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A little over 2,500 years ago, a tsunami was the salvation of a Greek city. Potideia had been founded by the Corinthians in 600 BC and was about to be invaded by Persian warriors. It is a strategic region bathed by the Aegean Sea, on the most western peninsula of northern Greece. It was a port trading post on the way to the Black Sea.
It was winter. The Persian invaders took advantage of the persistent low tide, a characteristic that usually precedes such events, in an attempt to invade the peninsular city. However, before they could reach the target, the Persians were surprised by a tsunami.
Potidaia was saved by the seas. Or, as described by the historian Herodotus (485-425 BCE), saved by Poseidon, the god of the seas.
For Herodotus, the gigantic waves were the work of the "vengeful hand" of the Greek god in an "act of mercy". In his words, quoted as the oldest description of a phenomenon of this type, these are the "Poseidon waves". It is true that if the low tide was a dream for the attack of the Persians, the arrival of the tsunami reversed the chance on the Greek side, decimating those who would be looters of the citadel.
The tsunamis being unknown Herodotus clbadified the event as an unprecedented major flood. "There has been a great decline of the sea, which lasted a long time, then a great flood has swept everywhere, more than ever, as we say the inhabitants – although many high tides occur frequently", wrote the ancient historian
According to the report, hundreds of Persian soldiers have drowned.
Archeology
A recent geological study scientifically confirmed that the description of Herodotus corresponded to a tsunami that really affected the region the following year. 479 BC J.-C.
According to the geologist Klaus Reicherter of the University of Aachen in Germany, the badysis of materials extracted from archaeological excavations on the site indicates sediments deposited by waves of " high energy ", that is to say in the fifth century BC. J.-C.
"We interpreted the historical narrative in a scientific way," said the scientist at an event sponsored by the American Seismological Society in San Diego.
The excavation materials had, in a layer corresponding to the century of Herodotus's story, remains of seashells and fragments from earlier eras, indicating that they had been brought from the bottom of the the sea
Reicherter and his team took advantage of the discovery to warn of the risks of new tsunamis in the region, which has become a vacation destination full of resorts. . According to the geologist, scientific confirmation of the accuracy of Herodotus's account indicates that the region is exposed to events of this type.
Herodotus, the "father of history"
Regarded the "father of history", Herodotus was the first not only to try to preserve the past by means of of written accounts, but also to treat it as a project and a philosophical problem for the understanding of the human being
In the work that ended up being known as "The Histories of Herodotus ", he reported facts concerning the invasion of Greece by the Persians in the early fifth century BC. The book was probably written between the years 450 and 430 BC. According to some sources, the historian would have read in 445 BC. Poseidon, god of the seas
The god invoked by Herodotus to explain the phenomenon considered strange, Poseidon, is considered in Greek mythology as the supreme god of the seas – it is also m earthquakes. In the ancient Roman reinterpretation, he called Neptune.
"The Iliad", one of the famous epic poems of ancient Greece – written by Homer – is the first record that makes Poseidon the supreme god of the seas. According to the work, he commanded waves, currents, tides and storms – marine and coastal.
According to Greek mythology, he used water and earthquakes as an instrument of revenge – but he could also collaborate with the Greeks in helping them in war situations. The sailors pleaded with Poseidon for a safe trip and favorable winds. It was thought, however, that his humor was unpredictable.
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