The question of why Egypt survived the Bronze Age Collapse while the Hittite Empire and the Mycenaean palace civilizations did not is one of the most interesting analytical questions in the study of the period.

Egypt had several structural advantages that the other Bronze Age civilizations lacked.

First, Egypt’s agricultural base was less dependent on rainfall than those of Anatolia, Greece, or the Levant.

The Nile flood — the annual inundation that deposited the rich silt that made Egyptian agriculture so productive — was driven by rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands, which was less affected by the drought that struck the eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BCE.

While Egyptian agriculture was certainly not immune to climate stress, it was more resilient than the rain-dependent agriculture of the surrounding regions.