Death of Antiochus Quake

Background and Biography

Excerpts Chronology

Chronological markers in this passage are inconsistent. See footnotes for excerpt above in English from Mariev (2008).

Seismic Effects

• a great earthquake happened in the East and a countless number of Syrians perished
• the city of Tyre on the coast was submerged into the sea and a comet shone for several days

Locations

• Tyre

Sources Online Versions and Further Reading Notes

Altunel et al (1999) claim evidence for a ~80 BCE Apamea Earthquake in Event 2 from their trenches but only two useful radiocarbon dates were obtained in their paleoseismic study. The date constraints from these two samples are large (~1550 BCE - 1360 ± 50 CE) and their historical earthquake assignment is speculative - based on consulting earthquake catalogs during that time span.

The oldest event identified in the Ziyaret Trench dated to before 983 CE. A lower bound on age was not available due to insufficient radiocarbon dates.

Gomez et. al. (2003:15) may have seen evidence for an earthquake in the 1st or 2nd century BCE in Event B. Event B is estimated to have created ~ 2 meters of left lateral strike slip displacement which translates to an estimated Magnitude between 7.0 and 7.3 (7.0 and 7.2 according to Gomez et al, 2003:16-17). In terms of dating, an upper bound for Event B is 170 BCE - 20 CE while a lower bound for Events B and and the older Event C is from 1690 - 1400 BCE.

Elias et al (2007) examined uplifted benches on the Lebanese coast between Sarafand and Tripolis; some in the vicinity of Tabarja (~20 km. NE of Beirut). They identified four uplifts from 3 or more [sizeable M_w = ~7.5] earthquakes in the past ca. 6-7 ka. They attributed the latest uplift (B1) to the 551 CE Beirut Quake while the earlier events (B2, B3, and B4) were no more precisely dated than between ~5000 BCE and 551 CE. Bench uplift on the earlier events (B2, B3, and B4) would likely have been due to uplift on the Mount Lebanon Thrust system - as was surmised for Event B1 and the 551 CE Beirut Quake.

Nemer and Meghraoui (2006) date Event Y to between 2920-2879 BCE and 84-239 CE

Kanari, M. (2008) examined rockfalls in Qiryat-Shemona which were attributed to earthquakes. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was performed on soil samples beneath the fallen rocks. Kanari et al (2019) assigned Sample ID QS-6 to an earthquake in 199 BCE but the wide spread in ages indicate that this event could have occurred between ~400 BCE and ~200 CE.

Wechsler at al. (2014) records event CH4-E6 with a modeled age of 392 BCE – 91 CE.

• from Gatier (2011:260-262)

Abandoning the slow movements of subsidence, and returning to the short and immediately perceptible catastrophes that constitute earthquakes and tsunamis, let us note that two traditions reinforce the image of the instability of Tyre, but by evoking earthquakes. First is Justin, the abbreviator of the Philippic Histories of Trogus-Pompey written in the 1st century AD, who reports a legend of the founding of the city from a tradition that I consider favorable to Sidon and therefore hostile to Tyre. He states that the Tyrians are descended from the Phoenicians who were forced to abandon their first homeland due to an earthquake. Without going into detail, we must see here an allusion to traditions – also known by other ancient authors – which make Tylos/Tyros (current island of Bahrain in the Arabian-Persian Gulf) the starting point of the migration of the oldest Phoenicians towards the Mediterranean and the original cradle of Tyre¹⁴. This theme of the pre-founding earthquake is also found in Quintus Curtius, at the end of his account of the siege of Tyre by Alexander. The Latin historian takes it up again in seeking to explain the reasons for the creation of the Tyrian colonial foundations, including Thebes, Carthage and Gades. After having mentioned various causes, he adds: "or again, the number of earthquakes - this according to another tradition - tired the natives, thus obliged to seek by arms foreign dwellings"¹⁵. Without going into too much detail, it will not be difficult, by bringing together several of these legends, to mirror the wandering and the fixation, the earthquakes that repeatedly drive the Tyrians towards new Tyres and the act of foundation that roots the lands and stabilizes men.

