Editing 2nd millennium BC (section)

==History==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2024}}
{{Bronze Age}}

See the article on [[chronology of the ancient Near East]] for a discussion regarding the accuracy and resolution of dates for events of the 2nd millennium BC in the Near East.

===Middle Bronze Age===
Spending much of their energies in trying to recuperate from the chaotic situation that existed at the turn of the millennium, the most powerful civilizations of the time, [[History of ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]], turned their attention to more modest goals. The [[List of pharaohs|Pharaoh]]s of the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt]] and their contemporary [[List of kings of Babylon|Kings of Babylon]], of [[Amorite]] origin, brought governance that was largely popular and approved of among their subjects, and favoured elegant art and architecture. Farther east, the [[Indus Valley civilization]] was in a period of decline, possibly as a result of intense, ruinous flooding.

Egypt and Babylonia's military tactics were still based on foot soldiers transporting their equipment on [[donkey]]s. Combined with a weak economy and difficulty in maintaining order, this was a fragile situation that crumbled under the pressure of external forces they could not oppose.

==== Unrest of the 16th century ====
About a century before the middle of the millennium, bands of [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European]] invaders came from the [[Central Asia]]n plains and swept through [[Western Asia]] and [[Northeast Africa]]. They were riding fast two-wheeled [[chariot]]s powered by [[horse]]s, a system of weaponry developed earlier in the context of plains warfare. This tool of war was unknown among the classical civilizations. Egypt and Babylonia's foot soldiers were unable to defend against the invaders: in [[1630 BC]], the [[Hyksos]] swept into the [[Nile Delta]], and in [[1595 BC]], the [[Hittites]] swept into [[Mesopotamia]].

===Late Bronze Age===
The people in place were quick to adapt to the new tactics, and a new international situation resulted from the change. Though during most of the second half of the 2nd millennium BC several regional powers competed relentlessly for hegemony, many developments occurred: there was new emphasis on grandiose architecture, new clothing fashions, vivid diplomatic correspondence on [[clay tablet]]s, renewed economic exchanges, and the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] of Egypt played the role of the main [[superpower]]. Among the great states of the time, only [[Babylon]] refrained from taking part in battles, mainly due to its new position as the world's religious and intellectual capital.

The [[Bronze Age]] civilization at its final period of time, displayed all its characteristic social traits: low level of urbanization, small cities centered on temples or royal palaces, strict separation of classes between an illiterate mass of peasants and craftsmen, and a powerful military [[elite]], knowledge of writing and education reserved to a tiny minority of [[scribe]]s, and pronounced [[aristocracy|aristocrat]]ic life.

Near the end of the 2nd millennium BC, new waves of [[barbarian]]s, this time riding on horseback, wholly destroyed the Bronze Age world, and were to be followed by waves of social changes that marked the beginning of different times. Also contributing to the changes were the [[Sea Peoples]], ship-faring raiders of the Mediterranean.