1177 B.C.: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed

by Eric H. Cline, Glynnis Fawkes

A beautiful, full-color graphic version of Eric Cline’s bestselling 1177 B.C. , adapted by award-winning author-illustrator Glynnis Fawkes

Eric Cline’s 1177 B.C. tells the story of one of history’s greatest what caused the ancient civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean to collapse more than three thousand years ago, bringing the Late Bronze Age to an abrupt end? In this vivid and captivating full-color graphic adaptation of the landmark book, author-illustrator Glynnis Fawkes invites us to follow two young friends living in the aftermath of the cataclysm as they unravel why it happened—and reveal important lessons for today’s interconnected and vulnerable world.

Pel, a member of the marauding Sea Peoples, and Shesha, an Egyptian scribe, visit the kingdoms of the Minoans, Mycenaeans, Hittites, Canaanites, Assyrians, and Egyptians to explore the calamities that brought them down. This graphic history depicts the people, events, art, architecture, and lands that Pel and Shesha encounter. We witness the Sea Peoples’ battles on land and sea, earthquakes on the Greek mainland, droughts and famine in Anatolia, invasions in north Syria, and possible rebellions in Canaan. Along the way, we also learn about the assassination of a Hittite prince traveling to marry an Egyptian queen, the sinking of a merchant ship laden with international goods, and the return of a pair of sandals to Crete by the Babylonian king Hammurabi.

An entertaining adventure story, this dazzling comic is also historically accurate and enlightening, inviting readers of all ages to think about the surprising factors and theories that explain why societies, whether ancient or modern, die or survive when struck by catastrophes.

Genres: History, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Historical, Ancient History, Archaeology

256 pages, Paperback

Published April 16, 2024

About the author

DR. ERIC H. CLINE is the former Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and current Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University. A National Geographic Explorer, NEH Public Scholar, and Fulbright scholar with degrees from Dartmouth, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, he is an active field archaeologist with 30 seasons of excavation and survey experience in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Greece, Crete, and the United States, including ten seasons at the site of Megiddo (biblical Armageddon) in Israel from 1994-2014, and seven seasons at Tel Kabri, where he currently serves as Co-Director. A three-time winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best Popular Book on Archaeology" Award (2001, 2009, and 2011) and two-time winner of the American School of Archaeology's "Nancy Lapp Award for Best Popular Archaeology Book" (2014 and 2018), he is a popular lecturer who has appeared frequently on television documentaries and has also won national and local awards for both his research and his teaching. He is the author or editor of 20 books, almost 100 articles, and three recorded 14-lecture courses. His previous books written specifically for the general public include "The Battles of Armageddon: Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley from the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age" (2000), "Jerusalem Besieged: From Ancient Canaan to Modern Israel" (2004), "From Eden to Exile: Unraveling Mysteries of the Bible" (2007), "Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction" (2009), "The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction" (2013), "1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed" (2014), “Three Stones Make a Wall: The Story of Archaeology" (2017), and “Digging Up Armageddon” (2020). He has also co-authored a children's book on Troy, entitled "Digging for Troy" (2011). For a video of his "Last Lecture" talk, go to http://vimeo.com/7091059.

Reviews

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's complicated and highly interconnected. That is the biggest takeaway from this engaging, well done and highly scholarly informed graphic novel about the set of events involved in the collapse of the Late Bronze Age, which eliminated the civilizations of the Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians (although they re-emerged centuries later), and others.

I started reading the book 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline but it was too scholarly for me (sorry!), with way too many names of people, cities, civilizations, and also academic controversies for me to follow it very well or feel engaged. So I put it aside. Then my daughter, not knowing any of this, pointed out this graphic novel version of it in the bookstore and I was excited to buy it. It too is quite complicated with lots of people, cities, civilizations but the pictures are really good and engaging and the story is slimmed down and shorter than the original scholarly book. So I ended up liking it a lot.

