365 Crete Earthquake

1 - Discussion
On 21 July 365 ancient sources reported a disastrous catastrophe as a mixture of an
earthquake and a huge tsunami devastating the complete Eastern Mediterranean. According to
historical accounts, the earthquake and the tsunami caused widespread damages in Greece,
Crete, Libya, Egypt, Cyprus, and Sicily.
There is a vast literature about this earthquake and a considerable debate between historians
leading to contradictory conclusions. Di Vita (1986, 1990) proposes a universal earthquake in
365 which swept across all Mediterranean coasts from Algeria to Syria. Guidoboni proposes a
sequence of seismic disasters which occurred between 361 and 450. Jacques and Bousquet
limit the effects to Crete and the Nile Delta. Ambraseys suggests a damaging earthquake in
Libya and Crete with the tsunami causing damages in southwest Greece, Crete, and
Cyrenaica. Stangl refutes the single disastrous event produced by a huge tsunami triggered by
a disastrous earthquake, but argues for a collection of local disasters which were extrapolated
to the whole world. Stiros postulates a sequence of 2 or 3 major earthquakes affecting the
Mediterranean region.
Whatever the exact nature of the 365 earthquake, it was a traumatic event because almost 30
historical sources record it (see Jacques and Bousquet for a treatment of the sources).
Nonetheless, it is odd and striking that none of the contemporary sources names a locality
directly damaged by the earthquake except Socrates - but they all concentrate on the
frightening effects of the tsunami.
Contemporary writers amplified the extent of the event to match the political turmoil of the
time. The two major political contexts of fourth and fifth century accounts of the earthquake
and tsunami are the reign and death of Julian (361-363) and the revolt of Procopius
(September 365).
Jerome and Ammianus Marcellinius are the oldest reports. From them, the earthquake and the
ensuing tsunami were described as a universal disaster. As a consequence, it must be noted
that there has been a tendency among historians, archaeologists and geophysicists to link
roughly contemporaneous reports and traces of seismic activity from all quarters of the
Mediterranean to this event.
The context of the passage of Ammianus is inserted after the death of Julian, during the
second year of the reign of the new emperors Valentinian I and Valens. Barely two months
after the earthquake, the usurper Procopius tried to seize the Imperium. Only in the following
year did Valens managed to kill him.
He mentions a universal earthquake, a combination of a thunderstorm, then an earthquake and
a tsunami. Apart from two remarks at the end of the passage, in which Alexandria and
Methone are specically mentioned, Ammianus does not provide any information about the
location.

As shown by Kelly, Ammianus account used and modified an original source also used by the
9th century chroniclers Theophanes and George the Monk. Bleckmann has studied the ancestry
of these Byzantine sources and traced it back to an anonymous Church historian of homoean
opinions who wrote in Antioch in around 380, the already mentioned Hypothetical Arian
History.
From Ammianuss account , the earthquake caused the sea to withdraw, so that the sea bed
became visible and people wandered around catching fish and shellfish with their hands. The
sea then returned in enormous waves, destroying buildings and killing thousands of people.
Ships were cast upon the shore, and after the waves had receded, bodies of drowned men and
women were left lying around. In Alexandria (600 km from Crete) even big ships landed on
roof tops, and Ammianus himself during one of his voyages saw a Laconian ship rotting with
decay two miles inland near Methone in Southwest Peloponnese.
Geophysicists assume an epicentre near Crete since the historical reports mention Sicily, the
Adriatic and the coast of Egypt as areas hit by the tsunami. Nonetheless, there is almost no
literary information for Crete except a letter from Athanasios, bishop of Alexandria and
Zosimus. Athanasios says that more than 100 cities were destroyed. This is nothing more than
a metaphor meaning great damage and cannot be taken at face value. Indeed, there were no
hundred cities in Crete. Zosimus reports an earthquake in Crete but misdates it to 375, after
the death of Valentinian1. As Ammianus, his earthquake is preceded by a thunderbolt2.
Archeologically speaking the data from Crete is extensive. According to Shaw et al western
Crete was lifted above sea level, by up to 10 m (see Stiros 2001 for a sum up of the available
archaeological data for Crete; Stiros 2010; Stiros and Papageorgiou; Ambraseys; Di Vita
1986). However, a recent reassessment of the radiocarbon data from locations across Western
Crete (Price et al) attributes the uplift in Crete to an earthquake occurring during the fifth or
sixth century. Three earthquakes are known from Crete during this period. The first recorded
by Malalas who talks about an earthquake in Crete during Theodosius II reign (408-450). As
Malalas doesnt mention the 365 earthquake, it is unclear if he misdates it or if he talks about
a separate event. The second comes from Evagrius Scholasticus and took place around 467.
The third is from Procopius who describes in 551 (different from the 551 Beirut earthquake)
the destruction of numerous towns around the Gulf of Corinth, including Patras and
Naupactos, and destruction due to a large tsunami further north in the Gulf of Euboea.
Furthermore, two other geomorphological studies (Kelletat and Schellmann; Scheffers and
Scheffers) underline that in Crete and the wider region, there is no evidence of a fourth
century tsunami deposits.

