Chronicon by Bar Hebraeus

Background and Biography

Background and Biography

Excerpts

English from Budge (1932)

• from Budge(1932:194)

And in the year four hundred and twenty-five of the ARABS (A.D. 1033), which is the year thirteen hundred and forty-five of the GREEKS (A.D. 1034), a violent black wind blew in the month of KANON (December) in NISIBIS, and it uprooted olive-trees, and mulberry-trees, and plum-trees, and it swept away buildings constructed of stone and plaster made from lime. And after it came a violent rain-storm, and there fell many hailstones which had the forms of hands, and wrists, and fingers. And there was an earthquake in EGYPT and in PALESTINE, and men went forth from [their] houses and remained under the heavens (i.e. open sky) for eight days. And one half of the city of BALASH fell down. And the earth swallowed up many villages in Syria with their inhabitants. And portions of the walls of the Temple in JERUSALEM fell down, and a minaret of the ARABS in ASCALON, and the top of a minaret in GAZA, and a half of the city of 'AKO. And the sea retreated three parasangs, and men went into it to collect fish and shell¬ fish ; but the waters returned and drowned some of them.

English from Budge (1932) -embedded

• see top part of page 194 starting with And in the year four hundred and twenty-five of the ARABS
• from Budge(1932:194)
• from archive.org

Chronology

Year	Reference	Corrections	Notes
26 November 1033 to 15 November 1034 CE	A.H. 425	none	Calculated using CHRONOS
1 Oct. 1033 to 30 Sept. 1034 CE	A.G. 1345	none	Calculated using CHRONOS
26 November 1033 to 30 Sept. 1034 CE	A.H. 425 and A.G. 1345 combined	none

Seismic Effects

• one half of the city of BALASH¹ fell down
• the earth swallowed up many villages in Syria with their inhabitants.
• portions of the walls of the Temple in JERUSALEM fell down
• a minaret of the ARABS in ASCALON [fell down]
• top of a minaret in GAZA [fell down]
• half of the city of 'AKO [fell down]
• the sea retreated three parasangs², and men went into it to collect fish and shellfish ; but the waters returned and drowned some of them (in AKO)

Footnotes

1 Ambraseys (2009) discussed the locality of Balash

There remains the problem of Balash, the location of which is uncertain. It cannot be Balls on the west bank of the Euphrates River, 5 km from modern Meskene because it is too distant, at 530 km from the epicentral region. It is more likely to be Baladha, near Nablus (Yakut i. 710).

2 A parsang is a Persian mile. There are differing accounts of the exact distance of a parsang. Karcz (2004) states that this is 4000 yards which is in approximate agreement with other estimates. Using the reckoning of Karcz (2004), 3 parsangs equals to ~11 km.

Locations mentioned

• EGYPT
• PALESTINE
• villages in SYRIA
• BALASH¹
• JERUSALEM
• ASCALON
• GAZA
• AKO

Footnotes

1 Ambraseys (2009) discussed the locality of Balash

There remains the problem of Balash, the location of which is uncertain. It cannot be Balls on the west bank of the Euphrates River, 5 km from modern Meskene because it is too distant, at 530 km from the epicentral region. It is more likely to be Baladha, near Nablus (Yakut i. 710).

Sources

Sources

Online Versions and Further Reading

References