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Early earthquakes in the Kozani Area, northern Greece
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Tectonophysics 308 (1999) 291–298 www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto
Early earthquakes in the Kozani Area, northern Greece N. Ambraseys Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BU, UK Received 9 February 1998; accepted 25 June 1998
Abstract A cursory examination of the as yet incomplete, crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of northern Greece suggests an episodic seismic activity of medium magnitude events, similar to that of other parts in the Balkans, and a lack of any evidence in the historical records of large earthquakes in the region. This is consistent with the lack of continuity of faults in Central Greece, with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20 to 25 km. My examination of primary sources also shows that, for the period investigated, it is not possible to assign reliably location and magnitude to historical earthquakes in this region. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: historic earthquakes; northern Greece
1. Introduction Until very recently, the region of Kozani in northern Greece was considered to be almost free from damaging or destructive earthquakes. Seismic maps and earthquake catalogues reflecting the short-term, 20th-century seismicity of the region showed no significant activity, and instrumental data of the last few decades support this observation, demonstrating little more than occasional shocks of relatively low magnitude. However, the recent, damaging earthquake of 13 May 1995 (Ms D 6:5, Mo D 7:6 ð 1018 Nm) in the region of Kozani demonstrates that, as in other parts of the world, the short-term seismic record may not be all that representative of long-term activity. For our purpose, the region of Kozani may be taken as an area of about 100 km radius, that includes Edessa, Veria, Elassona, Meteora and Kastoria, shown in Fig. 1.
In what follows, we discuss briefly earthquakes up to 1902 which can be dated, although their approximate epicentral region cannot be assessed with much certainty. These events are listed in Table 1. Our accounts of these events are based on primary sources which can be followed up and to which only the most appropriate reference is quoted. There is, however, evidence for other earthquakes in the region, which are not included in this table. These are events for which, at present, we know neither the date nor year of occurrence, nor their general location, and they are mentioned only briefly. Dates before 1582 are in the Old Style (OS) and after that year in the New Style (NS).
2. Case histories There is no specific historical reference to earthquakes in the region before the late 800s AD.
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Fig. 1. Location map of the places mentioned in the text. Star shows the epicentre of the recent earthquake of 13 May 1995. Alternative place names: Agostos (n. Naousa), Egri Buchak (ruin), Jenice (Yiannitsa), Monastir (Bitola), Sarigol (n. Sklithro), Selitsa (n. Pendalofo), Vodena (Edessa).
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Table 1 Earthquakes identified in the greater Kozani region Date
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
<904 1200 c October 1395 1514 c February 22, 1582 March 6, 1621 January 25, 1674 January 28, 1674 February 24, 1674 September 26, 1695 1709–1710 November 9, 1766 August 25, 1784 May 29, 1812 February 10, 1889 August 23, 1894 March 1, 1900 December 1901
Location
Veria Veria Vodena W. Pindos Meteora Meteora Meteora Meteora Meteora Kozani Kastoria Elassona Elassona Kastoria Kolindros Kastoria Florina Elassona
PP2 Date
Epicentre
Ms
(896) 1211 October 1395
40.5–22.3 40.4–22.1 40.9–22.2 – – 39.7–21.9 39.6–21.7 – – 40.1–21.8 – 39.8–22.2 – 40.5–21.30 – – – –
6.0 6.5 6.7 – – 6.0 6.0 – – 6.5 – 6.3 – 6.5 – – – –
March 6, 1621 January 26, 1674
(1720) November 9, 1766 May 29, 1812
Note: PP2 refers to dates, epicentral locations and magnitudes assigned by Papazachos and Papazachou (1997).
2.1. <904
2.3. October 1395
The first reference to a damaging earthquake is for Veria and comes from Cameniates (1863), a contemporary chronicler who, after describing the sacking of Thessaloniki by the Arabs in early August 904 says that “ : : : as it has been said the neighbouring city of Veria was shaken in an earthquake together with the surrounding area : : : ” and as a result the town became easy prey for the marauding Bulgars who enslaved many of the survivors and carried them off to Crete.
We find evidence for a destructive earthquake in Vodena in two Greek short chronicles: the first says that “ : : : in 6904 (Sep. 1395–Aug. 1396) there was an earthquake that destroyed Vodena : : : ” (Amantos, 1932) and the second adds “ : : : when the great earthquake took place that ruined and caused Vodena to sink in the year 6904 : : : ” (Schreiner, 1975–79). This earthquake is confirmed by an eyewitness in the monasteries on Mount Athos; he says that “ : : : in October 6904 (1395) the earth shook violently at Sveta Gora (Mount Athos) and further away, and one part of the city of Solun (Thessaloniki) collapsed, and a portion of the town of Voden (Edessa) was swallowed up in the ground and destroyed. There was a lake near Voden which flooded part of the town. And so the ground shook in November 30, also on the 13th, on January 7 at 20 hours, on 1 of June at 2, and on 6 August, before it stopped : : : ” (Shakhmatov, 1938). Here, the writer refers to two earthquakes: one in October 1395 which destroyed Vodena, and to a second earthquake and its aftershocks in November,
2.2. Beginning of 1200 Implicit evidence for another earthquake in Veria comes from a contemporary writer in nearby Ohrid. He notes that in Veria the church of St. Mary de Eleousa was destroyed by an earthquake soon after it became the property, through marriage, of Nikiphoros Kounali. This information places the event in the first decade of 1200. The church was rebuilt and later converted into a monastery (Homatinos, 1892, xlviii, pp. 215–222).
