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Chronicle of Pseudo Joshua the Stylite

Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts
English from Trombley and Watt (2000)

The year 813 (= 501/2 A.D.)

...But now, listen to the horrors which took place this year and to the sign which became visible on the day they occurred, because you have required us (to write about) this too. On the twenty-second of August this year, on the night preceding Friday,235 we saw a huge fire [274) burning in the northern quarter (of the sky) all night and accordingly thought that the whole earth was going [to be consumed] by a torrent of fire that night.236 The mercy of our Lord preserved us unharmed, but a letter was sent to us by some acquaintances of ours who were on their way to Jerusalem, in which it was (said) that the city of Ptolemais, otherwise known as Acre, was flattened on the night that the huge blazing «fire was seen, and nothing in it was left standing. Furthermore, some days later some Tyrians and Sidonians came to us and told us that parts of their cities, i.e., part of Tyre and part of Sidon, also fell down on the same day as the fire appeared and Ptolemais was flattened.237In Beirut238, on the day when Acre was destroyed, only the synagogue of the Jews collapsed,239 but the (entire) population of Nicomedia was handed over to Satan to be punished:240 many of them were attacked by evil spirits, until they recalled the words of our Lord,241 remained constant in fasting and prayer, and (thus) received healing.242
Footnotes

235 I.e., Thursday night. The day of the week is correct. Ginzel, Handbuch der Chronologie, 129-131.

236 This appearance of the aurora borealis is also reported in Chron. Edessenum, anno 813 (Guidi, 8) (version), but with no apocalyptic detail. Chinese sources indicate increased sunspot activity at this time. Schove-Fletcher, Eclipses and Comets, 32If. It is conceivable that these phenomena were causally related to the seismic disturbances reported at Tyre, Sidon, Acre and Ptolemais. (Oral communication from Gareth Leyshon and Antonio Irranca.)

237 All these towns lay on the coast of Phoenice I. M. Mundell Mango, ‘Sidon’ and ‘Tyre*, ODB, 1892f., 2134. Cf. Grumel, Chronologie, 478, who adds Neocaesarea in Pontus Polemoniacus (present-day Niksar) to the list. The latter town was more probably destroyed with Nicopolis in Armenia I in September 499. Cf. above, §§ 34-35, and Theophanes, Chronographia AM 5995 (Mango-Scott, 223, n. 3).

238 The provincial capital of Phoenice I. M. Mundell Mango, ‘Berytus’, ODB, 284f.

239 A law given on 15 February 423 for the praetorian prefect of Oriens forbade the construction of new synagogues and required old ones to be left in their present state. Cod. Theod. 16.8.25. Its implications for the building in Beirut are not clear.

240 Nicomedia, provincial capital of Bithynia in northwestern Asia Minor. Cf. C. Foss, ‘Nikomedia*, ODB, 1483f. ‘Nicomedia’, PECS, 623f.

241 Cf. Matt. 17:21; Mk. 9 : 29.

242 On ‘possession* as a phenomenon of Anatolian religious psychopathology, see the provisional remarks of S. Mitchell, A

English from Wright (1882)

XLV. The year 813 (A.D. 501-2).

...

XLVII. Now then listen to the calamities that happened in this year, and to the sign that appeared on the day when they happened, for this too you have required at my hands. On the 22d of Ab (August) in this year, on the night preceding [37] Friday 23, a great fire appeared to us blazing in the northern quarter the whole night, and we thought that the whole earth was going to be destroyed that night by a deluge of fire; but the mercy of our Lord preserved us without harm. We received, however, a letter from some acquaintances of ours, who were travelling to Jerusalem, in which it was stated that, on the same night in which that great blazing fire appeared, the city of Ptolemais or 'Akko was overturned, and nothing in it left standing. Again, a few days after, there came unto us some Tyrians and Sidonians, and told us that, on the very same day on which the fire appeared and Ptolemais was overturned, the half of their cities fell, namely of Tyre and Sidon. In Berytus (Beirut) only the synagogue of the Jews fell down on the day when 'Akko was overturned.

...

XLIX. The year 814 (A.D. 502-3).
Footnotes

23. * We would say, "on Thursday night." This display of the aurora borealis must have been unusually magnificent.

English from Wright (1882) - embedded



Chronology
Fire in the Sky
Year Reference Corrections Notes
night of Thursday 22 August 502 CE On the 22d of Ab in this year (A.G. 813), on the night preceding Friday none
  • A.G. 813 went from 1 Oct. 501 to 30 Sept. 502 CE (calculated using CHRONOS)
  • 22 Ab is 22 August
  • Julian day calculations indicate that 22 Aug. 502 CE fell on a Thursday ( calculated using CHRONOS)
Earthquake
Year Reference Corrections Notes
night of Thursday 22 August 502 CE on the same night in which that great blazing fire appeared, the city of Ptolemais or 'Akko was overturned none
  • A.G. 813 went from 1 Oct. 501 to 30 Sept. 502 CE (calculated using CHRONOS)
  • 22 Ab is 22 August
  • Julian day calculations indicate that 22 Aug. 502 CE fell on a Thursday ( calculated using CHRONOS)
Seismic Effects Fire in the Sky Locations Online Versions and Further Reading
References

Notes
What was the "fire in the sky" ?

Russel (1985) suggested that the "fire in the sky" was aurora borealis ('Northern lights'). Guidoboni et al (1994) suggested that the "fire in the sky" preceding the earthquake was possibly earthquake lights - a manifestation of an air ionization effect that may occasionally precede some earthquakes. See Tributsch (2013), Tributsch (1982), or other references for more details on earthquake lights. Trombley and Watt (2000:49 n.236) discuss both possibilities as follows:

This appearance of the aurora borealis is also reported in Chron. Edessenum, anno 813 (Guidi, 8) (version), but with no apocalyptic detail. Chinese sources indicate increased sunspot activity at this time. Schove-Fletcher, Eclipses and Comets, 32If. It is conceivable that these phenomena were causally related to the seismic disturbances reported at Tyre, Sidon, Acre and Ptolemais. (Oral communication from Gareth Leyshon and Antonio Irranca.)
JW: Figure out where this account came from to see if Earthquake lights is a possibility. Earthquake Lights are geographically more localized than aurora borealis.