(I confess that although this graphic novel version looks like it was written for me I'm not sure who else would read it, most "serious" adults would not want to be caught reading a comic book and most younger people would be put off by the complexity of even this version. But hopefully there are others like me out there and that is why we have this book and hopefully will have many more like it.)

Back to substance, the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations was extraordinary. Flourishing societies with urban areas, writing, rulers, advanced agriculture disappeared around the same time in the Eastern Mediterranean. In the centuries that followed writing disappeared in Greece, for example, and people were left with legends of a previous advanced society in the form of epics like The Iliad.

Eric Cline argues that to understand this we need to appreciate how interconnected the societies of the time were by trade, migration and intermarriage. The one mega event that looms large is a huge drought lasting 200 years that has only recently been conclusively (?) established by scientific studies of things like ancient sediment. But this interacted in Cline's interpretation with migrations of people (the "Sea People" loom large in this), possibly some earthquakes, illegitimacy or rulers and other factors.

Eric Cline has now written another book After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations that I'm planning to read--hoping that this background and the greater familiarity of the Iron Age make it more enjoyable and easy to follow. But if I have to set that one aside too I'm very much hoping that Cline once again teams up with Glynnis Fawkes on another excellent graphic adaptation of a scholarly work.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Should be 5 stars, since it is meticulously well-researched and absolutely fascinating for fans of history, like me.

The story of the ancient Egyptians and their battles with the Sea Peoples, is well-told, but it's a lot of effort for me to read, due to the lettering style. Because any story about ancient history involves long names and places, the lettering choice for this graphic novel is unusually narrow, which works pretty well when it's black ink on a white speech bubble, but becomes challenging when those thin lines (even capitalized) are in white ink on a black background. I wonder if they ran examples by anyone before finalizing the style. This may come down to whether you are the type of person who likes night mode on your phone, or not. It took a lot longer for me to read this graphic novel than usual, due to the eyestrain.

I did love how expansive the historical record is here. it's just jaw-dropping. I was surprised many times, and had to revise my previous understanding of the Etruscans, whom I thought were mostly merchants and artisans, conquered because they had no army, but they may have had a warrior class after all. The Etruscans are possibly linked to the ancient Teresh. It looks like Homer's Achaeans, known by a different name (Eqwesh) by the North Africans who encountered them, may have been involved in battles with the Egyptians, not just the Trojans (modern day Turkey).

The way this is told, using characters from two different peoples to tell the story, provides really nice warmth, and does a good job of connecting the reader to the complex material presented. So, like I say, it is truly a great work of narrative nonfiction. You just need a really bright reading light handy, and you will enjoy it.

Definitely recommend.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love 1177 B.C.'s deep dive into Late Bronze Age civilizations around the Eastern Mediterranean. Whole societies and cultures existed (and thrived!) for a long time and we basically never hear of them. Say hello to the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Mycenaeans, and many more.

I didn't love the presentation. The authors are going for something along the lines of the Cartoon History series, but that series works because it skims across the surface. Here, the random narrators, forced fictional scenes, and comic asides don't mesh well with the depth of the material being presented. Like, if you're going to include verbatim text from ancient letters, it's weird to see in the next panel the goofy interactions between made-up ancient merchants. Either go full detail or give just the humorous highlights.

So, while there's a ton of interesting material in 1177 B.C., I often found myself skimming or forgetting exactly which civilization we're talking about. The structure of the book doesn't help. It starts with the Sea Peoples invading in 1177, then explores what was going on in various societies in previous (more successful) centuries, then finally comes back around to the Sea Peoples, only to say "actuallyyy maybe they weren't the source of the collapse." A bait and switch!

[Susan Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this ancient history is definitely complicated! I loved the graphic novel format, but admit that it’s hard to keep track of it all. I am interested in reading the original full text version.

[Sadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED to read this book, truly a joy and pleasure. Granted I’ve waited for this publishing for a loooong time and it didn’t disappoint! I loved the use of Pel and Shesha as narrators and question askers/answers and interjections from the authors. Beautiful colors and illustration a feast for the eyes frfr. Very comprehensible way to consume information about such a dense and academic topic, I did get lost in the sauce for sure but could power though. I loved the ending and that we still don’t actually know why all these late Bronze Age civilizations ended, which is a great practice in a world where we always have all the answers at our finger tips. So humorous and Glynnis Fawkes was able to inject so much humanity into these distant people.

[Ella Chang · Rating 5 out of 5]

can't even describe how awesome this book is. i'm all for accessible academia though it is true that it might be a little too niche for general audiences. but also i'll do anything for more historians/archaeologists to adapt their stuff like this

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

great, informative, and fun to look at!

[AV · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic novels, for obvious reasons, don't generally fail to entertain us, which was true for this book as well. However, my expectation from the book was to know more about the Egyptian and Greek but what the book was about was actually a lot different than that - but not to the author's fault actually.

For me, Egyptian history, was more about Rameses, Cleopatra or Tutankhamun. However, this book chronicles a lot more dynasties/ empires from the Bronze age that were present around that time who actually had a lot in common with the above and were equally active. But even with a keen interest in history, I was totally unaware of these kings and empires.

And because the single objective of the book was to understand how these individual empires got eradicated, it did not go a lot into depth for each of them (understandably so as it'd be difficult to put that much info inside a graphic novel). As a result, I came back with a very half-baked picture of these empires as well as the larger Egyptian civilization after reading the book.

So if I now want to understand the collapse better, I need to know how these empires came to be, for which I'll probably need to read more books on the subject as well as the larger Bronze Age civilization.

So, anybody in the same boat as me with respect to Egyptian history knowledge might find this book boring at certain intervals. But for the rest, this should be a pretty entertaining read.

[Roos Gooijer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strips maken van non-fictie boeken is momenteel een hype. En het idee spreekt me aan. Je bent geïnteresseerd in een onderwerp en als je geen zin hebt om het lastige, dikke boek te lezen, dan kan je kiezen voor de versimpelde stripversie.
Helaas niet in dit geval… Want voor wie is dit boek? Voor de leek die nul kennis heeft van deze periode? Voor de geïnteresseerde die al enige voorkennis heeft? Of de kenner die alle inside grappen snapt? Doordat dit boek alles wil zijn, is het uiteindelijk niks.
Je springt door het gehele mediterrane gebied en elke lokatie wordt in een paar bladzijden uitgelegd. Je wordt doodgegooid met jaartallen en namen (wie onthoudt nou namen als Tudhaliya, Tikulti-Ninurta en Tarkhundaradu?) en ik kan me voorstellen dat de inside grappen alleen maar verwarrend zijn. Dat waren ze in ieder geval regelmatig voor mij.
Z’n beetje elke paar bladzijden wordt een andere archeologische stad of opgraving beschreven. Dan geeft het boek 2 of 3 mogelijke verklaringen van een specifiek fenomeen of probleem wat bij de opgraving is gevonden. Meteen daarna wordt verteld dat verklaring X het meest voor de hand ligt. Waarom? Geen idee, wordt niet uitgelegd, ga het maar googlen ofzo.
Jammer, want de laatste 40 bladzijden zijn ineens heel goed. En ik merk dat er wel liefde en aandacht in de stijl van de strips zit. Daarom voordeel van de twijfel met 3 sterren.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books was a treat. A great idea, adapting a history lesson into a graphic novel, the author/illustrator team execute well. The writing is informative, detailed (while not so much as to overwhelm the limits of the medium), and amusing. Pairing this with the visuals creates great hooks to attract the interest of readers (both old and younger I think) and present the material in a very comprehensible way. The maps, illustrations, and sketches recreating archaeological sites and artifacts brought the subject matter to life and I think played a critical role in demonstrating and reinforcing key conceptual links throughout the discussion. The narrators (the sea person and his scribe friend) have a strong dynamic in the dialogue, again drawing in the curious reader and providing a human anchor point in the midst of complex ideas.
The book does meander a bit at times. Were I the writer, I probably would have tightened up the organization and made that structure a bit more visible. But that’s ok. As is, the writer and illustrator take us on a real adventure. Great fun, and a wonderful and well-executed way of presenting history. I hope more historians will take cues from this and translate some of their works into media incorporating visual elements into the basic structure. Highly recommend this book.