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also known from other sources, that affected Thessaloniki and Mount Athos, a region which is outside our study area.
dawn (28 January NS), there was another shock : : : ”, presumably an aftershock of the earthquake of 15 January (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113).
2.4. 1514–1515
2.9. February 24, 1674
Some time in late 1514 or early 1515, a ‘frightful’ earthquake in western Pindos is said to have destroyed totally the bridge of Koraka immediately after its completion. This was a stone masonry construction, of a single arch, 45 m wide and 25 m high, built on the river Acheloos, just south of modern Pigae. The bridge was rebuilt and it was in use for over 400 years until it was blown up during the military operations of 1949. The primary source for this event cannot be quoted at this moment.
Another shock is reported from Meteora where “ : : : thirty days later, at dawn on Saturday 13 February (OS), at the 8th hour of the night (24 February NS) there was again a frightful earthquake which happened twice : : : ” (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113). The same note mentions a lunar eclipse on 8 February (OS) 1674, which is not confirmed by Oppolzer (1887), p. 369).
2.5. February 22, 1582
An Imperial order (‘ferman’) dated in the second decade of Shawwal 1113 a.H. (11–20 March 1701), addressed to the kaza of Egri Buchak, refers to a petition submitted to the Porte with which it was made known that at the village of Quzna (Kozani) an earthquake some years previously had damaged the walls of the church of St. Nicholas, as a result of which the roof of the edifice was now threatening to collapse so that prayers could not be performed. In response, the ferman instructs the local authorities to allow the repair and redecoration of the church, but under the condition that these works should not be allowed to lead to the enlargement of the edifice in plan and height. It is very probable that this earthquake is the same event which is mentioned in a contemporary marginal note on a menology of the church of Holy Trinity of Velventos, a large village in the kaza of Egri Buchak, 38 km northeast of Kozani. This note says that: “ : : : on 8 September 1695 they deposed Meidani from the leadership of the ‘armatoli’ and his place was taken by Alimanis; and on the 16th of the month, Monday night, at midnight, while it was raining with lightning and thunder, the earth really shook from its foundations : : : ” (Tsarmanides, 1995). The date, 16th of September 1695 (OS), was a Monday, and we know that during that period Meidani’s men-at-arms were operating in the Pindos mountains where he was killed, at Gardiki, in March 1700 (Lampros, 1910, p. 206).
A marginal note in a manuscript at the monastery of Varlaam mentions an earthquake which was felt at Meteora on the 7th hour of the night towards Thursday, on 22 February 7090 a.B. (1582 OS), which fell on a Thursday (Bees, 1984, ii, p. 109). 2.6. March 6, 1621 A marginal note in a book belonging to the monastery of Varlaam at Meteora, now in Tyrnavos, mentions an earthquake which took place somewhere in Thessaly. It says that “ : : : there was an earthquake on 24 February 1621 (OS) which continued day and night till 28 February : : : ” (Sarros, 1936, p. 417). 2.7. January 25, 1674 A manuscript note written at the monastery of Ag. Stefanos in Meteora says that “ : : : on the fourth hour of the day, 15 January 1674 (25 January NS), there was a great earthquake; and a second shock came later the same hour, and a third on the eleventh hour : : : ” (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113). 2.8. January 28, 1674 Another manuscript note from Meteora adds that “ : : : on Sunday, 17 January 1674, at night towards
2.10. September 26, 1695
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2.11. March 13, 1709–March 1, 1710
2.16. August 23, 1894
A damaging earthquake in Kastoria. An imperial order, dated 18 Shawwal 1122 a.H. (10 December 1711), informs us that some parts of the mosque(s) built by Sultans Mehmet and Suleyman in the castle of the town of Kesriye (Kastoria) were demolished in the earthquake of 1121 a.H. (13 March 1709–1 March 1710) (Ambraseys and Finkel, 1998). It is not clear if this is one mosque or two. The mosque of Suleyman was outside the castle and that of Mehmet inside (Evliya Celebi, v, pp. 575–577).
An earthquake at 2:15 h (Turkish time) caused much damage in the region between Anaselitsa (Siatista), Selitsa and Kesriye (Kastoria). The shock was strongly felt at Monastir (Bitola), Korca, Bilishti (Bilist), Nasselich, Hurfehte, Bizah (Pissia) (PST 1 : 28-8-1894).
2.12. November 9, 1766 A contemporary note from the monastery of Olympiotisa, near Elassona, says that “ : : : on the fifth hour of the night of Sunday 29 October 1766 (OS) there was a great earthquake which caused no little damage to houses, overturning chimneys from their roots : : : ” (Skouvaras, 1967, p. 482). 2.13. August 25, 1784 An earthquake was felt in the region of Elassona. A marginal note from the monastery of Olympiotissa says that “ : : : 1784 August 14 (August 25) at nine of the day the earth was shaken a little : : : ” (Skouvaras, 1967, p. 427). 2.14. May 29, 1812 From a marginal note in a churchbook kept in Kastoria, we learn that on 17 May 1812 (OS) an earthquake caused the fall of houses, of mosques and chimneys at Kastoria and that its inhabitants fled to the mountains. Shocks continued to be felt for three months (Galombia, 1986). 2.15. February 10, 1889 At 21:15 h (Turkish time), a strong earthquake was felt in the nahiye of Kalender (Kolindros) of the kaza of Qatrin (Katerini). It caused considerable damage at places which are not named (PTH 1 : 20-2-1889). 1
Press: PLH D Levant Herald, Istanbul; PST D Stambul, Istanbul; PTH D Tercuman-Hakikat, Istanbul.
