At the dawn of the first millennium BC, the collapse of the great Near Eastern powers allowed the cultures of Canaan to flourish. While the Phoenicians embarked on a bold new era of maritime expansion, the Hebrews and Arameans carved out new Iron Age kingdoms that would have a lasting impact on the region.
Series References and Further Reading:
Excellent episode. I'd been hanging out for it.
Thanks, glad you liked it! Reading up on the rise of Neo-Assyria today – fun stuff.
Definitely worth the wait. Looking forward to the Neo-Assyrians!
Thanks, me too! It took Cyrus and the Persians to really perfect the multiethnic empire, but the Neo-Assyrians (brutal as they were!) laid a lot of the groundwork. And I've always been really drawn to their art.
Great episode
Thanks! Currently working furiously to try to bring all the regional players up to the 853 BC Battle of Qarqar.
Thanks for putting this podcast together. I am really enjoying it. I also came from THoR, and I was excited to find something else that I could study now that that podcast has run its course. My question is, if iron is so much more abundant as you mentioned, why do we not see its use more commonly prior to the bronze age collapse?
Thanks for listening! My understading is it was the "…when smiths leanred to work it…" part. Bronze was so associated with weaponry in that age that it probably took the hardships of the Collapse to drive folks to see how they could better make do with local resources, which is probably when they started experimenting more with iron.
So this would be an example where utter chaos and destruction bring about better technology.
Can't make an omlette without breaking a few eggs!