 | Architectural remains of
the settlement of Halasarna |  | | Settlement, destruction layer | | During the first phase of life of Early Christian Halasarna the settlement developed and thrived as a commercial port of the east Mediterranean. Its end is linked to the disastrous earthquake of 554, which was accompanied by a tidal wave causing many deaths, as well as the collapse of building complexes. Agathias (Agathias Scholasticus, Histories 2,16) a historian of the 6th c., who happened to be traveling between Constantinople and Alexandria with an intermediary stop on Kos at the time of the earthquake witnessed the earthquake. His testimony is corroborated by a thick destruction layer, which extends over the entire range of the excavation and consists of rocks, roof tiles and mortar from the walls and roofs of the buildings that collapsed, as well as of many pottery sherds and other utilitarian objects that were crushed. |
