365 Crete earthquake

The earthquake near Crete 365 AD, was an undersea earthquake in the eastern Mediterranean, and its subsequent tsunami in the dawn of July 21 wreaked destruction in 365 parts of central and southern Greece, Nordlibyens, Cyprus and Sicily. The epicenter is now thought near Crete; the magnitude of the earthquake is estimated to have at a magnitude of 8 or higher.

From the destruction caused by the tsunami, the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean, the Nile Delta and Alexandria were particularly affected, where thousands of people were killed and ships were worn for up to two miles inland. In Crete almost all cities were damaged or destroyed. The quake left a deep impression in the " soul" of the late antique population. Many of those original writers related to this event.

Geological evidence

Recent studies see the earthquake in Crete 365 AD in connection with an accumulation of large seismic activity in the eastern Mediterranean between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, which maybe caused a reactivation of all major plate boundaries in the region. The earthquake was said to be the cause of an increase in the island of Crete by 9 meters. This suggests an estimated seismic moment of ~ 10 ^ 21 Nm close. An earthquake of this magnitude exceeds all present in this region. However, suggests a reassessment of radiocarbon dating that raising the island took place later.

Literary evidence

Historians continue to debate the question of whether the historical events relating to a single catastrophic earthquake in the year 365 or whether they - because of mixing throughout history - a series of earthquakes that occurred between 350 and 450 represent. The interpretations of the contemporary writings are overlaid by the interpretations of later ancient writers describing natural disasters as divine responses or warnings to political or religious events.

In particular, the sharp contrasts between the emerging Christianity and paganism at this time tempted contemporary writers to distort the evidence. For example, the sophist Libanius tried and church historian Sozomen the earthquake of 365, along with other weaker quakes, depending on the position, either as divine sorrow or anger upon the death of the Roman emperor Julian two years before present. He had tried to restore the pagan faith.

The relatively frequent references to earthquakes in a time that is otherwise characterized by a lack of historical records indicate that at that time was a period of increased seismic activity. From Kourion in Cyprus, for example, is known to have been afflicted within 80 years from five strong earthquakes that led to the permanent destruction of the city. Further evidence for the particularly devastating effect of the earthquake of 365 deliver the evaluations of excavations, documenting the damage to 365 in many late ancient settlements and cities in the eastern Mediterranean.

Tsunami

The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus described how the tsunami Alexandria and other places in the early hours of July 21 met 365 AD. His report is particularly noteworthy because of the clear distinction between the three main phases of a tsunami, namely the initial earthquake, the sudden regression of the sea and the subsequent gigantic tidal wave that rolled into the interior:

Shortly after daybreak, heralded by a series of violent lightning, the basic strength of the whole earth shook and shuddered, the sea was driven away, its waves rolled back and disappeared, so that the abyss of the depths was uncovered and different kinds of sea creatures get stuck in the mud; the vast wasteland of the valleys and mountains that has left between the deep water swirls this formation, as it has come down to us, looked at that moment up at the sun's rays. Many ships were stranded as on dry land and people wandered over the pitiful remnants of the water to fish, and the like to gather with their bare hands. Then the raging sea returned to how offended and stroked the many shoals violently on islands and foothills of the mainland and crushed innumerable buildings in towns or wherever they were found. In this raging battle of the elements, the face of the earth was reshaped to reveal wondrous prospects. As the waters returned, then when she least expected, many thousands died by drowning and with the waves in the air rocked saw, when the anger of the sea gradually put some sink ships and the bodies of people who in the shipwrecks were killed, lay there, with his face up or down. Other huge ships stranded due to the insane power on the roofs of houses, as happened in Alexandria, and others were further purged from the coast nearly two miles as the ship from Laconia near the town of Methoni, which I saw when I vorbeizog, apart gaping by the creeping decay.

The tsunami of 365 AD was so devastating that you can still at the anniversary of the disaster to the " day of terror" back remembered in Alexandria at the end of the 6th century.

Gallery

Visible traces of the earthquake antiquity survived until today.

Under Gone port of Apollonia