Medical Hypotheses (2007) 68, 446–449

http://intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/mehy

Medical papyri describe the effects of the Santorini

eruption on human health, and date the eruption
to August 1603–March 1601 BC
Siro Igino Trevisanato *

2449 Felhaber Cresc., Oakville, Ont., Canada L6H 7N8

Received 16 June 2006; accepted 21 June 2006

Summary Egyptian medical papyri date the Santorini eruption, and reconcile the hitherto perceived dichotomy
between archaeological/historical and scientific data. The medical documentation describes ailments, which can only
have arisen from a volcanic source: ash fallout, rain acidified by ash, and a plume. Furthermore, the Egypt described by
the medical texts matches the one in the series of so-called biblical plagues. This match in turn provides the length of
time, 19 months, between the initial and final phases of the eruption, each phase contributing to the otherwise odd
accumulation of sulfates spread over two consecutive biennia (1603–1600 BC) in Greenland’s ice core. As a result, the
initial phase of the eruption can be dated to August 21, 1603 BC, and the final one to March 1601 BC, in full agreement
with the radiocarbon data (1627–1600 BC) based on the outermost ring on the branch of an olive tree killed by the
eruption.
c 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Science and history/archaeology appear According to historians and archaeologists, the

at odd over the Santorini eruption impact of the eruption triggered the decline of
the Minoan civilization that had dominated water-
According to volcanologists, Santorini was evacu- ways across the Eastern Mediterranean. Using stra-
ated due to powerful earthquakes. The volcano tigraphy at archaeological sites, historians/
then ejected ash, paused for a period of two to archaeologists decline to accept dates prior to
twenty-four months, and finally exploded with an 1520 BC [5].
estimated Volcanic Explosivity Index between six Scientific data however provide a different time
and seven [1,2]. The ash generated in the separate frame. Mud sandwiching Santorini ash at the bot-
phases reached as far as the Black Sea [3] and Egypt tom of Egyptian lakes [4], tree rings affected by
[4]. frost in the western USA [6], organic material at
Santorini [7], and volcanic ash collected in ice
cores in Greenland [8,9], favor a 17th century BC
* Tel.: +1 905 257 0233. scenario. As it stands, scientific analysis shows that
E-mail address: [email protected]. Santorini was evacuated by its inhabitants some-

0306-9877/$ - see front matter c 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2006.06.059
Medical papyri describe the effects of the Santorini eruption on human health 447

