April 1609 Earthquake: Rhodes, Greece

1609, April. 36.4 N, 28.4 E, magnitude 7.2 It ruined half of the town of Rhodes, including the castle, and many people were drowned by the sea wave caused by the earthquake. It was felt in various places in Egypt and in the Syrian coast (Ambraseys and Finkel, 1995). (reference #4408)

1609, April. This appears to have been a rather large earthquake, which ruined Rhodes, damaged various places along the southern coast of Asia Minor, and was felt along the Syrian coast, particularly at Saida, as well as on Crete. It caused great panic in Cairo and considerable concern in Alexandria, Rosetta and Damietta, but no damage (Anon. 1609; Wilden 1613, 226–227; AGS Secc. Estado, leg. 1434, 1609). News of an earthquake in Rhodes was published in Venice on 8 May 1609; half of the town, including the castle, was ruined, and a grossly exaggerated figure of over 10 000 people was reported drowned by a seismic sea wave (Schone 1940, sect. 20, citing Zeitung aus Venedig ,8 May 1609). According to a document dated 10 Muharram a.H. 1018 (16 April 1609), the people of the island of Rhodes were ordered to give three days’ labour to help repair ‘ those places of Rhodes castle which are damaged in an earthquake ’ (BBA MD 78.698). Further details are lacking. (reference #9116)

A large tsunamigenic earthquake caused destruction at Rhodes city in April 1609: “...half of the town, including the castle was ruined, and [an exaggerated figure of] over 10000 people were reported drowned by a seawave...” (reference #13796)