2.17. March 1, 1900 A shock was felt in Florina about 07:30 h. It is said that it did a lot of damage to a number of villages, but details so far are lacking (PLH 1 : 13-03-1900). 2.18. December 1901 An earthquake in the district of Elasson destroyed many houses. The shock and its aftershocks were felt in Kastoria (PLH 1 : 11, 16-12-1901). There is also a number of damaging earthquakes which are mentioned in passing or dated as “having occurred many years ago” in Ottoman and Slav documents. These are chiefly 18th-century and they refer to damage or destruction at places such as Agostos (Naousa), Dedeleri, Kastrinica (?), Kesriye (Kastoria), Serfice (Servia), Sarigol, and near the swamps of Jenice. At this moment, almost nothing more can be said about these earthquakes.
3. Discussion The foregoing information summarises much of what I know at present (June 1997) about earthquakes in the region of Kozani in the last millennium, which is not much in terms of quantifiable seismological information, except perhaps that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the region is not free from local or regional damaging shocks, which is important. The region under investigation has never been of great importance, relatively remote, and removed from the centres of administration and culture. The notice of any seismic events in such a region must reflect, therefore, their gravity and significance. While it is certain that many earthquakes must be miss-
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ing from the record, we can reasonably assume that those of which details or notices have survived, were important events. The problem is to assess how important these events were and where they occured. Remote regions yield little information, for obvious reasons. Large shocks originating in such places might be picked up by the main towns around their border or at a single site, but in our case, during much of the period under consideration, the chances of this are slight. For instance, the shocks experienced at the monasteries of Meteora (no. 5–9 in Table 1) could well have been, and some of them are, the far-field effects of relatively large earthquakes occurring in or outside our region. For most of them, there is no way of telling where or how large they were. Additional data, retrieved while writing this, do not seem to change much the overall low yield of historical data in the region. For some of the earlier events, dates are uncertain or vague and this often leads to duplication or amalgamation of different events. For example, later authors, Hopf (1867) and Sathas (1867), with little justification date the event on entry no. 1 to February 896, while Papazachos and Papazachou (1989, p. 237) attribute to this event the destruction of nearby Vodena (Edessa), which was, in fact, due to a separate earthquake in 1395. In most of the cases, notably for event no. 2, the information is too meagre to give the date of 1221, and to assign to the event intensity VIII and also magnitude 6.5 (Karakaisis et al., 1997; Stiros, 1997). In this respect, the case of the 1695 earthquake in Kozani (no. 10) deserves mention, as it demonstrates the kind of embroidery that some modern writers use to describe and interpret their sources. In a recent publication, Stiros (1997) reports a damaging earthquake in the region of Kozani not earlier than the middle of 1719. The same event is also mentioned by Karakaisis et al. (1997) on the authority of a personal communication from Prof. B. Papazachos and Mrs E. Papazachou. The latter authors (Papazachos and Papazachou, 1997, p. 212) date this event to about 1720, assign to it a magnitude of Ms 6.5, an intensity VII, and they add that in this earthquake several other villages such as Siatista, Lochme, Amigdalia, and Mikrokastro suffered considerable damage together with Kozani. Yet, the only source available to these authors is Papaioannou (1989), an inter-
esting secondary source which refers only to the damage of the church of St. Nicholas in Kozani by ‘an earthquake’ and to its reconstruction in 1721. On examination I find that Papaioannou took this information from Sigalas (1939), whose work is an annotated list of the material he examined in his search in various archives in western Macedonia for unpublished documents. Among the Turkish material Sigalas found kept in the sacristy of the church of St. Nicholas in Kozani, there was a ferman (an imperial Ottoman edict) that granted permission for the repair of the walls of the edifice. Sigalas reads the date of issue of this document to the middle of Shawwal 1133 a.H. (August 1721) and adds that at the back of the document a note in Greek indicates that it concerned the repair of the church of St. Nicholas, which had suffered from an earthquake; the date of its occurrence is not given. A facsimile of this document was published by Papaioannou (1989), and reprinted by Stiros (1997). Sigalas also mentions another document, from the same repository, an order (buyurultu) for the execution of the necessary repairs to the walls of the church, which he dates Rabi-I 1133 a.H. (January 1721). It is apparent that the dates of these two documents, that is, of the ferman and of the order, are incongruous. If the date of the latter document, which I have not seen, is correct, then the date of issue of the ferman, as read by Sigalas, should be wrong as it is not usual for the order of execution of works to precede, in the present case by seven months, the issue of the permission to execute the works. However, this problem arises only from the fact that neither Sigalas and Papaioannou nor more recent authors who quote these sources, seem to have read the ferman. This document is dated to the second decade of the month of Shawwal 1113 a.H. (11–20 March 1701). The year is confirmed by the imperial cypher (tugra) it bears, of Mustafa-II, who reigned from 6-2-1695 to 28-08-1703 (Umur, 1980). It is obvious that this document was issued in 1113 a.H. (1701) and not in 1133 a.H. (1721) as Papaioannou and Sigalas maintain. The second document, if the date of its issue as given by Sigalas is correct, implies that repairs had still not been carried out more than 20 years later. This is not an uncommon delay, often owing to the great length of time required to investigate the
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damage, or to a dispute over who was to pay. A wall painting at the north entrance of the church, dated February 1720, confirms that the reconstruction and decoration of the church were gradual. Coming to the effects of this event in Kozani, Papaioannou (pers. commun., 1997) thinks that the earthquake damage to the church was not serious and that its damage by the earthquake was most probably used by the Christian community in Kozani as a pretext to secure permission from the Ottoman authorities to rebuild and in the process enlarge the edifice. This is a perfectly reasonable view, since it was not uncommon, once permission for repairs was granted by the Ottoman authorities, for its terms of reference to be exceeded, and for the Christians to take the opportunity to pull down the edifice and rebuild it, in our case completing the works in 1721. The year of completion is recorded in a contemporary inscription on the interior face of the wall, to the right of the north entrance of the church, which tells us that the edifice was “ : : : renewed from its foundations : : : on 12 October 1721 : : : ”. The same year is also shown on the exterior of the wall of the pulpit structure. What this information tells us, therefore, is that sometime in the last years of the 1600s, Kozani was shaken by an earthquake which damaged the walls of the church of St. Nicholas and that the repair and reconstruction of the edifice were completed in 1721. There is no evidence that the church was destroyed by the shock or that in this earthquake the town itself or any other of its villages were damaged. The fact that the ferman does not mention the date of the earthquake by year or month, as is usual with large or damaging events, but says vaguely ‘some years ago’ suggests that this was not an event with which the Porte was familiar from other petitions for reconstruction and repairs in the region.
