479 BC Earthquake: Macedonia, Greece

479 B.C. During the seige of Potidaea, a strongly fortified port in Chalcidice, the Persians proceeded to blockade the town on the side of the mainland, since that towards the peninsula of Pallene was inaccessible to them. Then an extraordinary ebb of the sea took place, making it possible for them to make their way on either side of the city towards Pallene. When they were halfway across a flood tide swept over them and drowned many of them. This phenomenon, Herodotus tell us, was not rare at Potidaea, but on this occasion it occurred on a larger scale than usual. The disaster was sufficiently great to make the Persians give up the siege. The source does not mention an earthquake. The flooding of the coast is well described in the sources, with no mention of an earthquake being felt before or at the time of the event, with the additional remark that this was not a rare event in this part of Greece. Had an earthquake been felt, they would not have missed the opportunity to note it. Yet modern writers associate this event with an earthquake to which they even assign a magnitude of Ms 7.0 or an intensity of IX. The tidal wave described here could well have had meteorological causes, or been due to submarine slumping, which is known to have produced abnormal flood wave in this part of the Chalcidice peninsula in recent times. That the 479-BC flood wave was the result of a large submarine earthquake cannot be ruled out, but there is no evidence for this.

(above from reference #9116)