With Strabo, a contemporary of Augustus, and Seneca, already mentioned, we leave the legends for the memory of earthquakes chronologically closer to these authors, although their sources must be found in the now largely lost works of Hellenistic historians, foremost among whom is Poseidonius of Apamea. Strabo writes of Tyre: "the houses there are said to have many floors, even more than those of Rome, which is why earthquakes have almost destroyed it from top to bottom"¹⁶. As for Seneca, in a passage on the collapse of cities as a consequence of earthquakes, he adds: "Tyre was once only too famous for its ruins"¹⁷. Overall, we must retain the possibility that earthquakes occurred at undetermined dates in the Hellenistic period.

Moreover, we find in the Guidoboni catalogue 1 (n° 039, p. 145), according to a fragment of Poseidonius of Apamea transmitted by Strabo, an earthquake which had serious consequences in Sidon in 199/198 BC [JW: The exact date is uncertain]: "In Phoenicia, if we are to believe Poseidonius, an earthquake engulfed a city located above Sidon and caused about two thirds of the city of Sidon itself to collapse"¹⁸. The text presents three difficulties. First, the preposition ὑπέρ, “above,” can mean “inland,” in relation to a city located on the coast, but also “next to” based on a series of neighboring sites classified in a given direction, generally – but not exclusively – South/North. Second, the verb that is translated “to swallow,” καταπίνω, seems to refer to a tsunami – as in the evocation of seismic disasters affecting coastal cities, Helike in Polybius or Pisaurum (modern Pesaro) in Plutarch¹⁹ –, but a more general or metaphorical meaning, “to swallow” or “to drink completely,” applying for example to rivers disappearing into the earth, cannot be excluded. Third, the noun πόλις can be translated as “city” rather than “town,” which broadens the scope of the sites concerned, since the only two cities, in the ancient sense, that could be considered in this context would be Tyre, to the south of Sidon, and Berytus, to the north. As for Tyre, if it had indeed been the victim of this possible tsunami, one may wonder whether its fame would not have forced Poseidonius or Strabo to give its name. Perhaps it would be more appropriate here to consider that the submersion affected a less famous site, such as Berytus, whose reputation had remained discreet in the Hellenistic period, or a medium-sized conurbation that did not have the rank of city, which was nevertheless designated as a “city” and which was located near Sidon, for example Porphyreon-Jiye or another site of this type. In any case, and given that the earthquakes that are attested in Sidon are also attested in Tyre²⁰, we can assume that the latter was also affected by the catastrophe of 199/198 BC, without it being possible to assess the damage.

A specific earthquake is well attested for Tyre a little later in the Hellenistic period, in a little-known, late and delicately used source. Indeed, around the middle of the 7th century AD, John of Antioch wrote, based on the historians whose works he had at his disposal, a universal chronicle of which only fragments remain. Among these fragments, one mentions an event from the reign of the Seleucid Antiochus IX Cyzicenus (114/113-95 BC): "during his reign, because a great earthquake had taken place in the East, enormous numbers of Syrians perished, and Tyre on the coast was submerged by the sea, and also a comet - which shone for several days - announced his death"²¹. The association of the king's death with two extraordinary phenomena, the earthquake and the comet, manifests divine disfavor towards the sovereign and functions as the union of negative signs that announce this death²². It seems to me therefore possible to place the earthquake at a date close to the death of Antiochus, in 95 BC or shortly before. This first earthquake, certainly Tyrian and dated approximately ²³, is very clearly associated with a tsunami. It does not appear in the lists of Guidoboni. Until the 4th century AD, it has no known successor. References

Gatier, Pierre-Louis (2011). Tyr l’instable : pour un catalogue des séismes et tsunamis de l’Antiquité et du Moyen Âge, in SourceS de l ’hiStoire de Tyr textes de l ’Antiquité et du Moyen Âge, Beirut, Lebanon, Presses de l’Université Saint-Joseph et Presses de l’Ifpo. pp. 255-265