543 Tsunami: Black Sea, Turkey

543, 40.3 N, 28 E, earthquake intensity 10.5. Many sources report a strong earthquake affecting the town of Cyzicus (Asia Minor), destroying the city. The date of occurrence is uncertain: some authors date the event in 542 B.C., others in 543 B.C. or in 544/545. According to Giudoboni, the description of anomalous sea behavior in Thrace is dated 544/545 B.C. In area of Odessos (today Varna), Dionisopolis (today Balchik) and Afrodision the sea went out of its coasts as far as 4000 steps (about 5.8 km) in the Thrace coast. Many people drowned. (ref #4139)

542 (possibly 543, Sept. 6), winter. Region of the Sea of Marmara. An earthquake. Cyzicus was destroyed. In some places, the shore of Thrace was flooded for 3-4 km including Odessus, (i=4). The sea returned to its normal state after many people were killed and much damage done. Waves were observed in Dionysioupolis, Aphrodesion, in the Gulf of Edremit, in Asia Minor where many towns were flooded. There exists no reliable information on the preceding earthquake, but values of its parameters are available: 40.3 N, 27.8 E, M = 6.8. (ref #2130)

542 Winter. Sea of Marmara. Thracian Coasts and Gulf of Edremit. From Cedrinos we learn that in the reign of Justinianus the sea flooded the coasts of Thrace and that the cities of Odessa (Varna), Dionysioupolis, Aphrodesion and other towns in the gulf of Adramyttium were inundated. The sea in many places advanced four miles inland and after drowning many people and causing heavy damage to the land retired to its habitual places... Neither Cedrinos nor Glycas imply in any way that the inundation of the Thracian coasts was the result of an earthquake. We notice, however, that Theophanes and Cedrinos mention in this period an earthquake which devastated Kyzicos (Banderma) and damaged Constantinople. This earthquake can be easily placed in the beginning of Sept 542 AD. This inundation of Thracian and Aegean coasts shows quite clearly the characteristics of a seismic sea-wave. It does not seem improbable that the cause of this wave was in fact the earthquake at Kyzicos (Banderma). When these two events happen to be so closely spaced together. From the narrations of the writers in the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae on earthquake events of the period, one feels inclined to go even further and suggest the earthquake at Constantinople of 542, that of Kyzikos and the seismic sea-wave that followed belong, if not to the same earthquake, but to the activation of the Marmara region. (ref #24)

544. Black Sea. A destructive sea wave in the Black Sea flooded the coast of Thrace, inundating Odessus (now Varna), Dionysopolis (now Balchik) and Aphrodisium by advancing 4 miles inland, drowning many people before retiring. This event is mentioned by Theophanes, who places it in a.M. 6037 (Sept 544 to Aug 545), or in the 18th year of Justinian (Cedr. CS 657), which commenced in April 544. He does not mention, however, whether this event was associated with an earthquake. (ref #9116)

544/545. [...] the large earthquake of 6 September 543 in Cyzicus, Marmara Sea, was unrelated to the sea wave which took place in 544/545 in the coastal zone of Thrace. In addition, the tsunami reported by some authors as occurring in 557 is a false event. (ref #9391)

A large earthquake occurring offshore of the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea, very likely produced a strong tsunami that inundated in three coastal zones, namely Odessus, today Varna; Dionysopolis, today Balchik; Aphrodisium, situated in the Thracian Peninsula at the Xeros (today Saros) Bay, Northeast Aegean Sea. [...] It is puzzling how a single tsunami event was capable to inundate coastal zones in Bulgarian Black Sea and the same time Thracian coasts facing the North Aegean Sea. This tsunami event is a good example, which indicates several uncertainties that often arise from historical documentation of tsunamis. (ref #11868)