time in 1660–1613 BC [10], and the eruption took forces of nature unparalleled as far as people could
place sometime in 1627–1600 BC [11]. remember, and which had plunged the country into
sociopolitical chaos [16].
This detailed sequence of disasters enables the
reconstruction of the interval between the initial
Reconciling scientific and and final phases of the eruption, as well as its
archaeological/historical data length. Working backwards from the obscurity said
to have taken place around the end of March
Six medical papyri from the Middle Bronze Age have (Ex.10.21–12.6) [17], the earliest locusts would
been recently noticed to describe the aftermath of have materialized was in the preceding ‘‘locust
the Santorini eruption. The Ebers Papyrus, the season’’, i.e. in the fall of the previous calendar
Hearst Medical Papyrus, the London Medical Papy- year. The earlier plague of hail took place around
rus, Carlsberg Papyrus 8, Ramesseum Papyrus III, February (Ex.9.31–32) [17]. The earlier acid rain
and, oddly enough from the title, the Edwin Smith must have taken place around the onset of the rain
Surgical Papyrus [12] describe effects from an season, i.e. around October of the previous year.
eruption, which is traced back to Santorini. The ef- As for the fallout and its immediate effects
fects of the eruption are those expected from (Ex.7.14–8.28) [17], they require a 1 month devel-
Santorini over Egypt: ash fallout and weather opment, and must have taken place between the
anomalies triggered by ash still dispersed in the end of the previous rainy season (March), and the
air [13–16]. Moreover, since there are no active beginning of the subsequent one within that calen-
volcanoes in Egypt, the eruption whose effects dar year, lest rains would have diluted the acid at
are described in the medical texts must have been the very onset, thus interfering with the develop-
quite large to have affected the land of the Nile. ment of the first four plagues.
Finally, only one such eruption is attested in
Egypt’s Middle Bronze Age.
The medical texts were also found to match the
series of so-called biblical plagues of Egypt, as Determining the date of the eruption
exemplified by paragraph 55 of the London Medical
Papyrus (L55) [12], which describes a volcanic-de- From the 1991 eruption at Mt. Pinatubo, we know
rived lesion caused by red waters from the Nile, that ash does not disperse immediately, and that
which, if left untreated, fostered the formation at the end of 1994, a 16% ash residue persisted in
of larvae. This treatment is identical to the sce- the atmosphere over the Philippines [18].
nario of the first so-called biblical plagues: volcanic Likewise, the Santorini Middle Bronze Age erup-
sulfates acidifying and coloring the waters of the tion must have left ash in the atmosphere over a
Nile, would have provided the red Nile, dead fish, wide area for at least 24 months in order to ac-
people refraining from drinking, and frogs leaving count for the intra-phase interval that started be-
the river, as well as insects laying eggs in wounds tween March and September, and lasted until
and dead animals, resulting in the larvae, and March of two calendar years later. Moreover, the
thereafter adult insects [13] of the biblical narra- ash would have persisted over the Aegean for
tive (Ex.7.14–8.20) [17]. roughly 60 months. The only such ‘‘signature’’
Remaining plagues are also consistent with the identifiable from sulfate data comes from the
eruption of Santorini. Weather anomalies triggered Greenland Ice Sheet Project2 (GISP2). The ice
by volcanic ash in the atmosphere explain the cores show large amounts of volcanic ash, identifi-
death of herbivores grazing on poisoned grass and able by the quantities of sulfates, 60 ppb in 1603–
exposed to lightning in freak storms, humans and 1602 BC, and 41 ppb in 1601–1600 BC, in two
animals covered in boils due to exposure to acid consecutive biennia [19], which is coherent with
rain, and the hail of the biblical narrative the Ebers papyrus requiring a date prior to 1548
(Ex.9.1–35) [17]. Locusts (Ex.10.1–19) [17] would BC, and the radiocarbon data requiring a date
have thrived in the higher humidity from the within 1627–1600 BC.
weather anomalies. The palpable obscurity lasting The sulfate data support an initial eruptive
several days (Ex.10.21–23) [17] is best explained phase in 1603 BC rather than 1602 BC. A 1603–
by a new volcanic emission, which is actually pro- 1601 BC eruption would have generated enough sul-
vided by Santorini’s final phase. The tenth and last fates precipitating over Greenland well into 1600
biblical plague of the massacre of the firstborn BC, and tailing off into 1599 BC (masked by the
(Ex.12.29–39) [17] was most likely a series of hu- average of 1599 BC data with 1598 BC data,
man sacrifices to appease gods ‘‘credited’’ with though). However, a 1602–1600 BC eruption would
448 Trevisanato

have generated enough sulfates precipitating over mid, fostering the pest. In March 1601 BC,
Greenland for well into 1599 BC, tailing off into Santorini entered its final phase, sending its plume
1598 BC, thus generating a sulfate accumulation over Egypt.
over three consecutive biennia, rather than the
two shown by the ice cores.