1 Henry suggests that Zosimus moved the date of the earthquake. Since he doesnt mention the earthquake of 365, it would
seem that he has brought this event in 375 in order to place greater emphasis on Valentinian death, because in his opinion, it
was an epoch-making event in the history of the empire.

Allegedly, Ammianus himself saw, while passing by later, a rotten Laconian ship near
Methone two miles inland. However, it is unclear if the ship was thrown inland by the
earthquake and the tsunami or by the mad blasts (Stangl ). Furthermore, the archaeological
data for mainland Greece is really poor. Only two sites show seismic damage in and around
Corinth (Stiros 2001).
According to Ammianus, it was in Egypt that the effects of the tsunami were the most
disastrous. John Cassian, a near contemporary, relates how a monk led him through country
near Panephysis, the modern El Manzala in Egypt, that the flood had turned into a salt march.
Sozomen adds that the anniversary of the tsunami was commemorated in Alexandria by a
festival. Similarly to the story about St Hilarion told by Jerome, John of Nikiu, Theophanes
and Michael the Syrian say that St Athanasius drove the sea back after the inundation of
Alexandria.
However, to what extent Alexandria was affected by the 365 earthquake is unclear (see
Hamouda for a reconstruction of the trajectory of this probable tsunami).
Only collapsed columns at Alexandria with a preferred orientation, usually indicative of
seismic oscillations may indicate a fourth century seismic destruction (Stiros 1996 and 2001).
There is no evidence that the Lighthouse of Alexandria suffered any damage from the tsunami
(Ambraseys 2009; Pararas-Carayannis). Furthermore, a detailed stratigraphic studies in
Alexandria do not provide evidence for any fourth century tsunami (Goiran, 2001; Goiran et
al., 2005).
But, the information provided by Sozomen about the anniversary of the tsunami is confirmed
by a Coptic text, not of the fourth century, but of the late sixth century which remembers the
Alexandrine feast of 21 July, as the day of fear (Guidoboni).
Jerome mentions in his Chronicle a universal earthquake followed by a tsunami which caused
much destruction in Sicily. In his funeral oration for the emperor Julian also known as the
Epitaphios logos, Libanius describes a series of earthquakes affecting Sicily, Libya and
Greece. In another work, the Life of St Hilarion, Jerome associates the universal earthquake
after Emperor Julians death with a huge tsunami at Epidaurus, the modern Cavtat in today
Croatia. A miracle of St Hilarion, however, stopped the waves before they hit the town.
Information on the possible impact of the tsunami affecting the Adriatic coast is vague and
should be excluded, because no detailed archaeological evidence exists for a seismic
destruction in the late fourth century (Stiros 2001). Probably St. Jerome wanted to construct a
miracle of St. Hilarion more likely by tying it to an event located somewhere else.
In Italy, there are indeed archaeological evidences for seismic destruction between 360 and
374, suggesting local earthquakes or a single seismic sequence about 365 or both. (Stiros
2010; Bottari et al. 2009)
Libanius in his Oration 2, written around 380-381, reports an earthquake that affected Cyprus,
which lies on the same fault line as Crete and the Peloponnese. David Soren (1981; 1988) and
his colleagues, who excavated the ancient port town of Kourion on the southern coast of

