The 300-year drought that ended the ancient world | Eric Cline

Comments · 797

• JA

  @JackChurchill101 · 6 months ago

  What&apos;s really wonderful about this, is that it&apos;s only possible to even say these things because 1,000s of archeologists, scientists and historians spent half a lifetime studying the smallest piece of the puzzle. <br>That&apos;s some big picture thinking...<br>&quot;Another 5 years work and I&apos;ll be able to prove the clay density of this pot is inferior and therefore shows it was made in a different geology&quot; - that alone does NOT sound interesting, but add it all up...

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• AL

  @Alex_Plante · 6 months ago (edited)

  I&apos;m from Montreal, so read both French and English language historians. &nbsp;Concerning the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, French and British historians have always treated the following period differently, with British historians writing about a &quot;Dark Ages&quot;, while the French do not. &nbsp;To the French historians, the collapse of the Roman Empire was followed directly by the early Middle Ages, with no intervening Dark Age. I think this difference in interpretation reflects the different histories of the two countries. &nbsp;Roman Britain truly did collapse, probably suffering severe depopulation following the terrible years after 536 AD, and the invasion by the Anglo-Saxons who displaced the Britons. &nbsp;In France, Spain, Italy, and North Africa, on the other hand, the Roman people seem to have survived the post 536 disasters much better than did the British, and the Germanic invaders became the elites of kingdoms that maintained a surprising level of continuity with Roman Civilization. &nbsp;So, in all, the Western Roman Empire may have collapsed politically, but complete collapse only ocurred in Britain and in the City of Rome itself.<br><br>You could make an analogy with the Late Bronze Age Collapse, in that civilization collapsed on the northern fringe civilization of Mycenaea (the analogue to Roman Britain), and in a few key cities such as Hattusas and Ugarit (the analogies to the city of Rome), but that elsewhere, civilization continued, but under different political arangements.

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• JO

  @johnholly7520 · 6 months ago

  That was an amazing hour of my life. Well done.

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• SP

  @SpaceBearEngineer · 3 months ago

  I think one of the interesting things about this is how it demonstrates the value and resilience that comes from the SIZE of your civilization. All of these issues struck civilizations later, including ours, but because those civilizations were spread across a continent, continents, or today an entire planet. When a big earthquake hits in Turkey today, it doesn&apos;t destroy civilization in Turkey, it just means other countries send aid from all over the world.<br><br>This is one of the things that people in general and sci-fi authors in particular get wrong with offworld expansion. It&apos;s not for escaping a dying planet or anything like that, it&apos;s about making sure if something bad happens to one planet it&apos;s not the end of civilization, merely a disaster which your other planet(s) help the afflicted world to recover from.

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• RE

  @Realme-s2w1e · 6 months ago

  &quot;The things you really need are few and easy to come by; but the things you can imagine you need are infinite, and you will never be satisfied&quot;<br>~ Epicurus.

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• BU

  @butterflyladeda1080 · 6 months ago

  Always a pleasure to hear Prof. Cline speak about Ancient History.

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• KA

  @Kathleen-n1u · 5 months ago

  If I had a million dollars, I&apos;d give it to Eric for him to go search for the origins of the Sea People. (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgl7gtLS1i4&amp;t=212">3:32</a>)

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• MR

  @mriley92 · 6 months ago

  Those poor kids and the Sea People nightmares they must have had...

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• PA

  @pauldietz1325 · 4 months ago

  On the subject of plagues: one should also consider the possibility of plagues affecting crops. &nbsp; A new and virulent plant pathogen could cause sustained suppression of agricultural yields, at least for the affected plant species.

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• JA

  @janetteshelly905 · 6 months ago

  Fascinating history!<br><br>Great tie

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• CH

  @ChesterCopperpot1985 · 6 months ago

  One man’s migration is another man’s colonization.

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• JO

  @johnthekeane · 6 months ago

  Eric Cline. Fine thinker, fine Historian, fine Scientist. Thank you.

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