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a re-packaging, in graphic novel format, of Eric Cline's 2014 (rev. ed. 2021) history of the systematic collapse of the civilizations of the Near East and eastern Mediterranean that marked the end of the Late Bronze Age. Our guides through this 300+ year detailed history are two fun and inquisitive teenagers, Pel and Shesha. Despite being heavy on names, place names, and dates, this translation into graphic format works due to the skill of cartoonist and archaeological illustrator, Glynnis Fawkes. The visual telling holds interest for non-specialists the way that purely narrative text won't. Anyone with a passing interest in ancient history and archaeology will benefit from this fresh treatment. Actual rating: 3.5.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think towards the end I started to feel like we were going in circles, at the actual end it truly felt like we had gone on a journey and were returning home. the art and narrative are magical and for such a dense book, I found it to be so compelling. weaving humor and structure into such a complicated history (both in broad strokes and in its vignettes about the actual lives of the people there) is no small feat and I am so glad I had a chance to learn. Love history! Love art! Love the humanity of it all!

[Grace Trembath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, but hard to keep all of the names straight.

[Eleanor Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting stuff and super well formatted. I had to read this for a class and has made me super excited for the content we will cover

[Ivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put down this book for a longgg time, but I’m happy I picked it back up to finish. Super fun and beautiful drawings. Definitely information dense

[Austin Hunter Somers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely accessible and fun to read

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really great and informative. I’m a big fan!

[Lisa]

This was too dense for the kids & the adults of the household!

[Karin Elsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geballtes und kompaktes Wissen in einem Comic
Zugegeben, es war riskant, solch ein in die Tiefe gehendes Sachbuch in einen Comic zu pressen. Aber mir scheint, die Autoren haben die Aufgabe bravourös bewältigt.
Der Aufbau ist ein gelungener Mix aus gegenwärtiger Forschung, dargestellt von dem Autorenpaar Cline und Fawkes, beginnend mit den Archäologen und Geschichtswissenschaftlern, die seit der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis heute im ganzen vorderen Orient an der Thematik arbeiten einerseits und andererseits die zwei jungen Zeitgenossen der Bronzezeit Pel und Schescha, die uns, die Leser, aufmerksam und voller Fakten durch die Jahrhunderte begleiten. Im ganzen Buch werden keine Behauptungen aufgestellt, die nicht durch Ausgrabungen oder Tontafeln oder andere Belege untermauert werden. Was in ägyptischen Inschriften dargestellt wird, wird mit hethitischen, sumerischen, ugaritischen, mykenischen, hebräischen,usw. Texten verglichen und “ins Kreuzverhör" genommen.
Ich kannte die Problematik der exakten Kartierung und Datierung des Troja des Priamos schon und fand es hier im Comic wieder bestätigt. Die Wissenschaft ist sich bis heute nicht einig, welche der vielen Schichten des antiken Troja die Schicht des großen Krieges war.
Die weit verzweigten und intensiven Handelsbeziehungen rings um das Mittelmeer der Bronzezeit waren für unser heutiges Verständnis unglaublich. Ohne Kompass, ohne Sextanten, ja, sogar ohne GPS (!) wurden alle Häfen rings ums Mittelmeer und darüber hinaus angesteuert und reger Handel getrieben.
Etwas anderes fiel mir auf:die alten Griechen nannten alle, die nicht in einer griechischen Polis geboren waren, “Barbaren”, unzivilisierte Fremde. Und genau das sind aber die griechischen Stämme, alle “Seevölker von den Inseln” für die Ägypter.
Ein Verzeichnis der im Buch genannten Herrscher und Herrscherinnen mit kurzen Angaben zur Regierungszeit und Land sowie zweier Zeittafeln ergänzen das Buch. Die eine Zeittafel widmet sich dem Altertum, die andere zeigt chronologisch die Abfolge der archäologischen Entdeckungen. Wobei ich bei der zweiten Tafel vielleicht mit Champollion und dem Stein von Rosetta begonnen hätte.
Ein neuer Blick auf eine bewegte Geschichte der Menschheit rund ums Mittelmeer

