Thera, Catastrophe in the Aegean Sea, An Environmental Basis for the Biblical story of the Exodus The Exodus According to G, by Albert E. Gilding, Sr. In 1628 BC, Thera exploded! It was a large volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, a northern extension of the eastern Mediterranean. Only a thin shell of the island was left, which today is called Santorini. An important island trading civilization, that some have identified as ancient Atlantis, disappeared along with most of the land that had long been called home by a people who have largely disappeared. A distinct culture was snuffed out in that instant. Most, if not all, of the civilizations that bordered the eastern half of the Mediterranean were disrupted. Some disappeared. Others fell into a rapid decline, sometime either at the beginning or just before the Mycenaean era of Greek history. In 1580 BC, Jericho was destroyed. According to the carbon dating method of discovering the age of archaeological artifacts, a fiery conflagration coupled with probable seismic activity were the agents. This event occurred 48 years after the island of Thera disappeared. Within the Egyptian "Kings" chronology, upon which most if not all Ancient History dating has been based, an anomaly, claimed by some, has been discovered. This accidental misreading of the order of succession of the Pharaohs has moved the dating of most events, reliant on this system, ahead in time by approximately four hundred years. A new reading of history afforded by a correction of this anomaly would make the explosion of Thera and the Exodus, as described in the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Old Testament, relatively concurrent events. The close proximity of these occurrences is the basis upon which a new telling of an old story becomes possible.