346 Tsunami: Adriatic Sea, Albania

346. Dyrrachium, 41o24'N, 19o24'E, magnitude 6.8, intensity IX. Dyrrachium was swallowed up. (reference #2427)

346. Dyrrachium. The Expositio totius mundi et gentium, which was drawn up around 350-360 A.D. says that the city was destroyed as a divine punishment, perhaps by a seismic sea-wave: "Dyrrachium was destroyed by God because of the evil ways of its people, or rather, so it is said, it was swallowed up and did not reappear". The reading destructa does not appear in the manuscripts of the Expositio, but derives from the Descriptio orbis terrarum, which reads: "it was destroyed, and because of the wrath of God it was swallowed up by the deep and did not reappear". Taking Jerome as his source, Theophanes dates the earthquake to the year of the world 5837 [345 AD.]. Cedrenus places it in the ninth year of the reign of Constantius II. Since he became emperor on 9 September 337, that means 345 or 346. Grumel (1958) is inclined to accept 345. Mazzarino (1984, p.701) dates it to 346 on the basis of Jerome, and reminds us of the religious significance attributed to it. (reference #9285)

AD 345 Dyrachium. A damaging earthquake in Dyrachium (Durazzo). No further details are known. The exact year of its occurrence is not certain; St Jerome writes that ‘Dyrrachium collapsed while the cities of Campania were shaken’. The order in which this information is given could mean that Dyrrachium was shaken at some point during the three days of the Campanian earthquake, or just before. Saint Jerome dates this event to Ol.281.2 (AD 345–346). Theophanes gives a.M. 5837=September 345 to August 346 and Cedrenus gives the ninth year of Constantius II=June 345 to June 346. The most likely period would be the second half of AD 345 (Mar. Scot. iii. 361/705). Guidoboni dates the event to AD 346 and suggests that the shock was associated with a seismic sea wave (Guidoboni et al. 1994, 251–252) for which I could find no evidence. Pavlides et al. (2001) refer to an earthquake inAD 358 or 348, associated with a fault break in Butrint in Albania, saying that it affected Dyrachium, Gjirokastra (Argyrokastro) and Iannina and that it was felt all over Epirus; they cite as their sources twentieth-century catalogues. No such information was found in original sources and it may be considered spurious. (reference #9116)