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off a bit stiff and is quite information-dense, but this is a very interesting look at the ancient world in the area of Egypt and the Mediterranean (including Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, etc) during the Bronze Age (so, like, Biblical times), giving a cool look at how diplomatic and trade relations made it a very globalized region, until the mysterious collapse that preceded the Iron Age.

This graphic novel looks into the many factors that may have led up to that collapse, including occasional details of how archeologists come to their conclusions and how those have changed over the past century. It becomes obvious how important a written record is, since so much of our specific knowledge comes from letters, written treaties, and writing on monuments, while we know next to nothing about people who did not leave writing behind, unless other peoples mention them in *their* writings. Famous people and events like King Tut, Troy, Armageddon (the real place/event that gave us the expression!), and Exodus make appearances with the added context of everything else that was going on at the time, and the interconnectedness of the region. Frequent use of maps helps visualize connections. Parallels are made between this Bronze Age world and ours, including capitalism (yes, it existed then) and the vulnerability of major civilizations and complex systems (like the Bronze Age and ours) to natural disasters, plague, and climate change.

Given the info-density, this graphic novel does take a bit of work to get through, but it opens up a whole new understanding of the ancient era you thought you knew.

Content concerns: mention of war, slavery, harems, deaths by natural disaster, murder/assassination, but no graphic violence, no swearing, no sex, no drunkenness or drug-intoxication; a few images of nude figures in ancient art, but they're non-sexualized

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Cline's traditional book on the topic years ago, but had trouble retaining it - the confusing back-and-forth of what we know is sometimes hard to parse. I think the visual element really helped me here. It was well-framed with two fictional people travelling throughout the places/periods trying to parse together what the heck went so wrong.

Short version: a bunch of factors happened at sorta-the-same-time to reinforce each other. Cline things the big one was a massive drought that may have affected places for a few centuries. Yeah, that'll leave a mark. (Also, Cline notes the evidence for this has gotten a lot stronger since his traditional book came out about a decade ago). The led to famine, which led to mass migration, which is our best guess where those mysterious Sea Peoples came from (central/western Mediterannean? Sure, let's say that). Meanwhile, you get internal problems in the more settled places - internal dischord, a reliance on trade so that the collapse of one trading partner can affect others, regular invasions and attacks, a failure of leadership -- a systems collapse.

It was rarely a sudden collapse - though in the case of one town (Ugarit) is seems pretty damn sudden. It didn't happen at the same time all over the place. But in the 12th centuries, seemingly every settled area experience a collapse or at least decline. Egypt held out a bit but they seem to be the exception.

Very well-done and very informative. I'm disappointed there isn't a blurb from Larry Gonick on the back as this seems like his sort of jam.

