Around 1200 BCE, the civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean—the Hittites, Mycenaeans, and New Kingdom Egyptians—faced a sudden and violent upheaval known as the Bronze Age Collapse. Primary sources from Egypt describe 'Sea Peoples,' a confederation of seafaring raiders from the north who attacked the coasts. While Ramses III eventually repelled them, the Hittite Empire vanished, and Greece entered a 400-year 'Dark Age.' Modern historians debate who they were; theories suggest they were displaced refugees from Central Europe, Aegean islanders, or even the Philistines of the Bible. Their identity remains one of history's greatest 'cold cases,' but their arrival fundamentally reset the political map of the ancient world.