216 BC Earthquake: Cadiz, Spain

218 B.C. 36 deg 12 min N, 07 deg 40 min W, Golfo de Cadiz. Tsunami. (ref #1193)

216-218 B.C. 36 deg 12 min N. 07 deg 40 min W, Cadiz. Tsunami. (ref #2764)

[Ocampo] describes it saying: "The island of Cadiz and all the sea coast of Andalucia suffered large earthquakes which destroyed buildings, killed people, and caused terrible damages and the sea flooded many places" (La isla de Cadiz y toda la marina frontera de Andalucia padecio grandes terremotos o temblores que derrocaron edificios, mataron gentes y causaron danos terribles y la mar anego muchos lugares). Mariana (1601) only says that in the year 218 B.C. there were several earthquakes in Spain. Moreira (1758) follows Mariana (1601) and dates an earthquake in 218 B.C. The catalogue of Martınez-Solares and Mezcua (2002) places an earthquake in SW of Saint Vincent Cape and dates it in 218 B.C., following Moreira (1758). As the first reference is that of Ocampo (1543), the year must be 216 B.C. Here, again, we have reference to earthquakes and flooding in Cadiz, which may correspond to the occurrence of large earthquakes followed by tsunamis in the area of Saint Vincent Cape. Lack of references by more or less contemporary Roman authors could lead to think that Ocampo (1543) mention of the earthquakes of 241 B.C. and 216 B.C. could refer to the same event or events which may have taken place around the middle of the thirteenth century B.C. (ref #12772)

218 (217, 216) B.C. To find the correct year, in the beginning of chapter 40 Ocampo says "As it arrived the beginning of the following year that was the year 216 before Our Lord Jesus Christ"(Llegado el principio del ano siguiente que fue 216 antes de N.S. Jesucristo). In chapter 45he says "four months after he moved from Cartagena", therefore the events related in chapter 44 are in the same year 216 B.C. not two years before in 218 B.C. [...]the historical reference is weak. Ocampo and Mariana talk about large earthquakes together with other prodigious signs with predicted the future disasters that affected Spain caused by the war between the Roman and Carthaginians; the mention of earthquakes may be only a literary tool with no factual evidence. (ref #12774)

The next cataclysm in Ocampo’s Cronica also occurred in Cadiz, where there would have been an earthquake and a sea flood in the year that Hannibal’s expedition set out for Italy, which the chronicler dates, erroneously, to 216 BC: "As to conditions that year [216 BC], the two Julians claim that, judging by the accounts to be found in certain Spanish chronicles, it is known that there was an abundance of food and products of the land, but not so as regards people’s health, with plagues and diverse maladies in some Spanish provinces. The island of Cadiz and the entire coast of Andalusia were shaken by major earthquakes or tremors that destroyed buildings and killed people, and wreaked terrible havoc there. The sea flooded many areas that were first exposed and expelled many fish, both common and known and those never seen before. Armed hosts were heard in the air, without knowing from where the din came, all being signs and portents of the dismay and woes that came to pass shortly afterwards, with the wars and savagery that commenced there … (Ocampo 1553, p. 262v, my translation from original in Spanish)". As observed above, Hannibal’s expedition set out for Italy in 218 BC. It should be noted that Ocampo is always two or three years out with respect to the real chronology of developments during the Second Punic War. In any case, the description of the earthquake and, above all, the effects of the tsunami are extraordinarily plausible (ref #13258)