Tidal Waves or Tsunamis in Ancient Literature

[Jona Lendering]

There was an interesting programme on telly tonight. It's alleged the Minoan civilisation was wiped out by a tsunami after a massive volcanic eruption. The theory is that was the basis for Plato's story of Atlantis.

It's an old theory, advanced by the excavator of Thera and Jacques Cousteau. It is of course possible that memories of such an event have influenced later thought, but I am not very confident about it. There is about 1,200 years between the Thera eruption and Plato: it is like using Geoffrey of Monmouth to describe pre-Roman Britain - OK, Cymbeline/Cogidubnus did exist, but that's about all there is.

Incidentally, the same programme theorised that the Biblical parting of the Red Sea during the Exodus was the same tsunami. The Red Sea wasn't the real location, but a marshland next to the Nile Delta, which apparently fits with the proper translation of the ancient text.

Main problem is that the Biblical parts about the Exodus are extremely young (before 330, but probably after 400; a recent theory even puts the composition of Genesis/Exodus after Berossus, who wrote in the 280s). If you read the Bible chronologically, you won't encounter Moses and the Exodus until very late.

One of the arguments for the Thera/Exodus connection is the column of fire/smoke that the Hebrews saw. If you accept the connection, it is obviously a reference to the volcano, but if you read the Bible with references to the Temple, you see it as a reference to the permanent sacrificial fire; if, on the other hand, you are influenced by Freud, you see the column as a phallus. All theories pass along the obvious point: the authors describe a miracle - so looking for a natural explanation is (in my opinion) the wrong approach.

The expected eruption in the Canary Islands is expected to cause the worst ever recorded disaster, heading across the Atlantic and engulfing the eastern seaboard of the USA up to 15 miles inland.

I have read that too, but I also recall an article in which the author said that that island was more stable than had been assumed. Thank God for that.