780 natural disasters: Greece because they were such a deviation from the normal appearance of the sky Stunned by the evident power behind such events, they could explain them only as the work of the gods Detailed accounts of natural disasters in Europe, outside Rome and Greece, are rare Archaeological evidence and the theories of astronomers fi ll in some of the gaps in the historical record The Stone Age hunters and gatherers had to cope with changing environments during the ice age While these changes lacked the suddenness that is normally associated with natural disasters, the new conditions often caused people to modify their lifestyle and occasionally to retreat into warmer parts of southern Europe when the cold became too intense After the ice age, the climate warmed up, but rising sea levels in many parts of northern Europe caused coastal settlements to become inundated In 5900 b.c.e a tsunami in the North Sea was caused by a massive submarine landslide off the coast of Norway that affected the entire North Atlantic basin Although the evidence is the subject of controversy, some scholars have argued that the Black Sea basin was flooded around 5000 b.c.e by a breakthrough of a geological formation at the Bosporus that allowed Mediterranean water to flow through in a torrent If this indeed happened, then this flood would have rapidly displaced the farmers and huntergatherers who lived around the Black Sea, forcing them to move quickly inland to avoid being drowned It is difficult to minimize the risk associated with volcanoes A major group of volcanoes, both active and inactive, stretches across the Mediterranean through Anatolia and into the Caucasus Besides the damage caused by lava and falling ash, volcanic eruptions can trigger landslides and giant waves Prehistoric volcanic eruptions in 4700 b.c.e prompted the sides of submerged hills in Lake Lucerne in present-day Switzerland to slump The sliding sides of the hills displaced water and resulted in tsunami-like effects Waves almost 10 feet high struck the lakeshore opposite the submerged hills within a minute of the slide of earth The waves had lengths greater than half a mile, which is entirely different from the situation with ordinary wind-induced surface waves; they resembled mountains of water rising in the center of the lake and undoubtedly terrified witnesses Any structures around the lake and any watercraft on it would have been destroyed by the waves Sardinia apparently suffered a similar event In Sos Furrighesos, Sardinia, a wide landslide in about 3000 b.c.e smothered a settlement that had lasted for about 100 years The survivors rebuilt in the same area, devising a new style of decoration for tombs that had survived undamaged The tombs severely damaged by the landslide were abandoned The response of the Sardinians is typical of ancient people In preindustrial societies people recovered from a disaster by harmonizing their responses to nature rather than employing technological solutions to manage and control nature Individuals and small groups, rather than governments, took actions that were flexible and easily abandoned if they proved unsuccessful Deaths and other losses from natural disasters were perceived as inevitable Gods, not humans, were in charge The mind-set of the ancients was dominated by notions of supernatural punishment or vengeance Lacking scientific knowledge, ancient Europeans believed that the course of a volcanic eruption could be affected, if at all, only through divine appeasement GREECE BY J OHN THORBURN Although the ancient Greeks did not face threats from tornadoes, hurricanes, or typhoons, a tradition of dangerous winds does exist in their culture Whereas the modern definition of “typhoon” restricts this type of storm to the western Pacific Ocean and the oceans around India, the English word is related to a Greek word, typhos, which means “whirlwind.” According to Greek mythology, Typhon was a hundred-headed monster that tried to overthrow Zeus and the other gods Ultimately, Zeus blasted Typhon with a lightning bolt and pinned the monster beneath Mount Etna on Sicily, where his fiery breath causes that volcano to erupt Another well-known myth connected with wind is the story of Boreas, the god of the north wind, who abducted Oreithyia, the daughter of the Athenian king Erechtheus, and whisked her away to Thrace and impregnated her She gave birth to twin sons, Zetes and Calais Like their winged father, the twins could fly and assisted the hero Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece Besides stories about powerful winds, Greek mythology also preserved tales of a major flood, which share similarities with the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Flood story in the Old Testament According to the Greek tradition, Zeus decided to destroy the human race because of their wicked behavior and thus prepared to send a flood Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha, the daughter of Prometheus’s brother Epimetheus—thanks to a warning from Prometheus—built a boat and managed to survive the high waters, which drove them from their home in northeastern Greece After traveling in their boat for nine days and nights, Deucalion and Pyrrha landed on Mount Parnassus in central Greece Like Noah in the book of Genesis, Deucalion is said to have released a dove to determine if the weather would be favorable After landing on Parnassus, Deucalion and Pyrrha went to the shrine of the goddess Themis and consulted her oracle about what they should next The oracle told them to throw the bones of their mother behind them Initially, the couple thought this oracle meant they would have to dig up the bones of their dead mothers Eventually, though, they realized that stones were the “bones” of Mother Earth Accordingly, Deucalion and Pyrrha picked up stones and threw them over their shoulders The stones Deucalion threw turned into men, whereas those Pyrrha threw became women In this way, the couple repopulated the earth