241 BC Earthquake: Cadiz, Spain

246 B.C. Golfo de Cadiz (reference #12773)

The first earthquake is dated by Ocampo (1543) in 241 B.C. saying that "near Cadiz the earth roared and part of the island was flooded" (cerca de Cadiz bramo la tierra, y anegose parte de la isla). Mariana (1601) tells in that year of "ordinary earthquakes that it is said to have caused that a part of the island of Cadiz was opened and sunk into the sea" (ordinarios temblores de tierra, con que una parte de la isla de Cadiz dicen se abrio y se hundio en el mar). The earthquake appears in the list of Moreira (1758) who takes it from Mariana (1601), but erroneously dates it in 246 B.C. The earthquake figures in the different Spanish catalogues up to the most recent of Martinez-Solares and Mezcua (2002) dating it, following Moreira, in 246 B.C. Since the oldest reference is that of Ocampo (1543) the correct date must be 241 B.C. Alvarez-Marti-Aguilar (2017) indicates that this is the first reference of an earthquake of the Iberian Peninsula located in Cadiz. The reference to the sinking in the sea of part of the island of Cadiz may indicate that this could have been a very large earthquake followed by a tsunami in the Saint Vincent Cape area [...] Lack of references by more or less contemporary Roman authors could lead to think that Ocampo (1543) mention of the earthquakes of 241B.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. (reference #12772)

246 (241-242) B.C. However, we only have the testimony of de Mariana (1601) for the occurrence of the 241 B.C. earthquake with no reference to any contemporary source. There is no way to be sure that such an event took place in that year.(reference #12774)

With the cataclysm that struck Cadiz in 241 BC, Ocampo recounts a sequence of four events relating to natural catastrophes, all occurring in the second half of the third century BC, whose common denominator is the Phoenician city or its vicinity. The chronicler offers a description of the first of these events in the chapter devoted to the end of the First Punic War (264–241 BC): "There are also some chronicles which indicate that it was a year [241 BC] characterised by the lack of rain in different regions of Spain. Because of this, the pastures dried up and many cattle and people perished. Sea storms were more frequent and violent than in previous years; and close to Cadiz the earth roared and part of the inland was flooded, while there were terrible manifestations and portents that struck terror into the hearts of the people living in all the neighbouring lands ... (Ocampo 1553, p. 216r, my translation from original in Spanish)." Ocampo does not identify those chronicles (memorias) in which these catastrophic events were supposedly narrated, and there are no references in this regard in the classical literature. The allusion to an earthquake in the vicinity of Cadiz and to the flooding of part of the island vaguely recalls the Platonic account of Atlantis, while bearing some resemblance to Al-Zuhri’s description of the legendary flood engulfing Cadiz, although the Andalusi author does not record any earthquake. (reference #13258)