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The AD 365 Earthquake: Large Tsunamigenic Earthquakes in the Hellenic Trench

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Active tectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone

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Abstract

Historical accounts describe an earthquake and tsunami on 21 July AD 365 that destroyed cities and drowned thousands of people in coastal regions from the Nile delta to modern-day Dubrovnik. The location and tectonic setting of this earthquake have been uncertain until now. In this chapter, I present evidence from radiocarbon data and field observations that western Crete was lifted above sea level, by up to 10 m, synchronously with the AD 365 earthquake. The distribution of uplift, combined with observations of present-day seismicity, suggest that this earthquake occurred not on the subduction interface beneath Crete, but on a fault dipping at about \(30^{\circ}\) within the overriding plate. Calculations of tsunami propagation, carried out by Piggott et al. show that the uplift of the sea floor associated with such an earthquake would have generated a damaging tsunami through much of the eastern Mediterranean.

\(\ldots\) and solid earth was shaken and trembled, the sea with its rolling waves was driven back and withdrew from the land \(\ldots\) Hence, many ships were stranded as if on dry land, and since many men roamed without fear in the little that remained of the waters, to gather fish and similar things with their hands, the roaring sea, resenting this forced retreat, rose in its turn; and over the boiling shoals it dashed mightily upon islands and broad stretches of the mainland, and levelled innumerable buildings in the cities and wherever else they are to be found; so that amid the mad discord of the elements the altered face of the earth revealed marvellous sights. For the great mass of waters, returning when it was least expected, killed many thousands of men by drowning; and by the swift recoil of the eddying tides a number of ships, after the swelling of the wet element subsided, were found to have been destroyed, and the lifeless bodies of shipwrecked persons lay floating on their backs or on their faces. Other great ships, driven by the mad blasts, landed on the tops of buildings (as happened at Alexandria), and some were driven almost two miles inland, like a Laconian ship which I myself saw in passing that way near the town of Motho [Mothoni/Methoni], yawning apart through long decay.

Ammianus Marcellinus, writing after AD 378.

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  1. St. John’s College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Beth Shaw

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Shaw, B. (2011). The AD 365 Earthquake: Large Tsunamigenic Earthquakes in the Hellenic Trench. In: Active tectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone. Springer Theses. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20804-1_2

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