Cyprus, attribute the destruction of Kourion by the 365 earthquake. Soren also argues that the
destruction of Paphos recorded by Jerome must also be linked to this one3.
Libanius writes that all the cities in Libya were destroyed. Additionally Synesius reports that
Cyrene, near present-day Shahhat in Libya, was a vast ruin during his time. Archaeological,
epigraphic and numismatic evidence prove that Libya was severely damaged after 364. In
Cyrenaica, on the northeast coast of Libya, several excavated towns reveal collapsed houses
containing buried skeletons indicating extensive seismic damage (Di Vita 1995; see also
Ambraseys 2009; Bacchielli).
As Pirazzoli has shown the period between 350 and 550 was seismically very active around
the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. . It is undeniable that literary, epigraphic,
archeological and numismatic evidences provide a strong case for a damaging earthquake in
Crete in 365, even if it is still unclear if the uplift of ten meters in Crete was due to this one or
later earthquakes.
Although violent, it was not a universal event as reported by ancient historians and some
modern authors. The best explanation seems to be that of Stiros (2010), Guidoboni, Jacques
and Bosquet, and Stangl who argue that several local disasters occurring in a short time
period, were regarded by the ancients as a single, universal event. Following Stiros (2010),
the 365 seismic sequence consisted of at least 2 or 3 major earthquakes, a main event offshore
Crete, a second, probably smaller event offshore Cyprus and possibly another relatively
small event between Sicily and Libya.
Even if for the literary sources the effects of the tsunami seem to have been far more serious
and newsworthy than those of the earthquake itself, archeological data rule out the thesis of a
giant tsunami wiping out everything in its path from Crete to Egypt. As shown above, there is
no evidence for a powerful seismic sea-wave in Egypt. A likely explanation is that the
earthquake in Crete did not produce any tsunami, but a tsunami, destructive along the coast
east of Alexandria, was somewhat associated with one of the major shocks of the 365 seismic
sequence (Stiros 2012).
Furthermore, the ancients especially amalgamate several disastrous events into one
apocalyptical event, for political and religious purposes.
Waldherr and Kelly agree that the ancient reports are a mixture of events condensed to one
single event, mirroring the big change after the death of Emperor Julian. Contemporary
writers saw the earthquake as a sign of divine anger, a response of the universe to political
chaos.

3 However, Ambraseys (1965) and Guidoboni argue that an earthquake location off the shore of south-west Cyprus is not
consistent with both the 365 seismic damage distribution and tsunami wave propagation to the South, West and North-West
of Crete. They put forward an alternative explanation saying that Kourion was hit by an earthquake around 370. In the same
way, Fokaefs and Papadopoulos attribute the destruction of Kourion to seismic events in Cyprus between 342 and 375.

In the troubled years following the death of Julian, who had attempted to replace
Christianity and re-establish paganism and who died during his disastrous Persian campaign,
the earthquake was interpreted as a sign of divine displeasure by both Christians and pagans.
Jerome - who bitterly hated Julian for his paganism - in his Life of Hilarion is the first to
connect it with the death of Julian and regarded it as a sign of Gods wrath. In his
Commentary on Isaiah, as Jacques and Bousquet have pointed out, Jerome is bringing
together two events, the earthquake in Palestine in 363 and the tsunami of 365. By bringing
them together and relating them to the universal earthquake of 365, he highlighted the
words of Isaiah prophesying that Areopolis (Moab) on the border between Arabia and
Palestine - would be destroyed in an earthquake.
In the same way, the church historian Sozomen, manipulating the facts, merges several
natural disasters (namely earthquakes, drought, and famine) during Julians reign and not
after, to show that the anger of God was directly manifested against him and his religious
policy.
On the other hand, the pagan and admirer of Julian, Libanius, reads the series of earthquakes
following Julians death as evidence both of divine warnings of Julians death or of Earths
mourning for the loss of her hero. Compared with these views, Ammianus is more detached.
He presents the tsunami as an event of almost cosmic proportion. For him, the event mirrors
the threats and dangers that befell the Empire during the beginning of the reign of Valentinian
and Valens, and serve as a portent to the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Adrianople in 378
(den Boeft).
The passage from a local disaster, to a universal overthrown in later writers is best
exemplified by George Hamartolos 4. Using the same source as Ammianus, he gives
unreasonable figures: 50 000 people were drowned and not killed by the earthquake, ships
were driven 180 stadia (about 32 km) inland and onto mountains 100 stadia (about 11 km)
high. He includes the destruction by the same earthquake of Nicaea and Germe in Bithynia,
which were in fact affected by the earthquake of October 368.
Additionally, it is probable that the effects of the tsunami in Alexandria were grossly
exaggerated to fit with the usurpation of Procopius in September 365. Theophanes, Michael
the Syrian, Socrates, the Consularia Constantinopolita, Themistius all link the tsunami with
the usurpation of Procopius in September 365.
Themistius (Oration 7.86b, ed. Dindorf) drew a parallel between Procopius' emergence
from a shadowy existence and his dawn proclamation, and the great triple-wave:
both were begun at night but rendered great in the daylight. In the same way,
Socrates juxtaposes the two events, erroneously placing the tsunami after the
usurpation, and implies a connection between natural disaster and political crisis. He

