<P> Around this time large - scale revolts took place in several parts of the eastern Mediterranean, and attempts to overthrow existing kingdoms were made as a result of economic and political instability by surrounding people, who were already plagued with famine and hardship . Part of the Hittite kingdom was invaded and conquered by the so - called Sea Peoples, whose origins, perhaps from different parts of the Mediterranean such as the Black Sea, the Aegean and Anatolian regions, remain obscured . The 13th - and 12th - century inscriptions and carvings at Karnak and Luxor are the only sources for "Sea Peoples", a term invented by the Egyptians themselves and recorded in boastful accounts of Egyptian military successes . For these so - called "Sea Peoples", there is little more evidence than these inscriptions . </P> <P> The foreign countries...made a conspiracy in their islands . All at once the lands were on the move, scattered in war . No country could stand before their arms.... Their league was Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen and Weshesh . </P> <P> A similar assemblage of peoples may have attempted to invade Egypt twice, once during the reign of Merneptah, about 1208 BC, and again during the reign of Ramesses III, about 1178 BC . </P> <P> With the collapse of the palatial centres, no more monumental stone buildings were built and the practice of wall painting may have ceased; writing in the Linear B script ceased, vital trade links were lost, and towns and villages were abandoned . Writing in the Linear B script ceased particularly because the redistributive economy had crashed, and there was no longer a need to keep records in Linear B script . The population of Greece was reduced, and the world of organized state armies, kings, officials, and redistributive systems disappeared . Most of the information about the period comes from burial sites and the grave goods contained within them . </P>

How did life in ancient greece change after the fall of the mycenaeans