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The lack of any evidence, so far, in the historical record of large earthquakes probably reflects the lack of continuity of faults in central Greece, with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20–25 km. Our examination confirms the low reliability and quality of the existing parametric catalogues of historical seismicity in Greece, reported by Stucchi and Camassi (1996). As an example, Table 1 shows the date, location and surface wave magnitude assigned to some of the events in the Kozani area by Papazachos and Papazachou (1989, 1997). As yet, I could find no primary information that could allow the quantification of any of these events in terms of epicentral location and magnitude to the degree indicated by these authors. This example demonstrates the evident inadequacies of method in historical seismology, hitherto often due to the inter-disciplinary nature of this field of study, requiring scientists to examine literary texts and historians to glean scientific information from their sources; our example shows how historical data have been abused, and how this incoherence of method has produced dubious earthquakes, or seismic events of fictitious size, often with a sensationalist tinge. This is of no technical consequence, provided the earth-scientist or engineer is aware of it, Ambraseys and White (1997).
Acknowledgements I am most grateful to Prof. I. Beldiceanu and to Dr. R. Gradeva for advice on the reading of Ottoman documents, to Prof. Pavlides for information and to Mr. D. White for reading the paper. This work was supported by a grant from NERC (UK) for the Study of Long-term Seismicity and Continental Tectonics.
4. Conclusions References In conclusion, all that our cursory examination of the incomplete, crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of the region of Kozani suggests, is that there is an episodic regional seismic activity of medium-magnitude events, similar to that of other parts in the Balkans.
Amantos, K.I., 1932. Sp. Lamprou vrachea chronika. Mnim. Hell. Hist. 1, 58. Ambraseys, N., White, D., 1997. The seismicity of the eastern Mediterranean region 550–1 BC: a re-appraisal. J. Earthquake Eng. 1, 603–632. Ambraseys, N., Finkel, C., 1998. Unpublished Ottoman archival
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information on the seismicity of the Balkans during the period 1500–1800. Proc. 3rd Int. Congr. on Turkish Studies, Rethymon. Bees, N., 1984. Ta cheirographa ton Meteoron. In: Sophianos, D. (Ed.), Kentron Erevnis Messeon. & Neou Hell. Publ. Akad. Athenon, Athens, 109 pp. Cameniates, J., 1863. De excidio Thessalonicae. Patrol. Graeca 109, 506–544, 519–557. Evliya Celebi (1896–1938). Seyahatname, 10 Vols., Istanbul. Galombia, G., 1986. Ta simiomata ton ekklisiastikon vivlion tis Kastorias (Marginal notes from church books of Kastoria). Makedonika 25, 297–345. Homatinos, D., 1892. Analecta sacra et classica specilegio Solesmensi, Parta VI, Ed. J.B. Pitra, Rome. Hopf, K., 1867. Geschichte Griechenlands. In: Ersch, Gruber (Eds.), Allg. Encyclop. Wissensch. Kunst 65, 122 pp. Karakaisis, G., Hatzidimitriou, P., Scordilis, E., Panagiotopoulos, D., 1997. In: Pavlides, P., King, G. (Eds.), Seismicity of Western Macedonia, Greece. J. Geodynamics, Spec. Issue: Kozani–Grevena 1995 Earthquake. Lampros, S., 1910. Enthymiseon itoi chronikon simiomaton syllogi proti. Neos Hellinomnimon Athens 7, 216 pp. Oppolzer, T., 1887. Canon der Finsternisse, Dendschf. K. Akad. Wiss. Math.-Naturwiss, Cl. 52, Vienna. Papaioannou, L.A., 1989. O kathedrikos naos to Hagiou Nikolaou Kozanis. Publ. Mitropolis Servion & Kozanis, Kozani, pp. 16–17. Papazachos, B., Papazachou, E., 1989. Oi seismoi tis Helladas. Ziti, Thessaloniki. Papazachos, B., Papazachou, E., 1997. The earthquakes in
Greece. Ziti, Thessaloniki Sarros, D., 1936. Palaerographika eranismata ek Thessalias. Epetiris Etairias Vyzant. Spoud., Athens, Vol. 12, 417 pp. Sathas, C., 1867. Mesaionikon seismologion tis Hellados. Aion, no. 2223, Athens. Schreiner, P., 1975–79. Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken, 3 Vols. Oesterr. Akad. Wissen., Vienna, Vol. 1, 530 pp., Vol. 2, 358 pp., Vol. 3, 151 pp. Shakhmatov, A.A., 1938. Obozrenie russkikh letopisnikh svodov xiv–xvi vv. Izdat. Akad. Nauk., Leningrad, pp. 321–328. Sigalas, A., 1939. Archeia kai vivliothikai dytikis Makedonias, Thessaloniki, pp. 93–98. Skouvaras, E., 1967. Olymbiotissa. Kentron Erevnis Messeon. & Neou Hell., Publ. Akad. Athenon, Athens, 382 pp. Sofianos, D., 1986. Ta cheirographa ton Meteoron: Ag. Stephanou, Vol. 3. Kentron Erevnis Messeon. & Neou Hell. Publ. Akad. Athenon, Athens, 113 pp. Stiros, S., 1997. Seismicity and seismic risk in western Macedonia based on historical and archaeological evidence. In: Pavlides, P., King, G. (Ed.), J. Geodynamics, Spec. Issue: Kozani–Grevena 1995 Earthquake (in prep.). Stucchi, M., Camassi, R., 1996. Building up a parametric earthquake catalogue in Europe: the historical background. In: Giardini, D. (Ed.), Proc. NATO Conf. on Historic and Pre-historic Earthquakes, Kluwer. Tsarmanides, A.G., 1995. Symvoli stin historia ton Servion 1350–1912. Publ. Morphot. Homilos Serv., Vol. 1, Servia, 34 pp. Umur, S., 1980. Osmanli Padisah tugralari, Istanbul.
