Ancient Roman Bath's Shattered Windows Tell Story of Earthquakes, Not Invasion
Researchers analyzing broken glass from a 1,600-year-old Greek bath discovered the damage came from earthquakes, not the Visigoth invasion long blamed for Late Roman destruction. The finding reshapes how historians assess which events actually ended classical civilization—with major implications for understanding infrastructure vulnerability and urban collapse across the ancient world.
Originaltitel: A Roman bath with broken windows in Asine, Argolis: The result of repeated earthquakes?
<p>A substantial assemblage of Roman window glass—consisting primarily of “cast”, matt/glossy examples, but also including cylinder-blown, double-glossy window glass—was discovered during the 1926 excavations of a Late Roman bath in Asine, Argolis, the Peloponnese, Greece. It is clear that this material emanates from damage done to the building, and the question of whether this had human or natural causes is discussed in this paper: was it the “barbarian” invasion of the Visigoth king Alaric in the late 4th century AD that led to the windows being broken? Or, was the damage caused by the earthquakes known to have hit the Eastern Mediterranean area in Late Antiquity? Traces of destruction typical of earthquakes were found in the bath building, and the destruction occurred in a period known for its high seismic activity: the so-called Early Byzantine Tectonic Paroxysm, which led to the conclusion that the bath was hit by at least one, possibly several, earthquakes, causing the windows to shatter and fall out of their frames. Some of the glass sherds were in all probability hidden under dust and debris and were never recovered despite the fact that glass was extensively recycled at the time.</p>