Thera (ancient world)
Thera, also known as Santorini, is the largest island in the Santorini Archipelago, located approximately 62 miles north of Crete. This island is a significant geological formation, primarily recognized as the remnant of a caldera created by a catastrophic volcanic eruption around 1623 B.C.E., one of the largest in recorded history. The eruption buried Bronze Age settlements beneath thick layers of ash and pumice, leading to archaeological discoveries that reveal a thriving Cycladic culture with strong ties to the Minoan culture of Crete.
Among the most notable archaeological sites on Thera is Akroteri, where well-preserved frescoes and multistory houses have been uncovered, reflecting the sophistication of its inhabitants. Unlike other ancient sites affected by volcanic activity, such as Pompeii, there are very few human remains found at Akroteri, suggesting that the residents may have evacuated before the eruption.
The dramatic events surrounding Thera's explosion have also prompted speculation about the myth of Atlantis, as ancient texts describe a powerful civilization that perished in a cataclysm. Some scholars link the devastation of Thera to broader historical narratives, including the Biblical Exodus, highlighting its impact on the ancient world. Overall, Thera remains an important site for understanding ancient civilizations, volcanic activity, and cultural exchange in the Aegean region.
Thera (ancient world)
Related civilizations: Cyclades, Minoa.
Date: 2000-1400 b.c.e.
Locale: Thera (modern Thíra), in the Cyclades
Thera
Thera (THIHR-uh), the largest island in the Santorini Archipelago, is about 62 miles (100 kilometers) north of Crete. Thera and the lesser island, Therasia (modern Thirasía), are remnants of a caldera (crater) rim formed by the collapse of an exploded volcano.
Thera’s latest explosion, probably in 1623 b.c.e., was one of the largest volcanic explosions recorded in human history. In addition to blasting out a caldera, the volcano discharged an estimated 35,000-39,000 cubic yards (27 to 30 cubic kilometers) of volcanic debris, burying Bronze Age settlements on the archipelago with thick ash and pumice. Airborne volcanic ash, mineralogically dated, occurs in archaeological excavations and natural exposures throughout the eastern Mediterranean, as far as the Nile Delta, Israel, and central Anatolia. This ash is about eight inches (twenty centimeters) thick off northern Crete. In addition, the eruption probably caused a tsunami, or tidal wave. Tsunami effects have been observed on the north coast of Crete, and some archaeologists credit a tsunami rather than an earthquake for tumbling large stone blocks in the ruins of Knossos. Also, geologists argue that glowing ash clouds from Thera could have crossed the sea to Crete to start the fires that accompanied Knossos’s destruction. Finally, ash blown into the stratosphere by a large explosive eruption could cause temporary global cooling and crop failures. Indeed, volcanic traces in the Greenland ice cap and stunted growth recorded in tree-rings from California and Ireland indicate global cooling around 1623 b.c.e. and are widely ascribed to Thera’s last explosive eruption.
Archaeological excavations
Before the great explosion, Thera and Therasia supported a thriving culture, named the Cycladic, but broadly included in the contemporaneous Minoan culture on Crete. Cycladic ruins and artifacts were first brought to light in 1866 in pumice quarries opened for the Suez Canal Company on Therasia. In 1869, extensive archaeologic excavation began when archaeologist and volcanologist Ferdinand Fouqué first found Akroteri at the south end of Thera. Between 1895 and 1903, German archaeologists excavated ruins near the town of Thera.
Akroteri, however, remains the most important Cycladic site and is a popular tourist destination. There, the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos began unearthing a rich, beautifully preserved city in 1967. After his death in 1974, Christos Doumas continued the project. The Akroteri excavation includes several large, well-constructed, multistory houses notable for very well-preserved frescos. These frescos completely cover the interior walls of entire rooms, illustrating ships, men, women, children, birds, plants, and monkeys in a naturalistic style. They closely resemble Minoan frescos on Crete but remain the finest uncovered Bronze Age artworks. The frescos, pottery, and other Theran artifacts clearly indicate strong affinity with the Cretan Minoan culture. In contrast to Pompeii and Herculaneum, also overwhelmed by volcanic debris, human remains are notably few on Thera. Either the inhabitants fled the island or they were trapped in an undiscovered refuge.
Thera as Atlantis
Archaeologists and other scholars speculate that Thera’s explosion gave rise to the Atlantis myth. In his Critias (360-347 b.c.e.; English translation, 1793) and Timaeus (360-347 b.c.e.; Timeaus, 1793), Plato describes Atlantis as an island occupied by a highly civilized, powerful empire that, after being struck by violent earthquakes and floods, sinks into the sea during a single day and night. Thera and Knossos’s destruction resembles this myth. Knossos and other Cretan cities and palaces were struck by an earthquake or possibly a tsunami and then destroyed by fire and abandoned at the height of the Minoan culture, about 1450 b.c.e. Akroteri also suffered an earthquake and was temporarily reoccupied before its volcanic destruction. No apparent cultural decline preceded either city’s destruction, and both regions were subsequently occupied by people from mainland cultures. Therefore, although some explain the Cretan disaster as an overwhelming invasion, many archaeologists believe Thera’s eruption caused the destruction on both Thera and Crete.
The sequence of pottery styles, however, indicates that Akroteri’s destruction significantly predates Knossos’s fall. The youngest pottery in Akroteri’s ruins is considered of the same age as that of the Late Minoan IA age, an age defined by sequencing pottery decorative styles. These pots are somewhat older than the Late Minoan IB materials at ruined Knossos. These dates, however, are founded on correlating the Cycladic and Minoan decorative style sequences, and the calendar dates are based on Egyptian hieroglyphic records. None of this, however, is accepted by all archaeologists.
Radiocarbon dates do not support simultaneous destruction of Thera and Minoan Crete. The radiocarbon age of charcoal in the ruins of Akroteri ranges from 1740 to 1550 b.c.e., favoring a seventeenth century b.c.e. date for the eruption and for Minoan IA ceramics on Thera. Radiocarbon dates for Late Minoan IA or IB ceramics at Knossos are imprecise, but the subsequent Late Minoan II periods are placed at around 1510 to 1430 b.c.e. Again, however, many authorities consider the events synchronous.
In addition, Thera’s eruption has been speculatively linked with the reddening of the Nile, pollution of water, and the three-day darkening of the sky reported in the book of Exodus. Pinkish-gray ash blown from Thera, identified in the Nile Delta, easily could have darkened the sky, colored the river, and polluted water supplies. Although the Exodus “plagues” are unrecorded in Egyptian hieroglyphics, historians believe they occurred sometime in the vicinity of Thera’s eruption.
Bibliography
Doumas, Christos G. Thera, Pompeii of the Ancient Aegean. London: Thames and Hudson, 1983.
Forsyth, Phyllis Young. “Thera in the Bronze Age.” American University Studies 9, no. 187 (1997).
Fouqué, Ferdinand A. Santorini and Its Eruptions. Translated and with a new introduction by Alexander R. McBirney. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
Hardy, D. A., ed. Thera and the Aegean World III. London: The Thera Foundation, 1990.
Sigurdsson, Haraldur. Melting the Earth. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.