SANTORINI/THERA HISTORY - (Not Atlantis- Related)

[Bianca]

Historical impact


 
The Minoan devastated the nearby Minoan settlement at Akrotiri on Santorini, which was entombed in
a layer of pumice.

It is believed that the eruption also severely affected the Minoan population on Crete, although the extent of the impact is debated. Early theories proposed that ashfall from Thera on the eastern half of Crete choked off plant life, causing starvation of the local population.

However, after more thorough field examinations, this theory has lost credibility, as it has been determined that no more than 5 millimeters (0.2 in) of ash fell anywhere on Crete.

Other theories have been proposed based on archeological evidence found on Crete indicating that a tsunami, likely associated with the eruption, impacted the coastal areas of Crete and may have severely devastated the Minoan coastal settlements.

A more recent theory is that much of the damage done to Minoan sites resulted from a large earthquake that preceded the Thera Eruption.

Significant Minoan remains have been found above the Late Minoan I era Thera ash layer, implying that the Thera eruption did not cause the immediate downfall of the Minoans. As the Minoans were a sea power and depended on their naval and merchant ships for their livelihood, the Thera eruption likely caused significant economic hardship to the Minoans -- and probable loss of empire in the long run.

Whether these effects were enough to trigger the downfall of the Minoan civilization is under intense debate. The Mycenaean conquest of the Minoans occurred in Late Minoan II period, not many years after the eruption, and many archaeologists speculate that the eruption induced a crisis in Minoan civilization, which allowed the Mycenaeans to conquer them easily.

[Bianca]

Chinese records



Some scientists correlate a volcanic winter from the Minoan eruption with Chinese records documenting the collapse of the Xia dynasty in China.

According to the Bamboo Annals, the collapse of the dynasty and the rise of the Shang dynasty, approximately dated to 1618 BC, were accompanied by "'yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals".






Impact on Egyptian history



There are no surviving Egyptian records of the eruption, and the absence of such records is sometimes attributed to the general disorder in Egypt around the Second Intermediate Period. However, there are connections between the Thera eruption and the calamities of the Admonitions of Ipuwer, a text from Lower Egypt during the Middle Kingdom or Second Intermediate Period.

Heavy rainstorms which devastated much of Egypt, and were described on the Tempest Stele of Ahmose I, have been attributed to short term climatic changes caused by the Theran eruption.

This theory is not supported by current archaeological evidence which show no pumice layers at Avaris or elsewhere in Lower Egypt during the reigns of Ahmose I and Thutmosis III.

While it has been argued that the damage from this storm may have been caused by an earthquake following the Thera Eruption, it has also been suggested that it was caused during a war with the Hyksos, and the storm reference is merely a metaphor for chaos, upon which the Pharaoh was attempting to impose order.

There is a consensus that Egypt, being far away from areas of significant seismic activity, would not be significantly affected by an earthquake in the Aegean. Furthermore, other documents, such as Hatshepsut's Speos Artemidos, depict similar storms, but are clearly speaking figuratively, not literally.

Research indicates that this particular stele is just another reference to the Pharaoh overcoming the powers of chaos and darkness.

[Bianca]

Greek traditions



The eruption of Thera and volcanic fallout may have inspired the myths of the Titanomachy in Hesiod's Theogony. The background of the Titanomachy may derive from the Kumarbi cycle, a Bronze Age Hurrian epic from the Lake Van region.

However, the Titanomachy itself could have picked up elements of western Anatolian folk memory as the tale spread westward. Hesiod's lines have been compared with volcanic activity, citing Zeus' thunderbolts as volcanic lightning, the boiling earth and sea as a breach of the magma chamber, immense flame and heat as evidence of phreatic explosions, among many other descriptions.


There is some archaeological, seismological, and vulcanological evidence that the myth of Atlantis, described by Plato, is based upon the Santorini eruption.






Biblical traditions



Researchers have claimed that some of the ten plagues resulted from the eruption of Thera; however, the presumed dates of the events of Exodus, approximately 1450 BCE is almost 150 years after the radiometric date of the eruption.

According to the Bible, Egypt was beset by such misfortunes as the transforming of their water supply to blood, the infestations of frogs, gnats, and flies, darkness, and violent hail.

These effects are allegedly compatible with the catastrophic eruption of a volcano in different ways. While the "blood" in the water could have been red tide which is poisonous to human beings, the frogs may have been displaced by the eruption, and their eventual death would have given rise to large numbers of scavenging insects.

The darkness could have been the resulting volcanic winter, and the hail the large chunks of ejecta that spewed from the volcano. The tsunami that resulted from the Thera eruption could have been the basis for the parting of the sea, when the sea receded from the shore immediately prior to the arrival of the tsunami.

Shallow areas of the sea would have allowed the Israelites, under Moses, safe passage across the Red Sea, while the ensuing tsunami devastated the Egyptian army.[citation needed] Exodus mentions that the Israelites were guided by a "pillar of cloud" during the day and a "pillar of fire" at night, and Colin Humphreys, Professor of Material Science at Cambridge University, has argued that a volcanic eruption perfectly fits "the description “pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night”.



Retrieved From


wikipedia.org

[Bianca]

[Bianca]

[Bianca]

   

[Bianca]