Research conducted over the years has shown that Istanbul was shaken by more than 500 great earthquakes since the day it was founded. While some of them were earthquakes that occurred due to the fault lines around the city and caused heavy damage, many of them were caused by fault lines in the Thrace and İzmit-Düzce regions and caused less destruction

Twenty years after Roman Emperor Constantine I, known as Constantine the Great, founded Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), an earthquake occurred east of the city in 342, but it did not cause much damage.

On Aug. 24, 358, the earthquake which brought down İzmit affected the ancient city of Constantinople as well. Earthquakes which hit Constantinople in 402,412,417,423,437 and 442 caused considerable damage to the city although not as much as the earthquake in 358. The city continued to be shaken in 450, 477, 487, 525 and 533, as well.

The quake that hit the city on Aug. 16, 542 was massive; many houses, city walls and statues were demolished and thousands of people died. The damage caused by an earthquake on May 7, 558 following the earthquakes of 546 and 557 was substantial. The dome of the Hagia Sophia collapsed and thousands of houses collapsed. After the earthquakes of 583 and 611, Constantinople was earthquake-free for a long time.

Nearly 130 years later, on Oct. 26, 740, Constantinople was hit by a great earthquake. After which the quakes continued in 780, 790, 860, 866, 869, 989 and 1010. The city was also destroyed by two earthquakes on Aug. 13, 1032 and March 6, 1033 in succession. The earthquakes in 1042 and 1064 followed them. On March 1, 1202, an earthquake occurred in the city which caused the floor in front of the Byzantine Emperor's bed to crack open and an agha of the House of Felicity died by falling into the hole.

In the massive earthquake that occurred on March 11, 1231, the city and city walls were damaged. On June 1, 1296, seven years after the earthquake in 1289, which was not so massive, a big earthquake hit Istanbul in the night.

Historians write that Istanbul was leveled to the ground in this earthquake. Houses, palaces, churches and city walls were demolished. Floods occurred, and aftershocks continued for two months. The Byzantines lived through some scary days. Then Istanbul was hit by two successive earthquakes in January 1303. As the quake happened during the appointment of Athanasius I as the patriarch for the second time, word started going around by the religious men of the period who said that the patriarch did not have a benediction.

The earthquake of 1332 destroyed many houses and churches together with statues. The earthquake on Oct. 18, 1343 was also so massive. The city walls and Hagia Sophia were damaged. While the Byzantines were happy that the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Timurid Empire in 1402, an earthquake in Constantinople interrupted their joy. It is asserted that there was a tsunami caused by the earthquake of 1419. The last earthquake in Istanbul during the Byzantine Period was in 1437.

The first big earthquake in Istanbul when it came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire took place on Dec. 18, 1488. While the dome of the Fatih Mosque was demolished, different regions of the city were damaged as well. On Sept. 10, 1509, Istanbul was shaken by a big quake at 4 a.m. Before the people understood what was happening, the whole city was destroyed. According to experts, the earthquake in 1509 in Istanbul was the biggest one in the Eastern Mediterranean after the year 1000. It was felt in the area from Bolu province to Edirne province. It was called "Little Doomsday."

Another earthquake hit the city on the night of May 10, 1556. The Fatih Mosque, Hagia Sophia and city walls were damaged. After this earthquake, Istanbul did not experience an earthquake for 90 years.

Then on June 28, 1648, people in İzmit and Istanbul woke up with a shake in the morning. However, the epicenter was far so it did not damage Istanbul much. The city was shaken again by a quake on July 11, 1690. As it was not so massive, the damage in the city was not considerable. City walls, some wooden houses were demolished along with the Fatih Mosque. The earthquake that occurred during the morning prayers on May 25, 1719 was massive. The destruction area of the earthquake started from Düzce, reaching İzmit, Sapanca, Orhangazi, Karamürsel and Yalova. Yalova was hugely damaged by this quake.

