The Rise and Collapse of the Bronze Age: 3000-1000 BCE 1 The Rise and Collapse of the Bronze Age: 3000-1000 BCE Name 　Jonathan Sun Institution SMC Date 4/27/2020 The Bronze Age marked the first time humans started to work with metal. Bronze tools and weapons soon replaced earlier stone versions. Ancient Sumerians in the Middle East may have been the first people to enter the Bronze Age. Humans made many technological advances during the Bronze Age, including the first writing systems and the invention of the wheel. In the Middle East and parts of Asia, the Bronze Age lasted from roughly 3300 to 1200 B.C., ending abruptly with the near-simultaneous collapse of several prominent Bronze Age civilizations. Humans may have started smelting copper as early as 6,000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a region often called “the cradle of civilization” and a historical area of the Middle East where agriculture and the world’s first cities emerged. Ancient Sumer may have been the first civilization to start adding tin to copper to make bronze. Bronze was harder and more durable than copper, which made bronze a better metal for tools and weapons. Archaeological evidence suggests the transition from copper to bronze took place around 3300 B.C. The invention of bronze brought an end to the Stone Age, the prehistoric period dominated by the use of stone tools and weaponry. Different human societies entered the Bronze Age at different times. Civilizations in Greece began working with bronze before 3000 B.C., while the British Isles and China entered the Bronze Age much later—around 1900 B.C. and 1600 B.C., respectively. The Bronze Age was marked by the rise of states or kingdoms—large-scale societies joined under a central government by a powerful ruler. Bronze Age states interacted with each other through trade, warfare, migration and the spread of ideas. Prominent Bronze Age kingdoms included Sumer and Babylonia in Mesopotamia and Athens in Ancient Greece. The Bronze Age ended around 1200 B.C. when humans began to forge an even stronger metal: iron Sumer: By the fourth millennium BCE, Sumerians had established roughly a dozen city-states throughout ancient Mesopotamia, including Eridu and Uruk in what is now southern Iraq. Sumerians called themselves the Sag-giga, the “black-headed ones.” They were among the first to use bronze. They also pioneered the use of levees and canals for irrigation. Sumerians invented cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing, and built large stepped pyramid temples called ziggurats. Sumerians celebrated art and literature. The 3,000-line poem “Epic of Gilgamesh” follows the adventures of a Sumerian king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the secrets of eternal life. Babylonia: Babylonia rose to prominence in the Bronze Age around 1900 B.C., in present-day Iraq. Its capital, the city of Babylon, was first occupied by people known as the Amorites. The Amorite King Hammurabi created one of the world’.

1. The Rise and Collapse of the Bronze Age: 3000-1000 BCE
1
The Rise and Collapse of the Bronze Age: 3000-1000 BCE
Name
Jonathan Sun
Institution
SMC
Date
4/27/2020
The Bronze Age marked the first time humans started to work
with metal. Bronze tools and weapons soon replaced earlier
stone versions. Ancient Sumerians in the Middle East may have
been the first people to enter the Bronze Age. Humans made
many technological advances during the Bronze Age, including
the first writing systems and the invention of the wheel. In the
Middle East and parts of Asia, the Bronze Age lasted from
roughly 3300 to 1200 B.C., ending abruptly with the near-
simultaneous collapse of several prominent Bronze Age
civilizations.
Humans may have started smelting copper as early as 6,000
B.C. in the Fertile Crescent, a region often called “the cradle of
civilization” and a historical area of the Middle East where
agriculture and the world’s first cities emerged.
Ancient Sumer may have been the first civilization to start
adding tin to copper to make bronze. Bronze was harder and
more durable than copper, which made bronze a better metal for
tools and weapons. Archaeological evidence suggests the