4 Following Zosimus, George Hamartolos and George Kedrenos (Chronicon, Vol. 1 p. 592)
date the earthquake during Gratians reign (375-383).

also adds that it was a divine punishment because of the Arian sympathies which made Valens
a villain to Catholic posterity.
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Ambraseys, N. The seismic history of Cyprus, Revue Etude Union Intern. Secours, Geneva,
3, 1965, p. 25-48
Bacchielli L. A Cyrenaica earthquake post 364 A.D.: written sources and archaeological
evidences, Annals of Geophysics, v. 38, n. 5-6, nov. 1995, p. 977-982
Bleckmann, B., Vom Tsunami von 365 zum Mimas-Orakel: Ammianus Marcelllinus als
Zeithistoriker und die sptgriechische Tradition, in: J. den Boeft, J.W. Drijvers, D. den
Hengst and H.C. Teitler (eds.), Ammianus after Julian. The reign of Valentinian and Valens
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den Boeft J. et al., Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXVI,
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Di Vita, A. "I terremoti a Gortina in et romana e proto-bizantina. Una nota", Annuario della
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Di Vita, A., Archaeologists and earthquakes: the case of 365 A.D, Annali di Geosica 38,
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2-Primary sources
Ammianus Marcellinus, The Roman History, Loeb, 26.10:

While that usurper (Procopius) of whose many deeds and his death we have told, still
survived, on the twenty-first of July in the first consulship of Valentinian with his brother,
horrible phenomena suddenly spread through the entire extent of the world, such as are related
to us neither in fable nor in truthful history. For a little after daybreak, preceded by heavy and
repeated thunder and lightning, the whole of the firm and solid earth was shaken and
trembled, the sea with its rolling waves was driven back and withdrew from the land, so that
in the abyss of the deep thus revealed men saw many kinds of sea-creatures stuck fast in the
slime; and vast mountains and deep valleys, which Nature, the creator, had hidden in the
unplumbed depths, then, as one might well believe, first saw the beams of the sun. Hence,
many ships were stranded as if on dry land, and since many men roamed about without fear in
the little that remained of the waters, to gather fish and similar things with their hands, the
roaring sea, resenting, as it were, 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 where else they were 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 seen to have foundered, and 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 in passing that way saw near the
town of Mothone, yawning apart through long decay.
Libanius, Oration 2.52, in Libanius, Selected Orations, Vol. II, Edited and translated by
A. F. Norman, Loeb, 1977:
We are not Cypriots and we have not seen our town laying down in ruins.
Libanius. Monody: Funeral Oration for Julian, in Julian the Emperor. Containing
Gregory Nazianzen's two Invectives and Libanius' Monody with Julian's extant
theosophical works, p. 214:
Earth truly has been fully sensible of her loss, and has honoured the hero by an appropriate
shearing off of her tresses, shaking off, as a horse doth his rider, so many and such great
cities. In Palestine (19 May 363) several; of the Libyans all and every one. Prostrate lie the
largest towns of Sicily, prostrate all of Greece save one; the fair Nicaea (2 December 362) lies
in ruins; the city, preeminent in beauty (i.e. Nicomedia), totters to her fall, and has no
confidence for the time to come! These are the honours paid to him (Julian) by Earth, or if
you choose, by Neptune himself; but on the part of the Seasons, famines and pestilences,
destroying alike man and beast, just as though it were not lawful for creatures upon earth to
enjoy health now that he has departed! What wonder then is it, if such being the state of
things, many a one, like myself, deems it a loss not to have died before! and yet I for my part
had begged the gods not to honour this admirable man after such fashion, but rather with a
progeny of children, advanced old age, and length of reign. But of that Lydian king,
Athanasii Vita Ex Photio, PG 25, p. 210:

