May 11, 1222 Tsunami: Cyprus Island
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 6.6 earthquake began at Cyprus Island on May 11, 1222 at 06:15 UTC. Its effects were recorded at 2 places.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- May 11, 1222, 06:15 UTC
- Source
- Cyprus Island
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 6.6
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Tsunami intensity (Soloviev-Imamura)
- 4
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
- Source location
- 34.750° N, 32.400° E
The toll
- Deaths
- Many (about 101 to 1,000) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
- Damage
- Severe (about $5 to $25 million) with the earthquake or eruption that caused it
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1222. May. Cyprus. Limassol and Paphos (m=iv). Ogerius Panis and Marchisius Scriba as well as Oliverus Scholasticus record a strong earthquake in Cyprus on May 1222, which did much damage at Lemessos, Nicosia and elsewhere. ..during this earthquake: ... the sea abandoned its habitual places and retreated far into the open sea. Baffa (Paphos) and Limisso (Lemessos) were then submerged by the sea ... and ... the harbour (of Paphos) dried up, and then the town was submerged by the sea…
There is no doubt that this event occurred on May 1222 AD. In all earthquake catalogues this Cyprian earthquake is dated December 25, 1222. The reason for this is that many Latin chronographers considered the shaking of Cyprus as result of the great Lombardian earthquake of 25 December 1222 which shook also Tyrol, and southern Germany and which was followed by many aftershocks till January 11, 1223. This, once more, shows how misleading was the tendency of early chroniclers to treat collectively different earthquakes. (reference #26)
The earthquake was associated with a seismic sea wave, which caused the harbour of Paphos to ‘ dry up ’. Elsewhere in Cyprus, the sea ‘ abandoned its habitual limits and dried up for some distance offshore ’. There is no evidence that the influx of the sea caused any damage on land. Aftershocks continued throughout the day of the earthquake and lasted intermittently for a long time. This event is reported by a large number of sources. Marchius Scriba (writing in the thirteenth or fourteenth century) places it in 1221, focusing on the seismic sea wave which followed the main shock. First, ‘ the earth shook on the island of Cyprus ’, then ‘ the sea, abandoning its usual bounds, left much of the seabed dry ’: as a result of this motion Paphos and Limassol were engulfed to some depth. (reference #9116)
A reference to the seismic sea-wave at Paphos and Limasso is made by Marchisio Scriba, a Genoese notary, who succeeded Ogerio Pane as official annalist to the Republic of Genoa from 1220 onwards: “After these things [negotiations for the surrender to the Arabs of Damietta - a stronghold in the Nile delta conquered by the Crusaders in 1219] […] the earth, saddened as one can imagine by thee loss (of Damietta), shook in the island of Cyprus, and the sea withdrew from the short, leaving a large part of the sea bed quite dry; and Paphos and Limassol were completely submerged by this sea-wave” (reference #10240)
1222 May 11, 06:15 UTC. Definite Tsunami (reference #11164, v.2) Note: Reference #2130 merged this tsunami with that of 1202.
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paphos | Cyprus | 2 | Eyewitness observation of water height | ||||
| Limassol | Cyprus | 58 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1222The 1200sTsunamis of CyprusThe earthquakeThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 101.