Historical earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and comets in the eastern Mediterranean and the Sinai sub-plate: evidence from two little-known Greek documents

The eastern Mediterranean region is characterized by high seismicity which has been documented by instrumental data and historical reporting. Strong submarine or coastal earthquakes often are associated by tsunami waves. We improve the earthquake and tsunami historical documentation in the eastern Mediterranean, including the Sinai sub-plate, with the study of two Greek documents that remained little-known to the seismological community. The first document is the Historia chronike written by the Byzantine chronicler John (Ioannis) of Antioch during the AD seventh century. The second is the book Epitome of Holly and Secular History of Sinai, written by Patriarch Nektarios during the seventeenth century. Both documents provide new information about earthquakes, tsunamis, one volcanic eruption and comets observed in the eastern Mediterranean region in various time periods. New evidence is presented about the puzzling earthquake and tsunami that caused destruction in Phoenicia in 138/135 BC, the AD 634 Palestine damaging earthquake, the tephra fall which was associated with a small volcanic eruption in NW Arabia in AD 639/640, the AD mid-eighth century destructive earthquakes in Palestine and Jordan and an associated destructive tsunami in the coast of Phoenicia. New information is revealed about the very little-known earthquakes of AD 1091 and the damaging seismic sequence of AD 1212 (or 1312) in St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai. The synchronization of some earthquake events with astronomical phenomena, like the apparition of comets and sun eclipses, supported dating the events more precisely.