Traces of Historical earthquakes in the ancient city life at the Mediterranean region

Abstract

Abstract During the historical periods, the Mediterranean region was divided in several areas, from west to east, the Carian (Menteşe), Lycian (Teke Peninsula), Pamphylia (Antalya Plain) and Cilician areas. Cilician was divided into the Mountains (Taşeli Peninsula) and Lowland Cilicia (Çukurova) regions. Further east behind the Amonos Mountains, Antiokheia (Antakya), was a completely seperate region.All these regions were shaken by numerous earthquakes produced by main fault systems from the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean. The major geological structures are Hellenic Trench, East Anatolian Fault, Ecemiş Fault and Dead Sea Fault in the region.Along with material destruction, earthquakes also result in tectonic rising of lands. This rising fills in ports and speeds up the process of ports getting shallow. Another negative consequence of earthquakes is the drying up of the water sources or the changing of their banks.

Keywords

• Key words: Mediterranean coast, historical earthquakes, ancient cities