Tectonophysics 308 (1999) 291–298 www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto
Early earthquakes in the Kozani Area, northern Greece N. Ambraseys Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BU, UK Received 9 February 1998; accepted 25 June 1998
Abstract A cursory examination of the as yet incomplete, crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of northern Greece suggests an episodic seismic activity of medium magnitude events, similar to that of other parts in the Balkans, and a lack of any evidence in the historical records of large earthquakes in the region. This is consistent with the lack of continuity of faults in Central Greece, with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20 to 25 km. My examination of primary sources also shows that, for the period investigated, it is not possible to assign reliably location and magnitude to historical earthquakes in this region. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: historic earthquakes; northern Greece
1. Introduction Until very recently, the region of Kozani in northern Greece was considered to be almost free from damaging or destructive earthquakes. Seismic maps and earthquake catalogues reflecting the short-term, 20th-century seismicity of the region showed no significant activity, and instrumental data of the last few decades support this observation, demonstrating little more than occasional shocks of relatively low magnitude. However, the recent, damaging earthquake of 13 May 1995 (Ms D 6:5, Mo D 7:6 ð 1018 Nm) in the region of Kozani demonstrates that, as in other parts of the world, the short-term seismic record may not be all that representative of long-term activity. For our purpose, the region of Kozani may be taken as an area of about 100 km radius, that includes Edessa, Veria, Elassona, Meteora and Kastoria, shown in Fig. 1.
In what follows, we discuss briefly earthquakes up to 1902 which can be dated, although their approximate epicentral region cannot be assessed with much certainty. These events are listed in Table 1. Our accounts of these events are based on primary sources which can be followed up and to which only the most appropriate reference is quoted. There is, however, evidence for other earthquakes in the region, which are not included in this table. These are events for which, at present, we know neither the date nor year of occurrence, nor their general location, and they are mentioned only briefly. Dates before 1582 are in the Old Style (OS) and after that year in the New Style (NS).
2. Case histories There is no specific historical reference to earthquakes in the region before the late 800s AD.
0040-1951/99/$ – see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 4 0 - 1 9 5 1 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 7 7 - 3
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Fig. 1. Location map of the places mentioned in the text. Star shows the epicentre of the recent earthquake of 13 May 1995. Alternative place names: Agostos (n. Naousa), Egri Buchak (ruin), Jenice (Yiannitsa), Monastir (Bitola), Sarigol (n. Sklithro), Selitsa (n. Pendalofo), Vodena (Edessa).
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Table 1 Earthquakes identified in the greater Kozani region Date
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
<904 1200 c October 1395 1514 c February 22, 1582 March 6, 1621 January 25, 1674 January 28, 1674 February 24, 1674 September 26, 1695 1709–1710 November 9, 1766 August 25, 1784 May 29, 1812 February 10, 1889 August 23, 1894 March 1, 1900 December 1901
Location
Veria Veria Vodena W. Pindos Meteora Meteora Meteora Meteora Meteora Kozani Kastoria Elassona Elassona Kastoria Kolindros Kastoria Florina Elassona
PP2 Date
Epicentre
Ms
(896) 1211 October 1395
40.5–22.3 40.4–22.1 40.9–22.2 – – 39.7–21.9 39.6–21.7 – – 40.1–21.8 – 39.8–22.2 – 40.5–21.30 – – – –
6.0 6.5 6.7 – – 6.0 6.0 – – 6.5 – 6.3 – 6.5 – – – –
March 6, 1621 January 26, 1674
(1720) November 9, 1766 May 29, 1812
Note: PP2 refers to dates, epicentral locations and magnitudes assigned by Papazachos and Papazachou (1997).
