outside force, like natural disasters, climate change, or attacks from others? Figuring out the real cause could help us understand how civilizations fall, including possibly our own in the future.

Many theories have been suggested—crop failure, famines, earthquakes, invasions, civil wars, or even revolts by the poor. All of these might have played a role. But now, more people think that maybe something bigger was involved—something we don’t usually expect.

At first glance, the cause seems ordinary. In fact, it appears the Mycenaeans knew something bad was coming. It’s strange to think about, but after they replaced the Minoans as the main power, the Mycenaeans may have seen signs of the disaster before it happened.

By around 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans had become the main sea-trading power in the Mediterranean. But as they grew richer and more powerful, their leaders started worrying more about protecting their cities. It seems like they sensed danger, because they put up watchtowers, gathered soldiers, and prepared for attacks. This defensive behavior reminds some historians of the Vikings, who came much later.

Even though their economy was strong and they were building beautiful palaces in places like Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, and Athens, these buildings were often hidden behind huge stone walls. Some even included strange rooms called megarons—small shelters with low entrances, kind of like modern bunkers or bomb shelters. No one knows exactly what they were for.

But in the end, none of this protection worked. By the late 1100s BC, all the major Mycenaean cities—except Athens—were attacked, destroyed, and left empty.

So, who did the ancient Greeks blame for this destruction? They were very clear: it was the Heraclids—a group of invaders linked to the mythical hero Heracles (Hercules).

The ancient Greeks didn’t describe the Heraclids (the ones who destroyed Mycenaean cities) as a symbol or a metaphor. They meant real invaders. But it’s strange—archaeologists haven’t found any solid evidence of foreign armies. The graves, weapons, and language all stayed pretty much the same. This suggests that no new group of people took over.

So who were the Heraclids? They might have been mysterious raiders from the north, who attacked and left without staying behind.

Even more surprising, it wasn’t just Greece that fell apart. The entire eastern Mediterranean region—Greece, Turkey (Anatolia), Syria, Palestine, and more—was hit hard between about 1230 and 1180 BC.

• The Hittite Empire (Mycenae’s neighbor in Turkey) collapsed.

• Its capital, Hattusa, and other cities like Troy, Miletus, and Tarsus were destroyed by fire.

• Cities in Syria and the Levant like Ugarit, Qadesh, and Carchemish were also burned.

• In Palestine, cities were wrecked, and groups like the Philistines, Israelites, and Aramaeans fought over the ruins.

One expert described it as a time of burned cities, fallen walls, broken trade routes, fewer people, and suffering.

The only major power to survive was Egypt—and even Egypt was badly shaken. Around 1200 BC, it went through a temporary collapse called the "interregnum years," where things nearly fell apart.

Continue to Chapter 4 Short Summary or Ch. 4 Extended Summary?