2. transition from copper to bronze took place around 3300 B.C.
The invention of bronze brought an end to the Stone Age, the
prehistoric period dominated by the use of stone tools and
weaponry.
Different human societies entered the Bronze Age at different
times. Civilizations in Greece began working with bronze
before 3000 B.C., while the British Isles and China entered
the Bronze Age much later—around 1900 B.C. and 1600 B.C.,
respectively. The Bronze Age was marked by the rise of states
or kingdoms—large-scale societies joined under a central
government by a powerful ruler. Bronze Age states interacted
with each other through trade, warfare, migration and the spread
of ideas. Prominent Bronze Age kingdoms included Sumer
and Babylonia in Mesopotamia and Athens in Ancient Greece.
The Bronze Age ended around 1200 B.C. when humans began to
forge an even stronger metal: iron
Sumer: By the fourth millennium BCE, Sumerians had
established roughly a dozen city-states throughout ancient
Mesopotamia, including Eridu and Uruk in what is now southern
Iraq. Sumerians called themselves the Sag-giga, the “black-
headed ones.” They were among the first to use bronze. They
also pioneered the use of levees and canals for irrigation.
Sumerians invented cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms
of writing, and built large stepped pyramid temples called
ziggurats. Sumerians celebrated art and literature. The 3,000-
line poem “Epic of Gilgamesh” follows the adventures of a
Sumerian king as he battles a forest monster and quests after the
secrets of eternal life.
Babylonia: Babylonia rose to prominence in the Bronze Age
around 1900 B.C., in present-day Iraq. Its capital, the city of
Babylon, was first occupied by people known as the Amorites.
The Amorite King Hammurabi created one of the world’s
earliest and most-complete written legal codes. The Code of
Hammurabi helped Babylon surpass the Sumerian City of Ur as
the region’s most powerful city.
Assyria: Assyria was a major political and military power in

3. ancient Mesopotamia. At its peak, the Assyrian Empire
stretched from modern-day Iraq in the east to Turkey in the west
and Egypt in the south. The Assyrians frequently warred against
the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the Hittite Empire of
Turkey.Assyria is named after its original capital, the ancient
city of Assur, situated on the west bank of the Tigris River in
modern-day Iraq.
In China, Bronze Age civilizations centered around the Yellow
River during the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C) and Zhou
Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.). Chariots, weapons, and vessels were
fashioned in bronze using piece-mold casting as opposed to the
lost-wax method used in other Bronze Age cultures. This meant
a model had to be made of the desired object, and then covered
in a clay mold. The clay mold would then be cut into sections
that were re-fired to create a single mold.
Greece became a major hub of activity on the Mediterranean
during the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age in Greece started with
the Cycladic civilization, an early Bronze Age culture that arose
southeast of the Greek mainland on the Cyclades Islands in the
Aegean Sea around 3200 B.C.
A few hundred years later, the Minoan civilization emerged on
the island of Crete. The Minoans are considered the first
advanced civilization in Europe.The Minoans were traders who
exported timber, olive oil, wine and dye to nearby Egypt, Syria,
Cyprus and the Greek mainland. They imported metals and other
raw materials, including copper, tin, ivory and precious stones.
Around 1600 B.C., the Mycenaean civilization rose on the
Greek mainland, and their culture flourished during the late
Bronze Age. Major Mycenaean power centers included
Mycenae, Thebes, Sparta and Athens. Any Greek myths are tied
to Mycenae. In Greek mythology, the city of Mycenae was
founded by Perseus, the Greek hero who beheaded Medusa. The
Mycenaean king Agamemnon invaded Troy during the Trojan
War of Homer’s “Iliad,” though there are no historical records
of a Mycenaean king of that name.Bronze Age Collapse
The Bronze Age ended abruptly around 1200 B.C. in the Middle

4. East, North Africa and Mediterranean Europe. Historians don’t
know for sure what caused the Bronze Age collapse, but many
believe the transition was sudden, violent and culturally
disruptive. Major Bronze Age civilizations, including
Mycenaean Greece, the Hittite Empire in Turkey and Ancient
Egypt fell within a short period of time. Ancient cities were
abandoned, trade routes were lost and literacy declined
throughout the region.
References
Early Bronze Age I in Western Asia and Egypt (C. 3000–2700
bce). (2019). The Worlds of the Indian Ocean, 79-85.
doi:10.1017/9781108341004.005
The intermediate Bronze Age. (2019). The Archaeology of the
Bronze Age Levant, 136-179. doi:10.1017/9781316275993.005
The late Bronze Age. (2019). The Archaeology of the Bronze
Age Levant, 272-353. doi:10.1017/9781316275993.007
Running head: ROMAN EMPIRE 1
ROMAN EMPIRE 4
Introduction
The Roman empire was the republican post period in ancient
Rome. It was a significant political entity that included vast
territories. It was based at a place in the Mediterranean Sea in
Europe, North Africa, and western Asia. Emperors were ruling
it, and they are the ones who had the supreme authority over all
the territories. This paper will mainly focus on how the empire
expanded and the reasons for its decline.

