Earthquake war
The first earthquake of 'epoch-making importance' struck Sparta in 469-464 BC, occurring at a time when the balance of power between Sparta and Athens was in a delicate state. It took Sparta by surprise, killing more than 20,000 Spartans and immediately leading to internal and external uprisings by its subject peoples. The result was the so-called 'earthquake war' between the Spartans and their neighbours, during which Sparta's refusal to accept help from Athens resulted in increased hostilities between them. These hostilities festered for decades, culminating in 431 BC with the start of the Peloponnesian Wars, a 25-year bloody civil war between Sparta and her allies and Athens and her allies.
'...the summer of 426 BC brought one of the most disastrous earthquakes recorded in the ancient sources.'
Shortly after the start of the Peloponnesian War and the third in a series of epidemics that ravaged Athens, the summer of 426 BC brought one of the most disastrous earthquakes recorded in the ancient sources. Contemporary reporters tell of widespread building collapse, destruction caused by seismic sea-waves (tsunamis) and thousands of victims. Although its effects were concentrated north of Athens, near modern-day Lamia, there were wider ramifications. A Spartan army camped 100km west of Athens at the Isthmus of Corinth were poised to attack the city, but numerous violent earthquakes forced them to flee home.
Meanwhile the seismic sea-wave wreaked havoc along much of the coast north of Athens, including an island called Atalante where an Athenian fort and several warships were destroyed. Accounts by later writers such as Diodorus Siculus (first century BC) and Strabo (first century AD) actually report that the island of Atalante was created as a consequence of the seismic sea wave. The high death toll, widespread damage and dramatic coastline changes would no doubt have exacerbated the tense situation endured by an Athens besieged by war and epidemics.
The Peloponnesian Wars formally ended in 404 BC, though intermittent hostilities continued between Sparta and Athens until a peace treaty in 387 BC. But shortly after this another calamitous earthquake event befell the region: in 373 BC, a violent earthquake, accompanied by a seismic sea wave, destroyed Helike and Bura, two cities situated on the southern shores of the Gulf of Corinth, roughly 150 km west of Athens.
Published: 2001-10-01
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