Natural Hazards

, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp 153–168

The great Minoan eruption of Thera volcano and the ensuing tsunami in the Greek Archipelago

  • John Antonopoulos
Article
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The eastern Mediterranean has been the cradle of many great civilizations. The history of the area consisted of glorious battles, heroic acts, and the rise and fall of great civilizations. But, sometimes, natural hazards became the cause for a new classification of the political, as well as of the military status quo of the region. The enormous eruption of the submarine volcano at the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) during the Bronze Age, around 1500 BC, is such a natural hazard. The tsunami generated by the eruption, literally wiped out the peace-loving Minoan civilization who inhabited the island of Crete. After the sea subsided, the configuration of the area was altered, and the decline of the Minoan principality on the Archipelago began. The present paper introduces evidence concerning the tsunami and states some of the after-effects which were partly responsible for the decline of the Minoan empire. All the information is gathered from historical sources and from recent research works. An effort has been made to include many of the theories introduced by various researchers through time concerning the event. Finally, information has been included from all known research, as well as from the author's own conclusions, in order to make the paper useful to future researchers.

Key words.

Bronze Age Thera (Santorini) volcano Minoan Crete Tsunamis caldera 

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

Classic Sources

  1. Callimachos, Hymn IV, 30–54Google Scholar

Contemporary Sources

  1. Ambraseys, N.: 1962, Data for the investigation of the seismic sea waves in the Eastern Mediterranean, Bull. Seismo. Soc. Amer. 52 (4), 895–913.Google Scholar
  2. Antonopoulos, J.: 1979, Catalogue of tsunamis in the eastern Mediterranean from Antiquity to present time. Ann. Geofis. XXXII, 113–130.Google Scholar
  3. Antonopoulos, J.: 1983, Theoretical Investigation of the Sea Seismic Waves, 2nd edn, (in Greek).Google Scholar
  4. Baker, H.: 1963, The Scientist and Archaeology, E. Pyddoke, (ed.), London.Google Scholar
  5. Betancourt, P. P.: 1987, Dating the Aegean Late Bronze Age with radiocarbon, Archaeometry 29, 45–49.Google Scholar
  6. Chen, A.: 1989, The Thera Theory, Discover, February 1989, pp. 77–83.Google Scholar
  7. Francaviglia, V.: 1989, Sea-borne pumice deposits of archeological interest on Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean beaches, Third International Congress, Thera and Aegean World III, Vol. 2.4, pp. 31–41, Santorini, Greece.Google Scholar
  8. Galanopoulos, A.G.: 1957, Zur Bestimmung des Alters der Santorin-Kaldera, Neues Jb. Geol. Paläontol. Mh. 9, 419.Google Scholar
  9. Galanopoulos, A.G.: 1960, Tsunamis observed on the coasts of Greece from antiquity to present times, Ann. Geofis. 13 (3–4), 369–386.Google Scholar
  10. Galanopoulos, A. G. and Bacon, E.: 1969, Atlantis the Truth Behind the Legend, Nelson, London.Google Scholar
  11. Hammet, C. U., Clausen, H. B., Friedrich, W. L., and Tauber, H.: 1987, The Minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC, Nature 328, 517–519.Google Scholar
  12. Hubberten, Bruns M., Calamiotou, M., Apostolakis, C., Filippakis, S., and Grinamis, A.: 1989, Radiocarbon dates from the Akrotiri excavations, Third International Congress, Thera and the Aegean World III, Vol. 2. 4, pp. 65–69, Santorini, Greece.Google Scholar
  13. Lamarche, V. C. and Hirschboek, K. K.: 1984, Frost rings in trees as records of major volcanic eruptions, Nature 307, 121–126.Google Scholar
  14. MacDonald, C.: 1984, Some Military Aspects of the Aegean in the Late 15th and Early 14th Centuries BC, British School at Athens 79, 49–74.Google Scholar
  15. Marinatos, Sp.: 1934, Aminsos die Hafenstadt des Minos, Forsch. Fortschr. 10 (28), 342.Google Scholar
  16. Marinatos, Sp.: 1939, The volcanic destruction of Minoan Crete, Antiquity 13 (52), 426.Google Scholar
  17. Marinatos, Sp.: 1968, The Volcano of Thera and the States of the Aegean (in Greek), Acta 2nd Cretological Congress (1967), Vol. I, pp. 198–216, Athens.Google Scholar
  18. Marinos, G. and Melidonis, N.: 1961, Über die Größe des beim vorgeschichtlichen Ausbruch des Santorini-Vulkans ausgelösten Tsunamis, Bull. Griech. geol. Ges. 4.Google Scholar
  19. Ninkovich, D. and Heezen, B. C.: 1965, Santorini Tephra in Submarine Geology and Geophysics, Colston Papers, Vol. 17, Bristol.Google Scholar
  20. Papazachos, B. C.: 1989, Long and short term prediction of the volcanic eruption in Santorini, 3rd International Congress, Santorini, Greece.Google Scholar
  21. Pararas-Carayannis, G.: 1974, The waves that destroyed the Minoan Empire, Grolier Encyclopedia, Science Supplement, Man and His World, pp. 314–321.Google Scholar
  22. Pararas-Carayannis, G.: 1988, The tsunami generated from the eruption of the volcano of Santorin in the Bronze Age, Sci. Tsunami Hazard 6 (1), 23–30.Google Scholar
  23. Pfannenstiel, M.: 1960, Erläuterungen zu den bathymetrischen Karten des östlichen Mittelmeeres, Bull. Institut. Oceanographique, No. 1192.Google Scholar
  24. Soloviev, S. L.: 1989, Tsunamigenic zones in the Mediterranean Sea, Natural Hazards 33, 183–202.Google Scholar
  25. Tzedakis, J.: 1976, Excavations of the Minoan settlement of Kasteli in Khania, Greece.Google Scholar
  26. Warren, P.: 1984, Absolute dating of the Bronze Age eruption of Thera (Santorini), Nature 308, 492–493.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Kluwer Academic Publishers 1992

Authors and Affiliations

  • John Antonopoulos
    • 1
  1. 1.Civil Engineering Department, School of EngineeringUniversity of PatrasPatrasGreece

Personalised recommendations