When so many evils beset the whole world at the beginning of Valentinians and Valens
consulships, men were indeed punished by plagues from above. For there was an earthquake,
than which none has been greater, nor, it is hoped, will be. When other cities were
overthrown, more than a hundred were thrown into ruin in Crete. The sea, having exceeded its
boundaries, flooded certain places, so that many areas which were previously farmland
became navigable, which was most unusual; in other places it merely flowed out, so that ships
were left high and dry.
Consularia Constantinopolita, MGH AA 9, p. 240:
During the consulship of Valentinian and Valens, the sea burst its bounds on the twelfth day
before the Kalends of August (21 July).
John of Niki, Chronicle, 82.21-23:
And in those days there appeared a miracle through the intervention of the apostolic S.
Athanasius, the father of the faith, patriarch of Alexandria. When the sea rose against the city
of Alexandria and, threatening an inundation, had already advanced to a place called
Heptastadion, the venerable father accompanied by all the priests went forth to the borders of
the sea, and holding in his hand the book of the holy Law he raised his hand to heaven and
said : 'O Lord, Thou God who liest not, it is Thou that didst promise to Noah after the flood
and say : "I will not again bring a flood of waters upon the earth".'. And after these words of
the saint the sea returned to its place and the wrath of God was appeased. Thus the city was
saved through the intercession of the apostolic S. Athanasius, the great star.
George Hamartolos, Chronicon, PG 110, p. 690:
In the same times a great and terrible earthquake happened so that at Alexandria the sea
flowed out a long way, and ship were left stranded on dry land. When many people came
running out to see this extraordinary wonder, the sea flowed back beyond its accustomed
limits, and 50 000 people were drowned. The water covered over ships which had been driven
to Alexandria, and those which were found on the Nile the river had driven with great force
180 stadia over dry land. Indeed, when the water receded, it happened that many parts of
Crete, Achaea, Boeotia, Epirus and Sicily were lost. And many ships, carried by the waves
were deposited on mountains 100 stadia high; and the most parts of the Isles and the African
coasts were laid low. Almost all parts of the earth which are by the sea were swallowed up,
some by earthquake, others by a flood of the sea. In both the deeps and the great seas around
the Adriatic and the Aegean and in most other places, the waters stood up like a wall and the
sea seemed dry. And many ships were found languishing in the depths only to be cast up by
the returning sea. Earthquakes continued after this one, and Nicaea and Bithynia was
completely destroyed with its surrounding towns, together with many buildings and fields. A
city of the Hellespont called Germe was flattened to its foundations, and in diverse places
many cracks opened in the ground, so that out of fear men stayed on the mountains. And
many animals and men died from hunger.
John Cassian, Conferences 11.3, NPNF 2-11:

