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Ancient Peoples and Places

The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Ancient Mediterranean 1250-1150 BC (Ancient Peoples & Places)

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A finales del siglo XIII a.C., finaliza abruptamente una época de prosperidad y relativa estabilidad en el Mediterráneo oriental. Se diluye la influencia egipcia, el Imperio Hitita se desmorona y la civilización micénica yace en ruinas, sumergiendo a Grecia en una Edad Oscura que se prolongará durante más de trescientos años. ¿Qué causó estas catástrofes? ¿Por qué se desmoronaron repentinamente unas civilizaciones que habían resistido incontables agitaciones en el pasado? Actualmente, los estudiosos culpan en gran medida a las bandas de merodeadores conocidos como Pueblos del Mar. Las inscripciones erigidas por el faraón Ramsés III nos hablan de oleadas de invasores contra Egipto y el Levante. ¿Quiénes fueron estos invasores? ¿Provocaron por sí solos la destrucción de la civilización de la Edad de Bronce? En un brillante estudio, ahora puesto al día en esta edición revisada, y estudiando todos los aspectos del problema, desde la caída de Troya hasta los filisteos, Nancy Sandars entremezcla las pruebas literarias y arqueológicas para pintar un magnífico cuadro de esta época sombría y calamitosa.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

N.K. Sandars

14 books13 followers
Nancy Katharine Sandars, FSA, FBA (29 June 1914 – 20 November 2015) was a British archaeologist and prehistorian. As an independent scholar, she was never a university academic, she wrote a number of books and a popular translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh. Nancy K. Sandars became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (1975) and a Fellow of the British Academy (1984).

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Erin .
12 reviews
January 30, 2019
Excellent! I'm a lover of prehistory- especially when it deals with ancient Bronze Age peoples in and around the Mediterranean. Although this can be a difficult period finding books on, Sandars research on The Sea Peoples is as invaluable as it is sterling; a staple in the study of The Aegean Bronze Age! Highly recommended!
300 reviews
November 29, 2011
Classical archeology. This is difficult reading due to forward references and people and place names in the eastern Med. as named in 1250-1100 BC references. The point of the book is to define constraints and help pinpoint who the Sea Peoples who fought Ramses III were and where was their origin. No UFO theories here. No Altantean subplots. This relies on stonework, pottery, bronze casting and forging, written inscriptions on stone and a few script fragments. There is analysis of Egyptian monument inscriptions discussing boat types based on pictographs, and people types based on the depicted apparel and the depicted facial and clothing characteristics.
The book is only 200 pages but seems to move at a rapid pace since it delves into so many supporting topics and documents so many different named groups of people all around the Mediterranean. In lightly analyzes the movement/migrations occurring at the time due to economic, land use, and population pressures.
This is not for casual readers or even for beginning students of Med. history. Some prior background of the subjects or a lot of information fill and fact checking along the way is needed for clarification.
Profile Image for Spyros Stavroulakis.
97 reviews19 followers
January 30, 2021
Δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι η συγγραφέας έχει κάνει εκτεταμένη έρευνα σχετικά με το θέμα. Είναι όμως η τρανή απόδειξη ότι ιστοριογραφία δεν είναι η απλή παράθεση γεγονότων ή στοιχείων αλλά αποτελεί ολοκληρωμένο λογοτεχνικό είδος. Στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση λοιπόν, απέχει πολύ από το να χαρακτηριστεί ευχάριστο κι ενδιαφέρον έργο, και το κυριότερο δεν λαμβάνουμε καν κάποια άποψη παρά μόνο στοιχεία.
Profile Image for P..
1,486 reviews9 followers
March 27, 2016

While parts are a bit dry, there are many interesting bits as well.
Profile Image for Bruce Johnson.
Author 5 books2 followers
July 27, 2021
A classic study of the so called "Sea Peoples" who terrorised the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the period known as the Bronze Age Collapse - around 1200 BC

Sandars book is highly informed and at the same time very easy to read. It would make an excellent 'first book' for anyone studying the subject and yet it is suitable, in its scholarship, for university study. I would definitely recommend it as an overview and an introduction, although some of her assumptions are open to question by more recnt writers.

That, however, is the beauty of the period. We will never really know for certain what happened in the Bronze Age collapse and so we really need to juggle all the theories.
Profile Image for Jim Davis.
44 reviews
August 28, 2022
I had to buy this book in print. Unfortunately this author has passed. Sandars' book is the most important book on the sea people. I ordered the first edition by accident but I have a PDF of the second edition while I order the edition from 1985. I believe Sanders' view that The 2nd Sea Peoples invasion was the largest slave revolt in the history of mankind. I am referencing her work in the historical fiction novel novel I am writing. There's many other books about the Sea Peoples but for all students, you need this book more than any other to write a paper and n the Sea Peoples because some people have wacky ideas about this time but Professor Sandars sets the Record straight and no other book in publication is really necessary. This should be the work you reference since her bibliography contains all primary sources you can use to fill the requirements plus if you intend to compare books, start with this one. This topic might be ongoing and I read other books that referenced her work especially 1177BC BY Professor Eric Cline.
Profile Image for Calensûl.
103 reviews8 followers
September 9, 2018
Ha sido sin duda apasionante, aunque algo caótico. Supongo que el hecho de que el periodo de estudio sea en sí mismo un caos ayuda, pero creo que el texto podría haber sido más claro, con más mapas y fechas y menos detalles de cerámicas y yacimientos cuya disposición había que imaginarse. Por lo demás es una excelente forma de arrojar algo de luz sobre el convulso Mediterráneo oriental del siglo XIII a.C. Las insinuaciones sobre Troya en la contraportada y los análisis socioeconómicos me mantuvieron interesada hasta el final. Para mí, lectora poco habituada a la historia, es muy poco satisfactorio, ya que no da respuestas claras, pero, dentro de lo que cabe, la visión global es más que satisfactoria.

¡Muchas gracias por leer!
Profile Image for shana.
26 reviews
July 7, 2020
Although I'm an archaeologist I'm not as familiar with the 2nd millennium BCE and so I picked up this book. No doubt some of the conclusions are dated but as an intro to the period and evidence concerning the "Sea Peoples," this book is fantastic. Sandars' expertise is dense and she presents a wide variety of evidence (textual, epigraphic, visual) from diverse cultures in an accessible but scholarly way. The publication quality is also excellent; good number of images.

Next I plan to read Eric Cline's more recent book on the era: "1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed."
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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