ABSTRACT
On a winter night about 2,000 years ago, residents of a majestic Greek city were no doubt shaken awake by the massive earthquake. In quick succession, soil below the buildings liquefied, the city dropped below sea level, and everything and everyone within it was subsumed by a tsunami. The year was 373 BC; classical Greek civilization was just reaching its peak, and this city-Helike, well known for its Temple of Poseidon, a tribute to the god of earthquakes and the sea-disappeared overnight. For 2,000 years, Helike’s legacy would survive only through Plato’s legend of Atlantis, which was inspired by Helike’s demise.1
