January 31, 1741 Earthquake: Dodecanese, Crete, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece

1741, January 31. 36.2 N 28.5 E. From Ambraseys and Finkel (1995) comes out that in the town and villages of the island of Rhodos all houses were damaged and many were destroyed. In the town more than 100 houses collapsed and the walls and fortifications of Rhodos were damaged. Damage extended to the mainland northeast of the island […] On the island of Meyis (Castellorizo) sorne parts of the outer castle were cracked and badly damaged. Further away in Pirgos the castle almost collapsed. The shock caused sporadic damage in Crete and in Cyprus where the monastery of St. Chrisostomos near Nicosia was damaged and the minaret of a mosque in Famagusta fell. In Cairo, where the duration of the shock was long, it caused terror and four mosques and a few houses were thrown down. Aftershocks continued to be felt until early in February. (reference #4408)

1741, January 31. Rhodes. This was a large, probably intermediate-depth earthquake, with an epicentre off Rhodes. The earthquake happened 1 hour and 15 minutes after midnight on 31 January 1741 (N.S.). In the town and villages of the island of Rhodes all the houses were damaged and many were ruined […] Damage extended to the mainland, to the north of the island, at Davas, Karayuk, Mesevle and Milas, for which there are no details […] On the island of Meyis (Castellorizo) some parts of the outer castle were cracked and badly damaged. Further away, the shock seems to have rendered close to collapse the castles of Yilan Baslik(?) and Birgos (Kum Burun) in the kaza of Finike. It is said that the shock caused sporadic damage in Crete (Panzac 1985, 38). This is probably the earthquake which sometime in 1741 did some unspecified damage in Cyprus […] In Cairo the earthquake was felt during the night. An eye-witness reports that the shock, which he dates to 19 January 1741 (O.S.) ‘ lasted for five to eight minutes ’ and caused terror. Four or five mosques and a few houses were thrown down (reference #9116)