5. Reasons for the rise of the Roman Empire.
The Roman empire is one of the most successful empires in the
world. There were some reasons behind this. One of them was
the Roman army (Armstrong, & Fronda 2019). Roman empire
army was one of the largest and cruelest forces in the olden
world. For this brutality, they were able to conquer more areas
and hence the expansion of the empire. They were well
organized with better fighting techniques that suppressed many
other armies around the empire. Whenever they went to war,
they brought back to victory. They had a very disciplined army,
and on top of this, they were more advanced than other troops in
the region in terms of weapons, vessels, and other components
of war.
The roman army was blessed intellectually whenever they took
over a territory; they ruled, allowing there subject to run their
errand undisrupted, giving them even a chance to have the
roman residency. Another thing that brought the success of the
Roman Empire was that they had invested highly in the
infrastructure, mainly on their roads that are famous to date.
These roads did ease navigation both for the army and the
traders. Farm produce was traded in the available markets
lifting high Roman’s economy. These roads not only easing
transport but also increased and improved the economy
positively and in a more excellent way. Through this, the
government was able to pay the army as well as other
government officials.
The Romans were good at organizing. Due to their excellent
organizations, they were able to rule a number of the territories
that they conquered. They organized themselves, and they were
able to carry out trade. Through trade, a lot of o money was
generated through the taxes. This raised revenue for the Roman
government, which helped the government-run with minimal
financial challenges. They organized themselves in wok groups.
They could work together, and this made work easy and fast.
Reasons for the fall of the roman empire.
After much vastness of the empire, some reasons led to the

6. decline of the empire. Some of the ideas were experienced
internally and others externally, but after all, they led to the fall
of the Roman Empire (King, Case, & Roosa, 2019). One of the
primary reasons was Government corruption and political
instability. These Leadership problems arose in the roman
government only projected and led to the fall of the once most
successful government. The government had taken so much time
conquering and expanding its borders to the point that it became
hard to govern, leaving its territories weak.
Overexpansion of the army and overspending was the other
problem. Due to the expansion of the military, Rome used a lot
of its resources to sustain the soldiers. Overexpansion also
brought about the issue of mismanagement of the soldiers. Some
started revolving against the government, most notably when
there was the lateness of their salaries. Through much of the
money being channeled to sustain the Roman army other areas
in the kingdom such as the advancement in technology. The
other countries improved their technology, which led to the
defeat of the Roman empire in many areas. This was due to the
scarcity of resources since a lot went to the army.
The rise of the eastern empire was the other great challenge of
the empire. Rome grew more substantial, and for this reason, it
was divided into two. For a time, it was well manageable, but
after time the two halves started drifting apart. When this
happened, both halves were unable to work together to curb the
incoming threats. Both started fighting for resources as well as
the military. The division in the army added more problems.
These drifts created a vacuum for attack from other areas, and
hence this led to the weakening of the empire. Due to this
reason, the realm drifted more apart, which was a significant
cause of failure.
There were some effects of the decline of Roman rule (Roman,
& Palmer, 2019). One of these effects was the decline of the
population. When the Roman empire failed , a lot of people
were ferried into the Germanic tribes. Mainly they went to
support the civil wars that were taking place. Another thing was

7. the rise of the city-states. Since at that time, there was not a
single kingdom that could have united all the different countries
city-states that had their own different beliefs started rising.
They opposed the rulings of the roman empire leading to more
decline.
One of the most important legacies in the Rome government was
its governance. The united states have three arms of governance
that are alike to the Roman republic (Delanty, 2019). Roman
law did have a important effect mainly in the modern-day laws
of many countries. The architecture of their buildings did
influence a lot of today's designs mainly in Rome. Engineering
and construction were the other types of legacy that was
perfected by the Roman government. Many of their buildings
are what have spread much of their buildings and innovations
through engineering. They did build houses and roads.
References
Armstrong, J., & Fronda, M. P. (Eds.). (2019). Romans at War:
Soldiers, Citizens, and Society in the Roman Republic.
Routledge.
Delanty, G. (2019). The Greco-Roman and Judaic Legacies.
In Formations of European Modernity (pp. 27-49). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
King, D. L., Case, C. J., & Roosa, J. L. (2019). THE
COMPREHENSIVE TAXATION SYSTEM EXISTING DURING
THE ROMAN EMPIRE. JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND
ACCOUNTING, 64.
Roman, S., & Palmer, E. (2019). The Growth and Decline of the
Western Roman Empire: Quantifying the Dynamics of Army
Size, Territory, and Coinage. Cliodynamics, 10(2).