August 24, 358 Earthquake: Iznik, Izmit [nicomedia], Turkey

358, August 24. Nicomedia. A destructive earthquake in Bithynia in western Anatolia almost totally destroyed Nicomedia (Izmit) and its district. The shock was felt over a large area and had social repercussions.

In Nicomedia churches, public buildings, the hippodrome and the docks were destroyed and houses were carried down the slopes oft he hills on which Nicomedea was built, killing most of the people; amongst others, the vice-governor, the bishop Cecropius and a bishop from the Bosphorus, and according to others, 15 other bishops, who had arrived before the rest, shattering the church. The upper part of the city seems to have suffered less; Arsacius was found dead in an unshaken citadel tower, which was not destroyed.

The greater part of the temples and private houses, and of the population as well, might have been saved, had not a conflagration burned for five days after the earthquake. Those who survived fled into the country.

It was reported that Nicaea, Perinthus and Constantinople had been destroyed, but this report cannot be true. Nicaea (Iznik) must have suffered less because transferring the synod to that city was considered, but the proposal was abandoned on account of the situation created by the earthquake in the province of Bithynia.

Constantinople suffered some damage, but apart from the church of the Apostales (later Fatih camii; Muler-Wiener 1977, 405) it is not known what else was damaged. Perinthus (modern Marmaraerglisi) and many other towns were damaged, but details are lacking. In addition another 150 towns in Bithynia, the names of which are not given, were partly damaged, the shocks triggering landslides and ground deformation in the region of Nicomedea.

The flooding by the sea of the lower parts of Nicomedea was probably the result of the tempest, rather than a seismic sea wave. There is no mention of sea waves elsewhere. The shock caused concern and probably triggered landslides as far as Macedonia (east Thrace) and the district of Pontus in Asia Minor, but again details are lacking. Nicomedea was restored with the help of the Emperor, who rebuilt public buildings, theatres, churches, colonnades and the harbour, as well as the church of Anthimus.

An oration was composed on the occasion, and the event is mentioned by almost all near-contemporary writers. However, it appears that the effects of the earthquake were less catastrophic than individual reports seem to indicate. Far more was rumored to have happened to those at a distance than had actually happened, and both pagan and ecclesiastical writers seem to exaggerate the destruction, attributing it to the wrath of their gods.

Impressively many sources survive for this earthquake: the effects on Nicomedea were of intense interest to near-contemporary ecclesiastical historians, insofar as the earthquake prevented a synod from being held in Nicomedea. This was at the time of the Arian dispute, and the Nicomedea Synod was intended as an orthodox rival to the Arian synod held in Arinium. Predictably the Arian writer Philostorgius sees the earthquake as suppressing an impious synod, and talks about the inundation of Nicomedea by a sea wave, while the orthodox writer Sozomen attemps to show that the accounts of the destruction of Nicomedea were exaggerated. By way of mitigation he points out that Nicaea, Perinthus and Constantinople were also affected, and that the citadel tower of Nicomedea survived.

(above from reference #9116)

358, August 24. A tremendous earthquake in Macedonia, Little Asia, Greece, Syria, Egypt, Tsunami, Nicomedia [Izmit] in Bithynia suffered most. (reference #1149)

358, August 24. 40.77 N, 29.9 E. Intensity VII. At Iznik. (reference #1071)

358, August 24. Asia Minor, Bithynia, and Macedonia. (reference #521)