341 Tsunami: Cyprus Island

342, Cyprus, Famagusta. During the years 341 to 343 a series of destructive earthquakes occurred in the Southern coasts of Asia Minor and in the island of Cyprus. These events are mentioned by many chroniclers of the time, who do not agree on the date of the earthquake in Cyprus. A most interesting analysis of these texts was made by Sathas (1873), who proved beyond doubt that the earthquake in Cyprus should have occurred in 342 AD, and that minor seismic activity might have proceeded and followed this earthquake. Allowing for natural exaggerations, there can not have been much of Salamis in Cyprus left standing after this, and the emperor rebuilt it as Constantia (Sathas 1873). Paphos was so badly damaged, that it was not for some time rebuilt.

In many earthquake catalogues we find the information that during this earthquake Salamis was flooded by a seismic seawave, but we can find no reference to such an event in the chronics of the time, except in Oberhummer's work (p. 140) who missinterprets Malalas's statement on this earthquake. Malalas says :

<<...in the reign of Constantinus Chloros (3), Salamias (Salamis) in Cyprus suffered; the earthquake made the largest part of the city to sink into the sea and threw the rest of it on the ground...>> (p. 313).

Oberhummer in transcribing the Greek text from Malalas omitted three words from the third line, so that the translation of the text reads << the city was overwhelmed by the sea >>. The complete text, however reads << the city sunk into the sea >>, which, as it should, does not allude to a seismic sea-wave.

It appears, therefore, that this missinterpretation of Malalas's statement by Oberhummer, lead later authors to believe that the 342 earthquake in Cyprus was accompanied by a seismic seawave. It is quite clear, however, that the result of the 342 earthquake was to make part of the city of Salamis to slump and sink into the bay of Famagusta, in a similar manner as Helice did in the Gulf of Corinth in 373 BC.

(above from reference #23)

342, Cyprus. Famagusta. 155 (p. la), 182. Oberhummer misinterprets the Greek text in Malalas's narrative for this earthquake; 34 (xii, 0415). No seismic sea-wave accompanied this earthquake. (reference #20)

342, Cyprus. Famagusta. (reference #15)

342, Island of Cyprus. The city of Paphos was completely destroyed by an earthquake. The harbour part of the city slid down into the sea with all its constructions. Many small rivers changed their beds (reference #2130)

342. The harbour of Paphos slid down into sea; the tsunami waves were observed on the SW, S and SE shores of Cyprus and in the Bay of Famagusta. Listed as definite tsunami (reference #9275)

341 Salamis, Antioch. An earthquake during the second half of AD 341 caused the greater part of Salamis, on the east coast of Cyprus, to collapse and the rest of the city to slump into the sea, killing many people […] The earthquake happened immediately after the Synod held in Antioch during the summer of AD 341, and caused great panic in the city, although apparently no damage […] Modern cataloguers (Oberhummer 1903, 140; Guidoboni 1989, 674) read the Greek text (Mal. CS. 313) to mean that the earthquake was associated with a seismic sea wave. My reading of the text does not imply the occurrence of a seismic sea wave. (reference #9116)