The 551 Malian Gulf earthquake took place in the Spring of 551 in the vicinity of the

Malian Gulf The Malian or Maliac Gulf ( el, Μαλιακός Κόλπος, Maliakós Kólpos) is a gulf in the western Aegean Sea. It forms part of the coastline of Greece's region of Phthiotis. The gulf stretches east to west to a distance of , depending on ...

. It affected the cities of Echinus and

Tarphe Tarphe ( grc, Τάρφη) was a town of the Epicnemidian Locrians on the Boagrius River. It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad''. Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed ...

.Antonopoulos, 1980

Background

During the 4th century, an earthquake took place in the

Gulf of Corinth The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf ( el, Κορινθιακός Kόλπος, ''Korinthiakόs Kόlpos'', ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isth ...

. It caused thousands of deaths and reportedly damaged the cities of

Chaeronea Chaeronea (English: or ; el, Χαιρώνεια , ) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which ...

Coroneia Koroneia ( el, Κορώνεια, before 1915: Κουτουμουλάς - ''Koutoumoulas'') is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which it is a ...

Naupactus Nafpaktos ( el, Ναύπακτος) is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos. It is named for Naupaktos (, Latinize ...

, and

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. The city of

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

itself was probably also damaged, though this in not directly stated in the primary sources.Antonopoulos, 1980 According to the 6th-century historian

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gener ...

, this earthquake created new chasms. They reportedly remained open and "formed steps". Transportation between the local settlements became more difficult, with Procopius reporting a requirement of many

detour __NOTOC__ A detour or (British English: diversion) is a (normally temporary) route taking traffic around an area of prohibited or reduced access, such as a construction site. Standard operating procedure for many roads departments is to route an ...

s to reach one's destination.Antonopoulos, 1980 A similar deformation of the ground is mentioned by the 5th-century historian

Evagrius Scholasticus Evagrius Scholasticus ( el, Εὐάγριος Σχολαστικός) was a Syrian scholar and intellectual living in the 6th century AD, and an aide to the patriarch Gregory of Antioch. His surviving work, ''Ecclesiastical History'' (), compris ...

.Antonopoulos, 1980 Based on their description, the event marked a fault break which extended to the surface of the ground.Antonopoulos, 1980

Main event

According to Procopius, in 551 the region of the Malian Gulf was shaken by a new earthquake. The earthquake was then followed by a seismic sea-wave (

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

). There reportedly was a sudden "influx of the sea" in the

gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...

between the regions of

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

and

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its lar ...

. The cities of Echinus and Tarphe were flooded by the tsunami, and were immediately "levelled".Antonopoulos, 1980 Procopius reports that the islands of the Gulf became reachable to

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically. The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...

s, since the sea had abandoned them. But when the sea returned to its proper place, it left behind fish on the ground.Antonopoulos, 1980 There is some doubt on whether Procopius was conflating two different earthquakes, one which took place in the

, and another in the Malian Gulf. The geophysicist

August Heinrich Sieberg August Heinrich Sieberg (born 23 December 1875 in Aachen; died 18 November 1945 in Jena) was a German geophysicist. He researched mainly in the field of seismology and developed a seismic intensity scales as well as a tsunami intensity scale. Si ...

(20th century) considered this to have been a single earthquake, but geophysicist Angelos Galanopoulos (20th century) considered this a description of two earthquakes. The journal ''Annals of Geophysics'' considered the second option more likely, because a singular earthquake of that magnitude would have affected more cities.Antonopoulos, 1980 This was likely the same earthquake which Procopius reported as causing a collapse in the

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

s of

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: (''Thermopylai'') , Demotic Greek (Greek): , (''Thermopyles'') ; "hot gates") is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur ...

.Antonopoulos, 1980 Procopius reports that the earthquake coincided in time with a military expedition of the general

Narses , image=Narses.jpg , image_size=250 , caption=Man traditionally identified as Narses, from the mosaic depicting Justinian and his entourage in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna , birth_date=478 or 480 , death_date=566 or 573 (aged 86/95) , allegi ...

against the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the larg ...

, dating the event to the final years of the Gothic War.Antonopoulos, 1980 While Procopius connected this earthquake to pre-existing seismic faults, the journal ''Annals of Geophysics'' considered another possible cause for it. Submarine

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...

s within the Malian Gulf may have been triggered by the initial earthquake. The stability of the local slopes was apparently sufficiently disturbed to cause subsequent events, such slumping of the coasts.Antonopoulos, 1980

Surrounding events

The year 551 included several other earthquakes in the regions of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. In the city of Botrys (modern

Batroun Batroun ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرُون '; Syriac script: ܒܬܪܘܢ ') is a coastal city in northern Lebanon and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is the capital city of Batroun District. Etymology The name ''Batr ...

) a natural harbour was reportedly created this year, due to the collapse of the mountain Lithoprosopos (modern

Theoprosopon Theoprosopon is the Greek name of Lithoprosopon, a cape in north Lebanon, also known today by the name of ''Râs ach-Chaq’a’''. The cape is situated between the ancient cities of Batroun and Tripoli. The promontory creates a massive barrie ...

). The chronicler

John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later in ...

(6th century) reports the destruction of many ships in the city's vicinity by a large wave, possibly another tsunami.Antonopoulos, 1980

References

Sources

* {{citation , last1=Antonopoulos , first1= J. , title=Data from investigation of seismic Sea waves events in the Eastern Mediterranean from 500 to 1000 A.D. , year=1980 , publisher=Annals of Geophysics , url =https://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/viewFile/4702/4786 551 550s in the Byzantine Empire 6th-century earthquakes Medieval Central Greece Medieval Thessaly