Inspired by a Tsunami? An Earth Sciences Perspective of the Exodus Narrative

Abstract

The Exodus epic in the Hebrew Bible is associated with numerous environmental effects. When considered today from a twenty-first century perspective, many of these processes seem authentic. However, the Biblical narrative cannot be considered as scientific observation because there is an absence of concrete data concerning the chronology and location of many of the events that might be linked to environmental process hinted at in the ancient text. Nonetheless, the Exodus narrative has captured human imagination throughout the generations regardless of whether actual events inspired it. Since the late twentieth century, however, this epic attracted also an increasing number of researchers that have explored the possible influence of Bronze Age volcanic and earthquake activity in the eastern Mediterranean for their possible environmental effects that may be reflected in the Exodus narrative.

Here we examined the main tsunamigenic sources in the Eastern Mediterranean that may explain how to make the sea dry and then inundate the land. We simulated the tsunami that followed the Thera eruption ~1600 BC; the strong M8–8.5 365 AD earthquake in the Hellenic arc and the resulting tsunami that devastated Alexandria; and a voluminous Late Pleistocene submarine slump at the Nile cone, which starts with a significant drawback of the sea and then a remarkable inundation.

Without advocating for the “true” Exodus scenario, our simulations propose a new perspective on how to tackle such an ancient historical and archaeological challenge.