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σεισμὸς, ὁ
see also:
earthquake
Aristotle METE
σεισμὸς, ὁ
Definition: II 8.368a8–10
• “accompanied by calm” II 8.366a5; 367a25-26;
• “a necessary consequence of exhalation” II 8.365b24;
• “and stones” II 8.368b29; II 8.369a8;
• “and a tidal wave” II 8.368a32;
• “and water” II 8.368a25-32;
• “as wind under earth” II 9.370a25;
• “attended by wind” II 8.366a11;
• “caused by exhalation” II 9.370a27;
• “caused by wind” II 8.365b21-366a3; 367b24; 368a28; 368b23;
• “cause of” II 8.368a20 ;
• “coinciding with an eclipse of the moon” II 8.367b20-32;
• “continuing until” II 8.366b31;
• “horizontal / vertical” II 8.368b23-25;
• “in spring and autumn” II 8.366b2;
• “local” II 8.368b12;
• “occurring at night” II 8.366a14;
• “occurring at noon” II 8.366a15;
• “places liable to earthquakes” II 8.366a30-b1;
• “preceded by noise” II 8.368a15;
• “sign of” II 8.367b8 ;
• “sort of tremor” II 8.366b15;
• “source inside the earth” II 8.368b18;
• “violent” II 8.366a12, II 8.366a24, II 8.366a25, II 8.367a29, II 8.367b32, II 8.368a1;
Analogy:
• of mouth II 8.367b1;
• of wind and air II 8.367b13-19;
• Water in vessel II 8.368a6;
• between throbbing and earthquake II 8.368a6-13;
• Earthquake and tremor / throbbing II 8.368b22-25;
• [authors]
o Anaxagoras on II 7.365a19-35, II 7.365b11-20;
o Anaximenes on II 7.365b7-10;
o Democritus on II 7.365a35-365b5.
Lucretius DRN
tremor, -oris
Seneca NQ
tremor, -oris
Def.:
Other occurrences: VI 287; VI 577
Def.:
Other occurrences: III 11 .2 .4
References for Greek and Latin
Modern Description
written by Susanne M Hoffmann
Earthquakes are caused by motions of pieces of the Earth's crust. In most cases, they are caused by plate tectonic, i.e. by one continental plate moving towards another one. However, also (volcanic) eruptions might be accompanied by earthquakes. The reason can be an explosion of material (e.g. if a mountain top is blown away by an eruption). Still, volcanic activity is - in most cases - also caused by motion in the plate tectonic. Therefore, the volcano and the earthquake typically have the same cause and the volcanic eruption "only" amplifies the earthquake instead of being direct cause of it.
Further Remarks