2.1. <904
2.3. October 1395
The first reference to a damaging earthquake is for Veria and comes from Cameniates (1863), a contemporary chronicler who, after describing the sacking of Thessaloniki by the Arabs in early August 904 says that “ : : : as it has been said the neighbouring city of Veria was shaken in an earthquake together with the surrounding area : : : ” and as a result the town became easy prey for the marauding Bulgars who enslaved many of the survivors and carried them off to Crete.
We find evidence for a destructive earthquake in Vodena in two Greek short chronicles: the first says that “ : : : in 6904 (Sep. 1395–Aug. 1396) there was an earthquake that destroyed Vodena : : : ” (Amantos, 1932) and the second adds “ : : : when the great earthquake took place that ruined and caused Vodena to sink in the year 6904 : : : ” (Schreiner, 1975–79). This earthquake is confirmed by an eyewitness in the monasteries on Mount Athos; he says that “ : : : in October 6904 (1395) the earth shook violently at Sveta Gora (Mount Athos) and further away, and one part of the city of Solun (Thessaloniki) collapsed, and a portion of the town of Voden (Edessa) was swallowed up in the ground and destroyed. There was a lake near Voden which flooded part of the town. And so the ground shook in November 30, also on the 13th, on January 7 at 20 hours, on 1 of June at 2, and on 6 August, before it stopped : : : ” (Shakhmatov, 1938). Here, the writer refers to two earthquakes: one in October 1395 which destroyed Vodena, and to a second earthquake and its aftershocks in November,
2.2. Beginning of 1200 Implicit evidence for another earthquake in Veria comes from a contemporary writer in nearby Ohrid. He notes that in Veria the church of St. Mary de Eleousa was destroyed by an earthquake soon after it became the property, through marriage, of Nikiphoros Kounali. This information places the event in the first decade of 1200. The church was rebuilt and later converted into a monastery (Homatinos, 1892, xlviii, pp. 215–222).
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also known from other sources, that affected Thessaloniki and Mount Athos, a region which is outside our study area.
dawn (28 January NS), there was another shock : : : ”, presumably an aftershock of the earthquake of 15 January (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113).
2.4. 1514–1515
2.9. February 24, 1674
Some time in late 1514 or early 1515, a ‘frightful’ earthquake in western Pindos is said to have destroyed totally the bridge of Koraka immediately after its completion. This was a stone masonry construction, of a single arch, 45 m wide and 25 m high, built on the river Acheloos, just south of modern Pigae. The bridge was rebuilt and it was in use for over 400 years until it was blown up during the military operations of 1949. The primary source for this event cannot be quoted at this moment.
Another shock is reported from Meteora where “ : : : thirty days later, at dawn on Saturday 13 February (OS), at the 8th hour of the night (24 February NS) there was again a frightful earthquake which happened twice : : : ” (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113). The same note mentions a lunar eclipse on 8 February (OS) 1674, which is not confirmed by Oppolzer (1887), p. 369).
2.5. February 22, 1582
An Imperial order (‘ferman’) dated in the second decade of Shawwal 1113 a.H. (11–20 March 1701), addressed to the kaza of Egri Buchak, refers to a petition submitted to the Porte with which it was made known that at the village of Quzna (Kozani) an earthquake some years previously had damaged the walls of the church of St. Nicholas, as a result of which the roof of the edifice was now threatening to collapse so that prayers could not be performed. In response, the ferman instructs the local authorities to allow the repair and redecoration of the church, but under the condition that these works should not be allowed to lead to the enlargement of the edifice in plan and height. It is very probable that this earthquake is the same event which is mentioned in a contemporary marginal note on a menology of the church of Holy Trinity of Velventos, a large village in the kaza of Egri Buchak, 38 km northeast of Kozani. This note says that: “ : : : on 8 September 1695 they deposed Meidani from the leadership of the ‘armatoli’ and his place was taken by Alimanis; and on the 16th of the month, Monday night, at midnight, while it was raining with lightning and thunder, the earth really shook from its foundations : : : ” (Tsarmanides, 1995). The date, 16th of September 1695 (OS), was a Monday, and we know that during that period Meidani’s men-at-arms were operating in the Pindos mountains where he was killed, at Gardiki, in March 1700 (Lampros, 1910, p. 206).
