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On the morning of 21 July, AD 365, the Eastern Mediterranean was shaken by an earthquake that is generally believed to be the strongest recorded earthquake in the Mediterranean. It probably originated around Crete, Greece, and was followed by a tsunami that hit the Mediterranean coastlines causing many deaths. In Alexandria, tsunami devastation was so severe that the day of the event was commemorated as the "day of horror" for centuries after the event.The earthquake was strong enough to lift parts of Crete by several meters. This upheaval of the island left behind fossil shorelines, which Richard Ott, a scientist...

Traces of tsunami in ancient city of Patara Tuesday, December 27, 2005 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists claim that an ancient lighthouse located in the ancient city of Patara on Antalya's Mediterranean coast might have been destroyed by a tsunami that hit the region in ancient times. The ruins of the lighthouse were discovered two years ago during excavations that are still under way in Patara. Professor Havva Ýþkan Iþýk, head of Akdeniz University's archaeology department, which is conducting studies in the ancient city, said they believed the lighthouse was destroyed by a tsunami since a human skeleton was...

PARIS (AFP) - "The sea was driven back, and its waters flowed away to such an extent that the deep sea bed was laid bare and many kinds of sea creatures could be seen," wrote Roman historian Ammianus Marcellus, awed at a tsunami that struck the then-thriving port of Alexandria in 365 AD. "Huge masses of water flowed back when least expected, and now overwhelmed and killed many thousands of people... Some great ships were hurled by the fury of the waves onto the rooftops, and others were thrown up to two miles (three kilometres) from the shore." Ancient documents...