From the 15th to the 13th century BC. the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East were more closely linked than ever before. Raw materials and luxury goods were traded from Mesopotamia to Mycenae and from Mycenae to central Europe. The rulers of the Mycenaean kingdoms called each other "brothers", exchanged trade goods, diplomatic gifts, craftsmen and mercenaries.
This "globalized" world collapses around 1200 BC. Intense seismic activity, epidemics that spread over extensive regions, climate change with prolonged droughts, raids, looting, social revolutions? The dramatic collapse was hastened by the interdependence of the Mycenaean kingdoms.
