What happened in Thira Santorini?

The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep.



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Fira, sometimes spelt 'Thira,' is the capital of the Greek island of Santorini. If you've seen photos of Santorini in the past, with its whitewashed rectangular buildings overlooking the contrasting, rich blue hues of the Mediterranean – well, then, this is where you can find that same enchanting scenery.

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Later Atlantis suffered a terrible earthquake and a flood, sinking in its entirety into the sea. Finds from the excavations at Akrotiri have led scholars to conclude that the lost Atlantis was none other than Santorini. However over the centuries, as myth was retold, experts beg to differ.

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It was about 3,600 years ago when a volcanic explosion created the famous caldera that we today see in the middle of Thera. The volcano spewed lava, smoke, ash. The eruption was 121,440 feet high into the air and released 60 cubic kilometers of magma.

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Jumping off our boat into the hot springs was a fun thing to do on our Santorini sunset cruise. Most cruises take you to the hot springs and stop for a while so you can swim. The hot springs are just off the volcanic islands of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni, which were formed by a series of volcanic eruptions.

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Santorini caldera is a large, mostly submerged caldera, located in the southern Aegean Sea, 120 kilometers north of Crete in Greece. Visible above water is the circular Santorini island group, consisting of Santorini, the main island, Therasia and Aspronisi at the periphery, and the Kameni islands at the center.



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According to Mythology, Santorini was created from a lump of earth that was thrown into the sea by Euphemus, Poseidon's son. Euphemus had a dream one evening that he had made love to a nymph who was the daughter of Triton (the son of Poseidon and Aphrodite).

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But the buried city of Akrotiri was forgotten about until the 1860s. Workers quarrying ash to build the Suez canal dug down and discovered artefacts from the old city. Some small-scale digs took place but the remains stayed where they were for another hundred years until excavations began in 1967.

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