On the road all day, so a day late. Sorry!
I have 3 questions, all mostly about Greece.
Mazower claims that a figure in the order of 80.000 people died from diseases in Thessaloniki city during the 18th century alone. During this time span the population of the city was never that high but it exceeded 70.000 at times. Not sure if he included casualties from fires or earthquakes (there were such incidents). To what extent did such high levels of mortality in cities exist worldwide, and how did the authorities manage to still manage to attract new people? We should exclude notorious plagues or groundbreaking conquests such as the destruction of Tehran by Mongols.
The 365 Crete earthquake was perhaps the largest one in the history of Europe; only the 1755 Lisbon one was probably larger. How long (in seconds/ minutes) was the shaking at various locations? How long was the aftershock period? How far away was shaking felt, or damage sustained (excluding the tsunami effect)?
I read somewhere that at around 1200 BC there were earthquakes and perhaps other natural disasters in southern Greece that played their role in the rise of Dorians. Are there strong clues that support this hypothesis?