Thera Volcanic Eruption

Around 1620 BCE (date still debated), the volcanic island of Thera (modern Santorini) exploded with a force estimated at four times Mount St. Helens. The eruption buried the Minoan town of Akrotiri in ash (preserving it like a Bronze Age Pompeii), triggered massive tsunamis, and may have caused climate disruption worldwide. Some scholars think this is the origin of the Atlantis myth. The Minoans never fully recovered. Nature said 'humble yourselves.'