The earthquake of May 25, 1719 damaged Istanbul although not as much as İzmit. The city walls were considerably damaged. Some mosques and palaces were ruined. Forty mosques and 27 bastions were demolished. On July 30, 1752, an earthquake occurred and affected the region all the way till Bulgaria. While Edirne was highly damaged, Istanbul was not affected much by this shake. Then an earthquake hit Istanbul on the night of Sept. 2, 1754 but it did not cause much damage as it was not so massive. The dome of the Fatih and Bayezid Mosques were destroyed together with one of the bastions of Yedikule. The shake principally affected İzmit and its surroundings.

The second biggest earthquake in Istanbul, under the dominance of the Ottoman Empire, occurred on May 22, 1766. The shake, which started half an hour after sunrise on that day, was the third day of Qurban Bayram (or Eid al-Adha in Arabic). Scary noises were heard during the quake, and a two-minute-long shake followed them. Then, a less intense quake hit the city for four minutes. The aftershocks of this quake continued for eight minutes. On Aug. 5, another shake occurred. After the 1766 quake, Istanbul went for some years without any earthquakes.

Even though the earthquake in 1855 demolished Bursa province and affected Istanbul, it did not destroy the city much.

Istanbul was hit by a massive earthquake on July 10, 1894. This quake, which continued for 18 seconds was felt in three waves. It affected Adapazarı, İzmit, Gebze, Kartal, the Prince's Islands, Üsküdar, İstanbul, Büyükçekmece, Küçükçekmece, Çatalca, a part of the Marmara Sea, Bozburun, Yalova, Karamürsel and Sapanca.

The last big earthquake to affect Istanbul during the Ottoman period was the one in Şarköy-Mürefte, recorded at a magnitude of 7.3 on Aug. 9, 1912. It considerably damaged the south of Edirne destroying chimneys, telegraph poles and walls.

Constantinople earthquakes by Michael Issigonis

Brandon University, Retired

Born in Greece from Smyrne parents. Educated in Greece (Athens College) and the UK, then, moved to Canada. Mineral exploration and mining for 25 years, then university teaching for another 25 years. Still interested in the untold history of the Ancient Greeks and development of ancient languages. Why are the natives of America speaking ancient Greek today?

Between 330 – 1923 : about 1,000 earthquakes[1]

30 major during the Byzantine Era, 10 major during the Ottoman Era

Many lasted for months, 40 days in 869, 140 days in 1034, 2 minutes on 11 May, 1766

Followed by fires, or epidemics: 1037 – 1040

Damage to the dome of Saint Sophia : 558, 986 & 1343 - 1346

Conclusions

Earthquakes[1] have been numerous. Most are small ones with strong ones (> 6 on the Richter scale) in between.

The age gap between major earthquakes varies from 73 years to 312 years with an average of 190 years.

Earthquakes in Constantinople between 350 AD and 1999 AD

Quakes :

major, minor

1999 : Izmit area

1988

1963

1957

1952

1923

1894 : 3 after socks from south to north

1855

1841

1837

1802

1790

1766: after socks for 8 months

1754

1752

1719

1712

1690

1659

1648

1556

1509 : “The Lesser Judgement Day “ shocks for 45 days, tsunami or historically Kıyamet-i Sugra ('Little Judgment Day') occurred in the Sea of Marmara on 10 September 1509 at about 10 p.m. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 ± 0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale with 109 mosques, 1070 state houses, etc destroyed. A tsunami and forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake. The death toll of this earthquake is poorly known, with estimates in the range of 1,000 to 13,000.

Apolytikion of Commemoration of the Earthquake

Plagal of the Fourth Tone

O Thou Who lookest on the earth and makest it tremble, deliver us from the fearful menace of earthquake, O Christ our God, and by the intercessions of the Theotokos, send down upon us Thy mercies in abundance and save us.

1489

1343 - 1346

1305

1296

1086

1064

1037 – 1040 : many

1034

1010

986

869 : for 40 days

740
The 740 Constantinople earthquake took place on 26 October, 740, in the vicinity of Constantinople and the Sea of Marmara. In Constantinople, the earthquake caused the collapse of many public buildings. The Walls of Constantinople were also damaged. The casualties in Constantinople reportedly included over 1,000 people. The earthquake reportedly destroyed a number of towns in Thrace. It also damaged the cities of Nicaea (İznik), Nicomedia (İzmit), and Praenetus. The historians Theophanes the Confessor (8th-9th century) and George Kedrenos (11th century) reported that the earthquake caused the sea to retire away from the coast in many places. The sea soon returned, and flooded many towns. The description given matches that of a seismic sea-wave (tsunami). The date of the earthquake is recorded by (among others) Anastasius Bibliothecarius (9th century), Joannes Zonaras (12th century), Carolus Sigonius (16th century), Caesar Baronius (16th-17th century), and Sethus Calvisius (16th-17th century).

