365 Crete Earthquake - Literary Evidence

Literary Evidence

Historians continue to debate the question whether ancient sources refer to a single catastrophic earthquake in AD 365, or whether they represent a historical amalgamation of a number of earthquakes occurring between AD 350 and 450. The interpretation of the surviving literary evidence is complicated by the tendency of late antique writers to describe natural disasters as divine responses or warnings to political and religious events. In particular, the virulent antagonism between rising Christianity and paganism at the time led contemporary writers to distort the evidence. Thus, the Sophist Libanius and the church historian Sozomenus appear to conflate the great earthquake of AD 365 with other lesser ones to present it as either divine sorrow or wrath—depending on their viewpoint—for the death of emperor Julian, who had tried to restore the pagan religion, two years earlier.

On the whole, however, the relatively numerous references to earthquakes in a time which is otherwise characterized by a paucity of historical records strengthens the case for a period of heightened seismic activity. Kourion on Cyprus, for example, is known to have been hit then by five strong earthquakes within a period of eighty years, leading to its permanent destruction. Additional evidence for the particularly devastating effect of the AD 365 earthquake is provided by a survey of excavations which document the destruction of many late antique towns and cities in the Eastern Mediterranean around AD 365.