THE EARTHQUAKE OF 426BC IN N. EVOIKOS GULF REVISITED: AMALGAMATION OF TWO DIFFERENT STRONG EARTHQUAKE EVENTS?

Abstract

An examination of historiographie and seismological studies of the last two centuries showed that probably some of them amalgamated the 426BC earthquake event of Maliakos Gulf with a second earthquake occurring later in the same area. Reexamination of the classical documentary sources regarding the earthquake of 426BC and its associated tsunami revealed the different descriptions of Thucydides and Strabo as well as several inconsistencies that characterize their texts. These imply that possibly two different earthquakes occurred in the area of Maliakos Gulf during the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. This hypothesis is further supported by archaeological evidence which indicates that the destruction horizons found in excavations in Lamia and Oreos were caused by strong earthquake activity. The first is dated around middle 3rd century BC, while the second is dated from 225 to 215BC. Regarding the first of the suggested earthquakes, the information that only Peparethus (Skopelos) was damaged indicates that possibly it wasn't so strong. Chronologically this event should be placed on the summer of 426B.C. On the contrary, it seems that the second event was very strong, given that it affected many places in a large area of destruction. This earthquake probably occurred after 426B.C. and its terminus post quern is around 200B.C. The archaeological destruction may represent the earthquake described by Strabo that is the second event.