1200s BC (decade) The 1200s BC is a decade that lasted from 1209 BC to 1200 BC.
Decade
Events and trends
1207 BC
1206 BC : Approximate starting date of Late Bronze Age collapse , a period of migration , unrest and destruction in the eastern Mediterranean and Ancient Near East , and beginning of the Iron Age in the Near East.1204 BC : Theseus , legendary King of Athens , is deposed after a reign of 30 years and succeeded by Menestheus , great-grandson of Erichthonius II of Athens and second cousin of Theseus ' father Aegeus . Menestheus is reportedly assisted by Castor and Polydeuces of Sparta , who want to reclaim their sister Helen from her first husband Theseus . Theseus seeks refuge in Skyros , whose King Lycomedes is an old friend and ally. Lycomedes , however, considers his visitor a threat to the throne and proceeds to assassinate him. (Other accounts place these events a decade earlier. See 1210s BC .)c. 1200 BC: Start of Pan-Illyrians
c. 1200 BC: Collapse of Hittite power in Anatolia with the destruction of their capital Hattusa .
c. 1200 BC: The Israelite highland settlement takes place, with a notable increase in the settled population in the hills north of Jerusalem during this time.
c. 1200 BC: Massive migrations of people around the Mediterranean and the Middle-East. See Sea People for more information.
c. 1200 BC: Aramaic nomads and Chaldeans become a big threat to the former Babylonian and Assyrian Empire .
c. 1200 BC: Migration and expansion of Dorian Greeks . Destruction of Mycenaean city Pylos .
c. 1200 BC: Final destruction of the major Mycenian city excavated at Iklaina .
c. 1200 BC: The Cimmerians are conjectured to have started settling the steppes of southern Russia .
c. 1200 BC: The proto-Scythian Srubna (Timber-grave) culture expands from the lower Volga region to cover the whole of the North Pontic area.
c. 1200 BC: Olmec culture starts and thrives in Mesoamerica .
c. 1200 BC: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán starts to flourish.
c. 1200 BC: Ancestral Puebloan civilization in North America . (approximate date)
c. 1200 BC: Possible battle in the Tollense River Valley of northern Germany. c. 1200 BC: The Yajurveda is composed.
Births
C. 1203 BC: Obed , son of Boaz , father of Jesse, and grandfather of David, was born