Side by side illustrations show that nine columns of the peristyle of the Great Temple (aka the Temple of Jupiter) in Baalbek were standing in 1751 CE (left) and only six remained in 1767 CE (right) - both Figures from Lewis (1999)

Two powerful earthquakes struck on 30 October and 25 November 1759 CE, each followed by a series of aftershocks. The shocks caused heavy destruction and numerous deaths in Lebanon, Syria, and northern Palestine. They triggered rockfalls, landslides, fissures, and may have generated tsunamis along the Mediterranean coast and the Sea of Galilee¹. The first shock in October caused severe damage in Safed, where the historic core was affected and about 150 people were killed (Katz and Crouvi, 2007). Much of the destruction there appears to have resulted from earthquake-induced landslides. The second, apparently larger, shock occurred farther north. Ambraseys and Barazangi (1989) estimated magnitudes of M_S ≈ 6.6 for the October event and M_S ≈ 7.4 for the November one—values broadly consistent with the more refined estimates of Daeron et al. (2005). Based on paleoseismic trenching, geomorphological surveys, and a report from the French Consul in Saida describing a fissure over 110 km long near Baalbek², Daeron et al. (2005) proposed that the 1759 earthquakes resulted from rupture of the **Rachaiya Fault** in October, followed by rupture of the **Serghaya Fault** in November. They estimated (2σ) magnitudes of 6.4–7.3 and 7.0–8.0 respectively.

Corroborating paleoseismic evidence probably appears at Bet Zeyda for the 30 October Safed quake and in the Tekieh Trenches (Syria) and Faqaa Trench (Lebanon) for the 25 November Baalbek quake. Marco et al. (2014) may have found tsunamogenic traces of one of these earthquakes at the Taninim Creek Dam site, although the dating of the observed flame structures there is poorly constrained. Ellenblum et al. (1998) documented about 0.5 m of displacement in an Ottoman mosque at Tel Ateret (also known as Vadum Iacob), possibly caused by the 30 October 1759 Safed quake. Extensive arch damage at Nimrod Castle may likewise stem from this event, with additional destruction resulting from the later 25 November Baalbek quake. At Baalbek, three columns of the peristyle of the Great Temple (Temple of Jupiter) reportedly collapsed during the November shock, and the soffit of the door of the Lesser Temple fell. Several sources recount large numbers of fatalities in the Beqaa Valley and deaths in Damascus caused by both earthquakes.

Many historical sources describe the effects of these two events, though only a portion are currently included in this catalog entry.

Footnotes

1 I have not yet been able to access the original sources for the reported tsunamis. According to Amiran et al. (1994), one reference is:

Rabbi Joseph the Scribe experienced this severe tsunami while traveling by ship from Constantinople to Beirut. Cf. translation of his letter by B.A. Friedmann, Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly (1914), p. 67.

biblicalstudies.org.uk lists the reference as Rabbi Joseph the Scribe, “Praises of the Land of Israel,” *Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement* 46.2 (April 1914): 67–83, but no online version is currently available.

2 Daeron et al. (2005) located only a single, somewhat ambiguous sentence from the French Consul that suggested the earth fissure lay on the eastern side of the Beqaa Valley. This passage, along with geomorphological surveys, led them to conclude that the Serghaya Fault ruptured in the November event. Their interpretation of the consul’s wording proved correct: the full letter, reproduced in the Textual Evidence section, clearly places the fissure on the eastern side of the Beqaa Valley. The same report appeared again in Issue 10 of La Gazette de France (1860 CE), which likewise confirms its location on the eastern side of the Beqaa Valley.