Practical Reflections on the Late Earthquakes, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII.
Many Examples of Terrible Earthquakes in other Parts of the World, formerly, and of late.
IT hath been obſerv'd by Divers what Plato mentions in his Timaeus, of a vaſt Iſland without the Straits of Gibraltar, called Atlantis, and bigger than Africa and Aſia together, which in one Day and Night by a violent Earthquake, and mighty Flood, and Inundation of Water, was wholly overwhelmed, and drown'd in the Sea. Earthquakes have made way for the Irruption of the Sea in divers Places. Our Iſland of *See Mr. Ray of the Primitive Chaos, chap. 5.Great Britain is ſuppos'd to be broken off from the Continent in France by that means, and Sicily from Italy. Many Rivers have chang'd their Channels, and many Countries have been turn'd into Deſarts by Earthquakes. By that means the River *Purchas, out of Strabo, l. 15.Indus in Aſia, that receives fifteen other Rivers into it, did change its Channel, and the neighbouring Country turn'd into a Wilderneſs. Diodorus Siculus †Lib. 2.mentions more than twenty thouſand Lacedemonians that periſh'd in Sparta by an Earthquake, that was of long Continuance. In the 7th Year of the Reign of Herod, by an Earthquake in ‖Joſephi Antiqu. Jud. l. 15. c. 7.Judea, ten thouſand Men, and a vaſt Multitude of Cattel were deſtroyed.
'Tis about two thouſand and ſixty ſix Years ago, that there hapned (*)Oroſius, l. 3. c. 3. Diod. Sic. l. 15. §. 48.one in Achaia, which almoſt utterly deſtroyed it, and which was attended with Inundations, which in the very Heart of Corinth, delug'd the Cities of Helice and Buris; of which (†)Metamorphoſis, l. 15.Ovid makes mention:
Si quaeras Helicen & Burin, Achaeidas Ʋrbes,
Invenies ſub aquis; & adhuc oſtendere Nautae
Inclinata ſolent cum Moenibus Oppida merſis.
He that for Helice or Buris ſeeks,
Achaean Cities, fam'd among the
Greeks,
Deep under Water ſunk, may find
'em now.
And Seamen, they that oft the Ocean
plough,
Now over lofty Towns we ſail, they
cry,
That once ſurvey'd the Secrets of
the Sky.
Tyre and Sydon in Phaenicia ſuffered exceedingly by Earthquakes, and an infinite Number of People buried under their Ruines. And Strabo mentions a City, ſituate above Sidon, that was wholly ſwallowed up by an Earthquake. Twelve Cities in one Night in Aſia, *Lib. 1. c. 84.Pliny mentions. But S. †De Miraculis SS. l. 2. c. 3. if that Book be his.Auguſtine is cited for what is more ſtrange, that in a famous Earthquake an hundred Cities of Lybia were demoliſhed.
In Trajan's time, the City of Antioch was ſwallowed up, An. 105. and a great part of Aſia with it: and ſome other Earthquakes there, I have already ‖Chap. 2. p. 76.mentioned. The Terror of that in the time of the Emperor Trajan, is deſcribed by ſeveral (*)Dion. Caſſ. Trajan. §. 18.Hiſtorians.
An. 177. Smyrna in Aſia was overthrown by an Earthquake, (as a few Years ſince it was again) (†)Euſebius.towards the rebuilding whereof, the Emperour Antoninus forgave ten Years Tribute.
Ammianus (‖)Lib. 17, & 26.Marcellinus ſpeaks of very dreadful Earthquakes that happen'd in Macedonia, in the time of the Emperour Conſtantius. And of one that he ſaith was Univerſal, in the time of the Emperour Diocleſian. And *Lib. 4. c. 16.Sozomen gives an Account, that An. 358. the City of Nicomedia was overthrown by an Earthquake, which made the Council appointed by Conſtantius to meet there, to be put off to another Year. The City of †Socrates, l. 4. c. 11.Nice in Bithynia was ruined, and almoſt all the Inhabitants deſtroyed, twelve Years after this, ſaith Socrates.
An. D. 557. There was a violent Earthquake at ‖Le Sieur. Agathias.Conſtantinople, that laſted for many days; and every Hour the City ſuffered extraordinary Shocks. Many Houſes were thrown down, but the People betook themſelves to Prayer, and Faſting, and Repentance; and God had Compaſſion on them: But many other Cities in the Eaſt were ruin'd by it. And even Alexandria in Egypt ſhaken; which was the more ſtrange and aſtoniſhing to them, becauſe it ſeldom happens in thoſe Parts. An. 986. there was another at Conſtantinople, which was ſo violent, that not only the Walls and Churches were ſhaken by it, but all *Cedrenus.Greece.
