[blam]

It is my opinion that this explosion provided all the plagues and imagery for the Exodus. The volcano plume would have had to be 30 miles high to have been seen in Egypt, "staff by day, torch by night." The most recent large volcano, Pinatubo in the Phillipines, had a plume 26 miles high. The earthquakes and tsunamis probably caused the 'parting of the sea.'

[blam]

Worldwide tree rings record this event at 1628BC. (+ -)

[SevenDaysInMay]

Bump.

[AnAmericanMother]

This thesis was thoroughly explored by Joseph Alsop in From the Silent Earth, a very clever book that was assigned by my Classical Archaeology professor back in '74 or '75. I have a copy around here somewhere . . .

I'm not sure if it's the same Joseph Alsop who wrote the political column with his brother back in the 50s . . . certainly it's well written and with an immediacy of description that might indicate the journalist.

[what's up]

If it's true that it happened in the early 1400's BC, this would corroborate the theory since the Exodus was probably about this time.

[expatpat]

Interesting connection with Moses et al.

[RightWhale]

Where the Red Sea parted, if indeed that was a historical event, the sea is shallow. A tsunami wouldn't have had much room to get going in that region. There was a tidal wave at Valdez during the Good Friday earthquake that moved the water of Prince William Sound substantially, and the associated earth movement would have been impossible to overlook.

[Grut]

The volcano plume would have had to be 30 miles high to have been seen in Egypt...

A plume 158,000 ft. (30 miles) high could only have been seen in northernmost Egypt, and nowhere else along the eastern Mediterranian coast. The equation is: square root of the altitude in feet times 1.23 equals the distance to the horizon in nautical miles.

It wouldn't have stayed up there very long, either; 30 miles up is a pretty good vacuum. So I doubt it 'led' Moses and the Hebrews anywhere... or if it did, God must have been pissed off at them for not heading for Thera.

Probably the plume left a big impression all around the Aegean that later got incorporated into the Exodus story as 'staff and torch'.

[Poohbah]

If nothing else, it sure didn't do the poor schmucks living on Santorini any favors.

[farmfriend]

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[rmlew]

BTW, I think this explains atlantis as well.

[livius]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting.

[aruanan]

Exodus to Arthur bump!

[Utopia]

I was always taught Thera->direct correlation to the downfall of Crete.

Further, I was always taught that Thera was the origin of the Atlantis myth. Plato got everything right EXCEPT for the location of the island. Its an interesting argument, but it really pains me to think Plato could be wrong ...

[eleni121]

I've spend several holidays on absolutely beautiful Thera as it is called by the locals (not Santorini) and I can attest to the fact that whatever happened was monumental...the crater is huge and the ash from that long ago earthquake still covers many of the beaches there.

Vegetables grown on Thera are delectable - the best tomatoes I have ever tasted. I guess it must be the volcanic soil.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

(another) BUMP for later read

[SunkenCiv]

The eruption that created that broken doughnut version of Santorini we see today took place 23,000 years ago. The chemical signatures in the ice cores don't match Thera. And by the way, I am lovin' this book. Figuratively.

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---

The Future of the Past: Archaeology in the 21st Century by Eberhard Zangger

[SunkenCiv]

Please Note: this is a Three Year Old topic, I'm just doing some housekeeping.

[SunkenCiv]