732

611

582

557 - 558

554 - 555

548

542

533

527

483 – 487 : continuous

478

447 [2]

402

398

358

[1] See also: Earthquakes and plague during Byzantine times: can lessons from the past improve epidemic preparedness

Costas Tsiamis , Effie Poulakou-Rebelakou, Spyros Marketos

Abstract | Natural disasters have always been followed by a fear of infectious diseases. This raised historical debate about one of the most feared scenarios: the outbreak of bubonic plague caused by Yersinia pestis. One such event was recorded in the Indian state Maharashtra in 1994 after an earthquake. In multidisciplinary historical approach to the evolution of plague, many experts ignore the possibility of natural foci and their activation. This article presents historical records from the Byzantine Empire about outbreaks of the Plague of Justinian occurring months or even up to a year after high-magnitude earthquakes. Historical records of plague outbreaks can be used to document existence of natural foci all over the world. Knowledge of these historical records and the contemporary examples of plague support the assumption that, in terms of organising humanitarian aid, poor monitoring of natural foci could lead to unpredictable epidemiological consequences after high-magnitude earthquakes.

[2] EXCERPT FROM THESIS: THE LITURGICAL COMMEMORATION OF EARTHQUAKES IN LATE ANTIQUE CONSTANTINOPLE: AT THE INTERSECTION OF RITUAL, ENVIRONMENT, AND EMPIRE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Mark Roosien

"January 26, 457, was a cold day in Constantinople. Despite temperatures around forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, thousands of city dwellers trudged en masse through the city streets and alleyways, exited the city through the Golden Gate at the west of the city walls, and headed southwest. As they walked, they chanted again and again, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!” Their eyes were fixed on the ground as they walked, and some quietly wept. The Golden Gate still lay partially in ruins from the massive earthquake that shook the city on the same day ten years earlier, in 447. There sat poor men and women, some with lost limbs, begging for alms. At the head of the crowd of people in this procession was the Emperor Markianos (r. 450-457), who had ascended the throne in 450."

For the curious:

The Boudjah(Buca) - Smyrna born Alec Issigonis was an engineering genius and even after his death there is a fan base for his cars.

Sir Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis CBE FRS RDI (18 November 1906 – 2 October 1988) was a British-Greek automotive designer. He designed the Mini, launched by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, and voted the second most influential car of the 20th century in 1999.

Issigonis was born on 18 November 1906 in the Ottoman port city of Smyrna, the only child of Constantine Issigonis and Hulda Prokopp. His paternal grandfather, Demosthenis, had migrated to Smyrna from the Greek island of Paros in the 1830s and Constantine was a successful and wealthy shipbuilding engineer. His maternal ancestors originated in the Kingdom of Württemberg. It was through his mother's kinships that Issigonis was a first cousin once removed to BMW and Volkswagen director Bernd Pischetsrieder.

As British subjects - his father having naturalised whilst studying engineering in London in 1897 - Issigonis and his parents were evacuated to Malta by the Royal Navy in September 1922 ahead of the Great Fire of Smyrna and the Turkish capture of Smyrna at the end of the Greco-Turkish War. His father died shortly after and Issigonis and his mother moved to the United Kingdom in 1923.

Issigonis studied engineering at Battersea Polytechnic in London. Having failed his mathematics exams three times, subsequently declaring it 'the most uncreative subject you can study', Issigonis decided to enter the University of London External Programme to complete his university education.

Esquiere Article

Picture of the Issigonis factory from the Indicateur Commercial 1898-1899

(the Greek text reads: “Factories D. Issigonis, Founded in 1854,

The Oldest and the Biggest in Anatolia, Industrial Enterprises”.