In the 12th Century there were many in the †Cent. Magdeb. cent. 12. cap. 13. de Miraculis.Eaſt. And in the Year 1300, which began the Turkiſh Empire, or the Ottoman Aera, ‖Life of Pope Boniface the 8th.Platina relates ſuch an Earthquake at Rome, as the like was never before. And An. 1348. ſuch a one at (*)Aventinus.Conſtantinople, as endured for forty Days, and reach'd in the Extent of it to Hungary, and Italy; twenty ſix Cities overthrown by it, Mountains torn up by the Roots; ſeveral Men, Women, and Beaſts, by that ſtrange Exhalation turn'd into Statues of Salt.
In Perſia, An. 1400. (†)Herbert's Travels, p. 120.Herbert gives an account of an Earthquake, which threw down 500 Houſes in the City of Lair. And An. 1593. the whole City (which they boaſted to conſiſt of 5000 Houſes) was ſhaken, and 3000 Houſes overthrown, and as many of the Inhabitants killed.
In the Azores, or French Iſlands, in the West Indies, (St. Michael's Iſland) Linſchot mentions an Earthquake, An. 1591. that *Herbert's Travels, p. 398.endured ſhaking from July 26, unto the 12th of Auguſt, to the extreme Terror of the Inhabitants: Eſpecially when by force thereof, they perceived the Earth to remove from place to place; and Villa Franca, the beſt Town it had, to turn topſy-turvy: the Ships that then rode at Anchor in the Bay, trembled and quaked; inſomuch that the People verily thought Doomſday was at hand, and that the Fabrick of the Univerſe was disjointing.
In Tercera, the firſt and biggeſt of thoſe Iſlands, called the Azores, there happened a great †Mandelflo's Travels into the Indies, added to Olearius, p. 221.Earthquake, May 24. 1614. that overturn'd in the City of Agra, eleven Churches, nine Chappels, beſides many private Houſes. And in the City of Praya hardly an Houſe was left ſtanding. And in the Year 1628, June 16. there happened ſo horrible an one in the Iſland of St. Michael, that not far from it the Sea opened, and thruſt forth an Iſland above a League and half in length, at a place where was above 150 Fathom Water.
An. 1581. Joſeph Acoſta relates, that in Peru there happened an Earthquake, which removed the City of Anguangum two Leagues from the place where it ſtood, without demoliſhing it, in regard the Situation of the whole Country was chang'd.
An. 1657. The Spaniards (ſaith the *Vol. 5. l. 3. Lett. 9. p. 204.Turkiſh Spy) have lately felt a Terrible Blow in Peru; which if it be not a Mark of the Wrath of Heaven, is at leaſt a ſign that the Earth is weary of them, eſpecially in thoſe parts, where they have ſtained it with ſo much Innocent Blood. The City Lima not many Moons ago, was ſwallowed up by an Earthquake: and Calao, another City not far from it, was conſum'd by a Shower of Fire out of the Clouds. Eleven thouſand Spaniards loſt their Lives in this Calamity; and the Earth devoured an hundred Millions of Refined Silver, which the Lucre of the Spaniards had forc'd out of its Bowels. All the Mountains of Potoſi, from whence they dug their choiceſt Metal, were levell'd with the Plain, and no more hopes of Gold was left to their inſatiable Avarice.
Concerning this City Lima in the Kingdom of Peru, we had a ſad Account of another Earthquake there, Octob. 20. 1687. (if it be not the ſame, and the Date miſtaken) which overthrew the whole Town, not leaving one Houſe ſtanding; and buried many of the Inhabitants under its Ruines. At the ſame time Callao, Fanette, Piſco, Chancay, los Florillos, &c. moſt of them Sea-port-Towns, were deſtroyed by an Inundation of the Sea, which carried ſeveral Ships above three Leagues into the Country; and great numbers of People and Cattle were drown'd, there being found, when the Water fell, at one place near the Seaſide, above 5000 People dead; and every day more were found, ſo that no Account could be given of their Number. This was mentioned in the *An. 1688. Num. 2349.London Gazette, and confirmed by many Merchants Letters: Tho the Damage by the Inundation was leſſen'd by another Account afterwards.