And so he took his staff and scrip, as is there the custom for all monks starting on a journey,
and himself led us as guide of our road to his own city, i.e., Panephysis (the modern El
Manzala in Egypt), the lands of which and indeed the greater part of the neighbouring region
(formerly an extremely rich one since from it, as report says, everything was supplied for the
royal table), had been covered by the sea which was disturbed by a sudden earthquake and
overflowed its banks, and so (almost all the villages being in ruins) covered what were
formerly rich lands with salt marshes, so that you might think that what is spiritually sung in
the psalm was a literal prophecy of that region. He has turned rivers into a wilderness; and the
springs of waters into a thirsty land: a fruitful land into saltness for the wickedness of them
that dwell therein. In these districts then many towns perched in this way on the higher hills
were deserted by their inhabitants and turned by the inundation into islands.
Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah, PL 24, p.168:
I heard from an inhabitant of Areopolis (but the whole city witnessed the event) that a great
earthquake (May 363) occurred when I was a child, and the sea swept in over the shores of the
whole world (July 365), and the city walls collapsed that same night.
Jerome, Life of Saint Hilarion, NPNF 2-6, 40 and 42:
At that time there was an earthquake over the whole world, following on the death of Julian,
which caused the sea to burst its bounds, and left ships hanging on the edge of mountain
steeps. It seemed as though God were threatening a second deluge, or all things were
returning to original chaos. When the people of Epidaurus saw this, I mean the roaring waves
and heaving waters and the swirling billows mountain-high dashing on the shore, fearing that
what they saw had happened elsewhere might befall them and their town be utterly destroyed,
they made their way to the old man (Hilarion), and as if preparing for a battle placed him on
the shore. After making the sign of the cross three times on the sand, he faced the sea,
stretched out his hands, and no one would believe to what a height the swelling sea stood like
a wall before him. It roared for a long time as if indignant at the barrier, then little by little
sank to its level. Epidaurus and all the region roundabout tell the story to this day, and
mothers teach their children to hand down the remembrance of it to posterity.
()
Having then entered Paphos, the city of Cyprus renowned in the songs of the poets, the ruins
of whose temples after frequent earthquakes are the only evidences at the present day of its
former grandeur, he began to live in obscurity about two miles from the city, and rejoiced in
having a few days rest.
Jerome, Chronicle, p. 328:
366
An earthquake having occurred throughout the whole world, the shore is invaded by the sea,
and falling debris in innumerable cities of Sicily and of many islands, crushed the people.

Synesius of Cyrene, On Imperial Rule, 2:

Cyrene, a Greek city of ancient and holy name, sung in a thousand odes by the wise men of
the past, but now poor and downcast, a vast ruin, and in need of a king if perchance she is to
do something that maybe worthy of her ancient history.
Socrates of Constantinople, The Ecclesiastical History, 4.3:
While Valens was thus occupied in Syria, there arose a usurper at Constantinople named
Procopius; who having collected a large body of troops in a very short time, meditated an
expedition against the emperor. ()
And while the commotions of a civil war were painfully anticipated, an earthquake occurred
which did much damage to many cities. The sea also changed its accustomed boundaries, and
overflowed to such an extent in some places, that vessels might sail where roads had
previously existed; and it retired so much from other places, that the ground became dry.
These events happened in the first consulate of the two emperors (365 AD).
Sozomen, The Ecclesiastical History, 6.3:
It is, however, very obvious that, throughout the reign of this emperor (Julian), God gave
manifest tokens of His displeasure, and permitted many calamities to befall several of the
provinces of the Roman Empire. He visited the earth with such fearful earthquakes, that the
buildings were shaken, and no more safety could be found within the houses than in the open
air. From what I have heard, I conjecture that it was during the reign of this emperor, or, at
least, when he occupied the second place in the government, that a great calamity
occurred near Alexandria in Egypt, when the sea receded and again passed beyond its
boundaries from the reflux waves, and deluged a great deal of the land, so that on the retreat
of the waters, the sea-skiffs were found lodged on the roofs of the houses. The anniversary of
this inundation, which they call the birthday of an earthquake, is still commemorated at
Alexandria by a yearly festival; a general illumination is made throughout the city; they offer
thankful prayers to God, and celebrate the day very brilliantly and piously. An excessive
drought also occurred during this reign; the plants perished and the air was corrupted; and for
want of proper sustenance, men were obliged to have recourse to the food usually eaten by
other animals.
Zosimus, New History, 4.15.1-2:
After his death (Valentinian I), a thunderbolt struck Sirmium, burning the palace and the
market; interpreters considered this an inauspicious portent for public affairs. And
earthquakes occurred in some places: Crete, the Peloponnese, and the rest of Greece were
severely shaken and many cities were destroyed. Athens and Attica, however, were spared.