References
Conclusion
[1] Doumas Christos G, editor. Thera and the Aegean World II.
London: Thera and the Aegean World; 1980.
Having established the year, the medical documen- [2] Dietrich Volker J. Die Wiege der abendländischen Kultur
tation enables a precise determination of the date und die minoische Katastrophe – ein Vulkan verändert die
of the eruption. Welt. Zürich: Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich;
From the opening note in the Ebers Papyrus [12], 2004. Neujahrsblatt 2005, 207. Stück.
[3] Guichard F, Carey S, Arthur MA, Sigurdsson H, Arnold M.
it is known that in 1548 BC, the Egyptian New Year Tephra from the minoan eruption of Santorini in sediments
festival fell on the 309th day of the Egyptian legal of the Black Sea. Nature 1993;363:610–2.
year, i.e. on August 10 (solar year). Given that the [4] Stanley DJ, Sheng H. Volcanic shards from Santorini (upper
Egyptian legal year was 365 days long, it was losing minoan ash) in the Nile Delta, Egypt. Nature 1986;320:
one day every 4 years vis-à-vis the solar calendar. 733–5.
[5] Bietak Manfred, Science versus archaeology: problems and
In 1603 BC, the New Year Day would have fallen consequences of high aegean chronology, In: Bietak M,
on August 24 of that solar year. This date is impor- editor. The synchronisation of civilisations in the Eastern
tant because of a note in the Rhind Mathematical Mediterranean in the second millennium B.C. II, Vienna;
Papyrus [20], which states that, three days before 2003.
the New Year Day, a loud sound came out of no- [6] LaMarche Jr VC, Hirschboeck KK. Frost rings in trees as
records of major volcanic eruptions. Nature
where and was followed on the subsequent day by 1984;307:121–6.
an odd rain. A civil war broke out within days: [7] Bronk Ramsey C, Manning SW, Galimberti M. Dating the
the fortified town of Zaru fell to militias, and a volcanic eruption at Thera. Radiocarbon 2004;46:325–44.
few months later the symbolically important town [8] Hammer CU, Clausen HB, Friedrich WL, Taubert HH. The
of Iunnu also fell. minoan eruption of Santorini in Greece dated to 1645 BC?
Nature 1987;328:517–9.
The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus nicely records [9] Zielinski GA, Mayewski PA, Meeker LD, Whitlow S,
the fact that the sound of Santorini erupting Twickler MS, Morrison M, et al. Record of volcanism
crossed the Mediterranean to the Nile Delta much from the GISP2 ice core (Greenland) since 7000 B.C. and
faster than the winds carrying the ash. The text implications for the volcano-climate system. Science
also documents the subsequent Egyptian civil 1994;264:948–52.
[10] Manning SW, Bronk Ramsey C, Kutschera W, Higham T,
war, which is confirmed by the Edwin Smith Surgi- Kromer B, Steier P, et al. Chronology for the aegean late
cal Papyrus, a list of battle wounds from 1600 to bronze age 1700–1400 B.C. Science 2006;312:565–9.
1550 BC. [11] Friedrich WL, Kromer B, Friedrich M, Heinemeier J, Pfeiffer
Thus, medical papyri, the note in the mathemat- T, Talamo S. Santorini eruption radiocarbon dated to 1627–
ical papyrus, and the biblical narrative converge to 1600 B.C. Science 2006;312:548.
[12] von Deines Hildegard, Grapow Hermann, Westendorf Wolf-
describe the effects of the Santorini eruption, dat- hart. Grundniss der Medizin der alten Ägypter IV: Überset-
ing its onset to August 21 (363rd day of Egyptian le- zung der medizinischen Texte. Berlin: Akademie Verlag;
gal year), 1603 BC. The Nile Delta was invested by 1958.
ash fallout on August 22 (364th day of Egyptian le- [13] Trevisanato Siro I. Ancient Egyptian doctors and the nature
gal year) in 1603 BC. On August 29, 1603 BC, the of the biblical plagues. Med Hypotheses 2005;65:811–83.
[14] Trevisanato Siro I. Treatments for burns in the London
river banks were the only place left for Nile’s frogs. Medical Papyrus show the first seven biblical plagues of
Dead and wounds fostered the production of larvae Egypt are coherent with Santorini’s volcanic fallout. Med
and insects between early and mid-September 1603 Hypotheses 2006;66:193–6.
BC. On September 15 Zaru was placed under siege, [15] Trevisanato SI. Six medical papyri describe the effects of
ushering the civil war. The town fell two days later. Santorini’s volcanic ash, and provide Egyptian parallels to
the so-called biblical plagues. Med Hypotheses 2006;67:
As Egypt entered the rainy season around early 187–90.
October, dew and rain contaminated the grass, kill- [16] Trevisanato SI. The plagues of Egypt: archaeology history
ing the herbivores, and burning humans’ skin and and science look at the Bible. Piscataway, (NJ): Gorgias
animals’ hide. In February 1602 BC, hail destroyed Press; 2005.
the crops. The civil war went on: Iunnu, hosting an [17] The Jerusalem Bible. Reader’s ed. New York: Doubleday;
2000.
important religious shrine, fell in June/July. The [18] McCormick PM, Thomason LW, Trepte CR. Atmospheric
locust season in the Fall was particularly destruc- effects of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. Nature 1995;373:
tive that year as the weather had been quite hu- 399–404.
Medical papyri describe the effects of the Santorini eruption on human health 449

[19] Cross M. compiler. Greenland summit ice cores. National [20] Chace Arnold Buffum, Bull Ludlow S, Manning Henry Parker,
Snow and Ice Data Center in Association with the World Archibald Raymond Clare, editors. The Rhind mathematical
Data Center for Paleoclimatology at NOAA-NGDC, and the papyrus, 2 volumes. Oberlin, (OH): Mathematical Associa-
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. CD-ROM. Boulder tion of America; 1927–1929.
(CO): 1997.