A marginal note in a manuscript at the monastery of Varlaam mentions an earthquake which was felt at Meteora on the 7th hour of the night towards Thursday, on 22 February 7090 a.B. (1582 OS), which fell on a Thursday (Bees, 1984, ii, p. 109). 2.6. March 6, 1621 A marginal note in a book belonging to the monastery of Varlaam at Meteora, now in Tyrnavos, mentions an earthquake which took place somewhere in Thessaly. It says that “ : : : there was an earthquake on 24 February 1621 (OS) which continued day and night till 28 February : : : ” (Sarros, 1936, p. 417). 2.7. January 25, 1674 A manuscript note written at the monastery of Ag. Stefanos in Meteora says that “ : : : on the fourth hour of the day, 15 January 1674 (25 January NS), there was a great earthquake; and a second shock came later the same hour, and a third on the eleventh hour : : : ” (Sofianos, 1986, p. 113). 2.8. January 28, 1674 Another manuscript note from Meteora adds that “ : : : on Sunday, 17 January 1674, at night towards
2.10. September 26, 1695
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2.11. March 13, 1709–March 1, 1710
2.16. August 23, 1894
A damaging earthquake in Kastoria. An imperial order, dated 18 Shawwal 1122 a.H. (10 December 1711), informs us that some parts of the mosque(s) built by Sultans Mehmet and Suleyman in the castle of the town of Kesriye (Kastoria) were demolished in the earthquake of 1121 a.H. (13 March 1709–1 March 1710) (Ambraseys and Finkel, 1998). It is not clear if this is one mosque or two. The mosque of Suleyman was outside the castle and that of Mehmet inside (Evliya Celebi, v, pp. 575–577).
An earthquake at 2:15 h (Turkish time) caused much damage in the region between Anaselitsa (Siatista), Selitsa and Kesriye (Kastoria). The shock was strongly felt at Monastir (Bitola), Korca, Bilishti (Bilist), Nasselich, Hurfehte, Bizah (Pissia) (PST 1 : 28-8-1894).
2.12. November 9, 1766 A contemporary note from the monastery of Olympiotisa, near Elassona, says that “ : : : on the fifth hour of the night of Sunday 29 October 1766 (OS) there was a great earthquake which caused no little damage to houses, overturning chimneys from their roots : : : ” (Skouvaras, 1967, p. 482). 2.13. August 25, 1784 An earthquake was felt in the region of Elassona. A marginal note from the monastery of Olympiotissa says that “ : : : 1784 August 14 (August 25) at nine of the day the earth was shaken a little : : : ” (Skouvaras, 1967, p. 427). 2.14. May 29, 1812 From a marginal note in a churchbook kept in Kastoria, we learn that on 17 May 1812 (OS) an earthquake caused the fall of houses, of mosques and chimneys at Kastoria and that its inhabitants fled to the mountains. Shocks continued to be felt for three months (Galombia, 1986). 2.15. February 10, 1889 At 21:15 h (Turkish time), a strong earthquake was felt in the nahiye of Kalender (Kolindros) of the kaza of Qatrin (Katerini). It caused considerable damage at places which are not named (PTH 1 : 20-2-1889). 1
Press: PLH D Levant Herald, Istanbul; PST D Stambul, Istanbul; PTH D Tercuman-Hakikat, Istanbul.
2.17. March 1, 1900 A shock was felt in Florina about 07:30 h. It is said that it did a lot of damage to a number of villages, but details so far are lacking (PLH 1 : 13-03-1900). 2.18. December 1901 An earthquake in the district of Elasson destroyed many houses. The shock and its aftershocks were felt in Kastoria (PLH 1 : 11, 16-12-1901). There is also a number of damaging earthquakes which are mentioned in passing or dated as “having occurred many years ago” in Ottoman and Slav documents. These are chiefly 18th-century and they refer to damage or destruction at places such as Agostos (Naousa), Dedeleri, Kastrinica (?), Kesriye (Kastoria), Serfice (Servia), Sarigol, and near the swamps of Jenice. At this moment, almost nothing more can be said about these earthquakes.
3. Discussion The foregoing information summarises much of what I know at present (June 1997) about earthquakes in the region of Kozani in the last millennium, which is not much in terms of quantifiable seismological information, except perhaps that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the region is not free from local or regional damaging shocks, which is important. The region under investigation has never been of great importance, relatively remote, and removed from the centres of administration and culture. The notice of any seismic events in such a region must reflect, therefore, their gravity and significance. While it is certain that many earthquakes must be miss-
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ing from the record, we can reasonably assume that those of which details or notices have survived, were important events. The problem is to assess how important these events were and where they occured. Remote regions yield little information, for obvious reasons. Large shocks originating in such places might be picked up by the main towns around their border or at a single site, but in our case, during much of the period under consideration, the chances of this are slight. For instance, the shocks experienced at the monasteries of Meteora (no. 5–9 in Table 1) could well have been, and some of them are, the far-field effects of relatively large earthquakes occurring in or outside our region. For most of them, there is no way of telling where or how large they were. Additional data, retrieved while writing this, do not seem to change much the overall low yield of historical data in the region. For some of the earlier events, dates are uncertain or vague and this often leads to duplication or amalgamation of different events. For example, later authors, Hopf (1867) and Sathas (1867), with little justification date the event on entry no. 1 to February 896, while Papazachos and Papazachou (1989, p. 237) attribute to this event the destruction of nearby Vodena (Edessa), which was, in fact, due to a separate earthquake in 1395. In most of the cases, notably for event no. 2, the information is too meagre to give the date of 1221, and to assign to the event intensity VIII and also magnitude 6.5 (Karakaisis et al., 1997; Stiros, 1997). In this respect, the case of the 1695 earthquake in Kozani (no. 10) deserves mention, as it demonstrates the kind of embroidery that some modern writers use to describe and interpret their sources. In a recent publication, Stiros (1997) reports a damaging earthquake in the region of Kozani not earlier than the middle of 1719. The same event is also mentioned by Karakaisis et al. (1997) on the authority of a personal communication from Prof. B. Papazachos and Mrs E. Papazachou. The latter authors (Papazachos and Papazachou, 1997, p. 212) date this event to about 1720, assign to it a magnitude of Ms 6.5, an intensity VII, and they add that in this earthquake several other villages such as Siatista, Lochme, Amigdalia, and Mikrokastro suffered considerable damage together with Kozani. Yet, the only source available to these authors is Papaioannou (1989), an inter-
