373 BC Tsunami: Corinthos-Patras Gulf, Greece

373 B.C. Earthquake intensity XI, magnitude 7.3, tsunami intensity v, event validity 4. A violent earthquake accompanied by a seismic sea wave, completely destroyed Helice and Bura, in the coast of Acaia (Corinthiakos Gulf) during a night. Detailed description in many coeval sources. A lot of victims, most of them killed by the earthquake. In the following morning the sea rose to a vast height and a wave towering even higher washed away and drowned the survivors. All the inhabitants perished. 10 warships wrecked by the tsunami. During the second part of XX century underwater exploration have been carried out for the identification of the ruins of Helice and Bura. (ref #4139)

373 B.C. Following the earthquake, as day dawned [4], a seismic sea wave rose in the west part of the Gulf [3], engulfing the open country and towns along the coast, which are not named in the sources, completing the destruction; Helice was overwhelmed and no dead bodies could be recovered [2] and ten ships at anchor in the roadstead were destroyed [7]. One hundred and fifty years later a writer saw the submerged site and was told by boatmen that a statue standing upright in the deep was a threat to their nets. The ruins of the town were still visible in the shallows five centuries later [8] [...] What the sources tell us is that the town of Helice was totally destroyed by a massive, shallow slip of the ground that caused the site to settle eventually below sea level. Shortly after the earthquake a retrogressive submarine slide set up a large sea wave that completed the destruction. (ref #9116)

373 B.C. Definite tsunami. Large earthquake associated with the Helike fault at the south coast of West Corinth Gulf. A reconstruction based on the existing classical descriptions showed that a sequence of three geophysical events may have taken place: (1) large earthquake, (2) extensive ground failure and coastal subsidence, (3) tsunami (Papadopoulos, 1998b). According to the descriptions that can be found in classical sources (Aristoteles (384-322 AD), 1982; Diodoros, (historian, I cent. BC), 1933; Pausanias, (II cent. AD) 1973; Strabo, ( 64 BC - 19 AD), 1852) the ancient city of Helike, located at a distance of about 7 km east of the modern city of Aeghion, was destroyed by the strong earth shaking, submerged because of the ground subsidence and inundated by the high tsunami wave. (ref #11164)

373 B.C. a violent earthquake, accompanied by a seismic sea-wave, destroyed Helice and Bura, two cities situated on the coast of Achaia in the Gulf of Corinth (ref #9285)

373 B.C. Winter, night. Ionian Sea, Gulf of Corinth. A strong underground shock destroyed Boura and Helike, situated on the southern coast of the gulf. Helike was completely flooded with water and all its inhabitants were killed (ref #2130)

373 B.C. Winter. - Peloponnesus (Achaia), 38 1/4 deg N, 22 1/4 deg E. Boura and Helice on the south coast of the Gulf of Corinth were ruined by a severe shock. A large slump sent Helice to the bottom of the sea. 10 warships were wrecked by the tsunami which followed (ref #109)

373 B.C. Winter. Gulf of Corinth. Helice (tsunami intensity v) (ref #15)

373 B.C. Winter. Gulf of Corinth. Helice. 38 1/4 deg N, 22 1/4 deg E, earthquake intensity XI, tsunami intensity v (ref #20)

The results of sedimentological analyses (Kortekaas et al., 2011; Engel et al., 2016) tend to exclude the possibility of a significant fourth-century B.C. tsunami in the wider Aigion area. (ref #13056)