[Angie Pfeiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sehr schön aufbereitet!
Ich lese nur sehr selten Graphic Novels, aber da ich Ägyptologie studiert habe, konnte ich mir diese nicht entgehen lassen. Der Titel ist sehr gut gewählt und das Cover ist schön gestaltet. Die Illustrationen im Buch haben mir unfassbar gut gefallen und der Erzählstil war toll. Ich finde die Idee, ein wissenschaftliches Buch in eine Graphic Novel zu verwandeln, damit das Wissen auch für ein jüngeres Publikum zugänglich ist, sehr gelungen.
Gemeinsam mit Schescha und Pel begibt man sich im Buch auf eine Reise in die Vergangenheit und beleuchtet nicht nur die Jahre um 1177 v. Chr., sondern schon die Jahrhunderte zuvor, wodurch ein gewisses Grundwissen aufgebaut wird, dass wichtig ist, um zu verstehen, warum es zu den Ereignissen im 12. Jahrhundert vor Christus kam. Dadurch bekommt man nicht nur einen Eindruck, von den Machtverhältnissen in diesen Jahrhunderten im Mittelmeerraum, denn auch wenn dieses Buch in Ägypten startet, so reisen wir doch auch in die anderen Länder, sondern auch eine Idee davon, dass ein Verfall einer Kultur nicht nur auf ein Ereignis zurückzuführen ist, sondern auf viele.
Ich würde dieses Buch allen empfehlen, die gerne mehr über Geschichte erfahren möchten, aber keine Lust haben sich durch ein wissenschaftliches Buch zu quälen, denn tatsächlich vermittelt dieses Buch auch wenn es größtenteils aus Bildern besteht, sehr viel Wissen!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Try Suppiluliuma II, Muwattalli II, Burnt Buriash, Merneptah, Sinaranu to name a few plus cities like Mersin, Till Tweins, Hattusa, Alaça Hayuk, Qatna, Beth Shemesh, Carchemish and you can see you had to concentrate to get through 1177 BC
A catch-all date for the domino collapse of late Bronze Age civilisation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Yes civilisations come and go but when all the powers that counted then – the Hittites, the Mycenaeans, Canaanites, Cypriots, Ugarits – seems to disappear at the same time, it’s no wonder that this is one of the most complex and debated events in human history. But Eric Cline’s landmark work on the period has been combined with Glynnis Fawkes’s personable and witty drawings in a rather eccentric but appealing piece story-telling as they in the form of Pet, one of the Sea Peoples, traditionally blamed for the collapse, and Shesha, a scribe from Egypt, which continued on as a civilisation until Cleopatra, try to unravel the puzzle. The answer featuring complexity theories, Black Swans, and ‘systems collapse’ seems to include myriad factors; climate change, centuries of drought, famine, internal revolts, breakdowns in international trade, plagues, wars, and push and pull migration.
So you can see what you are in for: 250 pages of confusion and havoc but with some very funny and beautiful touches!

[Frank Krueger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good! Get this book for the illustrations. Each page brought me joy. I especially loved all the recreated inscriptions from hieroglyphics to cuneiform. People's clothing was also endlessly fascinating.

The historical content is good too. It's whirlwind tour so a *lot* of subjects are only lightly touched upon. If you've studied this time period there probably won't be much new to you. (But having classic stories brought to life through illustration will never get old for me.) If you hadn't studied this period before, you're in for a treat.

I have one valid and one invalid complaint about this book. Invalid first: if you've read Cline's purely-prose version of 1177BC (no pictures!) then you've already learned everything you're going to learn from this. Now the valid one: Cline needs to work harder at story, narrative, and dialogue. In situ characters speak like history professors, not like people. There is ostensibly a through-narrative (a little boy discovering his "true" past after dismissing his grandfather's tales), but there is no emotion to it. No reconnection with the grand father. No rejection. No nothing.

But, oh well. It's not a great narrative. But it's very information-packed and the illustrations lend it a lot of life.

