Fallen Walls of Tripoli Quake(s)

Clearing up the Description of Earthquakes by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti

كتاب كشف الصلصلة عن وصف الزلزلة by عبد الرحمن بن كمال الدين أبي بكر بن محمد سابق الدين خضر الخضيري الأسيوطي

Aliases

Aliases	Arabic
Al-Suyuti
As-Suyuti
Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti
Abu 'l-Fadl 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr ibn Muhammad Djalal al_Din al-Khudayri

Background and Biography

Excerpts

English from Ambraseys (2009)

from Ambraseys (2009)

In the month of latter Jumada of the year 455 [30 April 1065 to 28 May 1066] a very violent earthquake occurred in Wasit’, Ant’akia, al-Ladhiqiyya, Sur, ‘Akka, ar-Rum and Ard’ ash-Sham: it caused part of the girdle-wall of T’arabulus (Tripoli) to fall. (al-Suyuti 60/19).

English from Sprenger (1843)

from an abridged translation by Sprenger (1843:744)

A.H. 455. Sha'ban; at Wasit, Antiochia, Laodicea, Sul, Akka and over all Syria. The Walls of Tripoli were destroyed

English from Sprenger (1843) - embedded

see two-thirds of the way down on page 744 starting with 455. Sha'ban;
from an abridged translation by Sprenger (1843:744)
from archive.org

An Original Manuscript

The Noor book courtesy of Najib Abou Karaki (personal correspondence, 2022)

Chronology

**Sprenger (1843)'s Translation**
Year	Reference	Corrections	Notes
30 July - 27 August 1063 CE	Sha'ban A.H.455	none	from Sprenger (1843)'s translation Calculated with CHRONOS

**Ambraseys (2009)'s Translation**
Year	Reference	Corrections	Notes
1 June - 29 June 1063 CE	Jumada of the year A.H.455	Ambraseys (2009) miscalculated the dates. Correct dates are shown here	from Ambraseys (2009)'s translation Month of Jumada t-Tania assumed rather than Jumada l-Ula Calculated with CHRONOS

Seismic Effects

A very violent earthquake occurred in Wasit, Antiochia, Laodicea, Sur, Akko, ar-Rum and Ard’ ash-Sham
It caused part of the girdle-wall of Tripoli to fall.

Locations

Antioch
Laodicea
Sur (Tyre)
Akko
Byzantine occupied Syria
Muslim occupied Syria
Wasit - Ambraseys (2009) suggests that as-Suyuti falsely conflated damage in Wasit from another earthquake in June 1063 CE (presumably in Iraq) with the 1063 CE earthquake on the Syrian littoral.¹

Footnotes

1 Ambraseys (2009) refers to an earthquake in June 1063 CE as being the previous entry in his catalog but the previous entry is a 1059 CE earthquake report from Bulgaria which he labeled as spurious. The catalog entry before the spuriously labeled Bulgaria Quake is an 8 Dec. 1058 CE earthquake in Eastern Iraq where there are reports of damage in Wasit.

Notes and Further Reading

References