esting secondary source which refers only to the damage of the church of St. Nicholas in Kozani by ‘an earthquake’ and to its reconstruction in 1721. On examination I find that Papaioannou took this information from Sigalas (1939), whose work is an annotated list of the material he examined in his search in various archives in western Macedonia for unpublished documents. Among the Turkish material Sigalas found kept in the sacristy of the church of St. Nicholas in Kozani, there was a ferman (an imperial Ottoman edict) that granted permission for the repair of the walls of the edifice. Sigalas reads the date of issue of this document to the middle of Shawwal 1133 a.H. (August 1721) and adds that at the back of the document a note in Greek indicates that it concerned the repair of the church of St. Nicholas, which had suffered from an earthquake; the date of its occurrence is not given. A facsimile of this document was published by Papaioannou (1989), and reprinted by Stiros (1997). Sigalas also mentions another document, from the same repository, an order (buyurultu) for the execution of the necessary repairs to the walls of the church, which he dates Rabi-I 1133 a.H. (January 1721). It is apparent that the dates of these two documents, that is, of the ferman and of the order, are incongruous. If the date of the latter document, which I have not seen, is correct, then the date of issue of the ferman, as read by Sigalas, should be wrong as it is not usual for the order of execution of works to precede, in the present case by seven months, the issue of the permission to execute the works. However, this problem arises only from the fact that neither Sigalas and Papaioannou nor more recent authors who quote these sources, seem to have read the ferman. This document is dated to the second decade of the month of Shawwal 1113 a.H. (11–20 March 1701). The year is confirmed by the imperial cypher (tugra) it bears, of Mustafa-II, who reigned from 6-2-1695 to 28-08-1703 (Umur, 1980). It is obvious that this document was issued in 1113 a.H. (1701) and not in 1133 a.H. (1721) as Papaioannou and Sigalas maintain. The second document, if the date of its issue as given by Sigalas is correct, implies that repairs had still not been carried out more than 20 years later. This is not an uncommon delay, often owing to the great length of time required to investigate the
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damage, or to a dispute over who was to pay. A wall painting at the north entrance of the church, dated February 1720, confirms that the reconstruction and decoration of the church were gradual. Coming to the effects of this event in Kozani, Papaioannou (pers. commun., 1997) thinks that the earthquake damage to the church was not serious and that its damage by the earthquake was most probably used by the Christian community in Kozani as a pretext to secure permission from the Ottoman authorities to rebuild and in the process enlarge the edifice. This is a perfectly reasonable view, since it was not uncommon, once permission for repairs was granted by the Ottoman authorities, for its terms of reference to be exceeded, and for the Christians to take the opportunity to pull down the edifice and rebuild it, in our case completing the works in 1721. The year of completion is recorded in a contemporary inscription on the interior face of the wall, to the right of the north entrance of the church, which tells us that the edifice was “ : : : renewed from its foundations : : : on 12 October 1721 : : : ”. The same year is also shown on the exterior of the wall of the pulpit structure. What this information tells us, therefore, is that sometime in the last years of the 1600s, Kozani was shaken by an earthquake which damaged the walls of the church of St. Nicholas and that the repair and reconstruction of the edifice were completed in 1721. There is no evidence that the church was destroyed by the shock or that in this earthquake the town itself or any other of its villages were damaged. The fact that the ferman does not mention the date of the earthquake by year or month, as is usual with large or damaging events, but says vaguely ‘some years ago’ suggests that this was not an event with which the Porte was familiar from other petitions for reconstruction and repairs in the region.
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The lack of any evidence, so far, in the historical record of large earthquakes probably reflects the lack of continuity of faults in central Greece, with few segments being demonstrably continuous for longer than about 20–25 km. Our examination confirms the low reliability and quality of the existing parametric catalogues of historical seismicity in Greece, reported by Stucchi and Camassi (1996). As an example, Table 1 shows the date, location and surface wave magnitude assigned to some of the events in the Kozani area by Papazachos and Papazachou (1989, 1997). As yet, I could find no primary information that could allow the quantification of any of these events in terms of epicentral location and magnitude to the degree indicated by these authors. This example demonstrates the evident inadequacies of method in historical seismology, hitherto often due to the inter-disciplinary nature of this field of study, requiring scientists to examine literary texts and historians to glean scientific information from their sources; our example shows how historical data have been abused, and how this incoherence of method has produced dubious earthquakes, or seismic events of fictitious size, often with a sensationalist tinge. This is of no technical consequence, provided the earth-scientist or engineer is aware of it, Ambraseys and White (1997).
Acknowledgements I am most grateful to Prof. I. Beldiceanu and to Dr. R. Gradeva for advice on the reading of Ottoman documents, to Prof. Pavlides for information and to Mr. D. White for reading the paper. This work was supported by a grant from NERC (UK) for the Study of Long-term Seismicity and Continental Tectonics.
4. Conclusions References In conclusion, all that our cursory examination of the incomplete, crudely known and not easily quantifiable seismic history of the region of Kozani suggests, is that there is an episodic regional seismic activity of medium-magnitude events, similar to that of other parts in the Balkans.
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