[Lea Lutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Verwirrend

Ich hatte mich sehr auf diesen graphic novel gefreut, da mich das Thema sehr interessiert. Leider wurde ich aber eher enttäuscht.
Zunächst einmal haben mir die Zeichnungen sehr gut gefallen. Sie sind klar und man kann die Personen eindeutig unterscheiden. Auch die Farbgebung ist toll gewählt und durch die unterschiedlichen Farben erkennt man auch sehr gut, auf welcher Zeitebene die Handlung gerade ist.
Die Menge an Text ist gut lesbar und übersichtlich. Die Schrift an sich ist teilweise etwas unglücklich gewählt, da manche Buchstaben nicht eindeutig als Kleinbuchstaben erkennbar sind.
Was mir leider gar nicht gefallen hat, war die Menge an Informationen und die Unterbringung der Informationen. Das Buch ist definitiv nur dann geeignet, wenn man sich bereits mit der Thematik auskennt. Für Einsteiger ist es zu viel und zu verwirrend. Auch ich musste immer wieder damit kämpfen zu erkennen, um wen genau es jetzt geht, da die Handlung immer wieder Sprünge in kurze Sequenzen mit anderer Handlung gemacht hat. Das hat das Lesen immer wieder sehr mühsam gemacht.
Insgesamt konnte mich das Buch nicht so wirklich begeistern, was ich sehr schade finde.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diese Graphic Novel ist einfach ein Traum! Die Gestaltung der einzelnen Panels ist toll, die Farbauswahl wirklich passend zum Thema und mit viel Liebe zum Detail gestaltet.
Die Idee, dass wir Pel und seiner Freundin Schescha folgen, macht die Geschichte sehr nahbar und vor allem auch für Kinder greifbar und interessant. Wir folgen den beiden auf den Spuren der Seevölker-Schlachten und finden heraus, was zum Ende der Bronzezeit führte.
Die Texte in den Sprechblasen sind gut zu lesen und gut verständlich. Informationen zu den verschiedenen Kulturen und sind humorvoll und ansprechend verpackt. Es fehlt nicht an Witzen und Anspielungen. Besonders interessant finde ich, dass diese graphic novel eine Umsetzung eines bereits vorhandenen Buchs ist, um es auch Kindern und Jugendlichen zugänglich zu machen.
Als Geschichtslehrerin werde ich die graphic novel vermutlich auch im Unterricht einsetzten, eine richtige Bereicherung!

[Pranjal Awasthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never been a big consumer of graphic comics but over the last few years, comics have gone from being just casual fun reads to being what is conventionally called "serious literature". Maus is a good example. 1177BC also charts a similar path albeit for a largely non fiction subject - The Near Simultaneous fall of multiple bronze age civilizations often attributed to a mysterious composite tribe of people called Sea People. Eric Cline and Glynnis Fawkes take up this period around 15th-12th century BC with the former contributing the historical details and the latter drawing up an engaging graphic book. Personally I haven't had much interest in the nuances of the Ancient cultures of the near East but for those who belong to this region of have an interest in the Egyptians, Babylonians etc, this would be a delightful read

[Orion · Rating 3 out of 5]

To its credit, this book tries to describe the cultures that thrived before the collapse and to offer possible reasons for the collapse. The graphics are nicely drawn, and at their best they offer a good visualization of the information that the author presents, and bring the reader closer to the action. The pages are exceptionally thick and sturdy, as if the publishers anticipated the book would have multiple users in a school situation.
However, at times the book seemed to rush through descriptions of people and events. I found it hard to keep one ruler straight from another. Also, the author includes, on virtually every page, off the cuff remarks from various characters which are meant to be humorous but fall well short of the mark. These attempts at humor continually interrupt the reader's attempt to make sense of a difficult to understand narrative.

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An approachable history that is well drawn and well paced. Following two "narrators" native to the Late Bronze Age, they lead us through the events leading up to the collapse of the Late Bronze Age and the hypotheses of historians and archeologists for what caused this collapse in civilization. In a Peabody and Sherman style examination of historical events as well as interjections by the author (Eric Cline), the subject is easy to understand and fun to read! The art is beautiful and the comic style is easy to follow.
I hope we get more adaptations of histories like this in the future! Such an easy way to introduce others to history and more difficult historical topics that others might not normally pick up.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

For history buffs such as myself who are also visual learners and can get lost in the verbiage of academic-style texts, this book is a gift. I love history, but I love it told as story, which is exactly what this book does in a highly entertaining way, thanks to the skill and creativity of Glynis Fawkes. I appreciate Eric Cline’s careful exploration of all the known facts and theories without claiming to have found “The Answer.” Archaeology, like all other science, is never “settled;” there is always more to learn and to accommodate in our theories. If I could add one thing, I would include a map that locates the sites of the ancient cities in relation to the modern map.