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Chronicle of Zuqnin by Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre

Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts
English from Harrak (1999)

[501-502]

The year eight hundred and thirteen:

A mighty earthquake took place and Ptolemais (Acco) was overturned as well as Tyre and Sidon. Also in Beirut1, the synagogue of the Jews was utterly collapsed and destroyed. On the same night of the earthquake that occurred in the month of Ab (August), on the twenty-second, at the dawn of Friday, a sign was seen on the north side (of the sky) in the likeness of a blazing fire.1
Footnotes

1 MS seems to have [] although the [] of the first verb seems to be a confused [] and the first two letters [] seem to have been written over a word, perhaps []. Chabot managed to read [], but in Chabot, Chronicon I, 274:13 = Wright, Chronicle, XLVI1:44 the words [] "also in Beirut it collapsed" are attested. Assemani used the latter source to correct the present passage; BO i 271 n.l.

2 Chronicon Edess. LXXIX 9:5-7 [8:27-28]; Michael VI 257 [II 154].

Syriac - embedded



Chronology
Fire in the Sky
Year Reference Corrections Notes
dawn of 22 August 502 CE dawn of Friday of the 22nd of Ab in A.G. 813 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 22 August 502 CE On the night of the 22nd of Ab in A.G. 813 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 Sources
Sources

Background Information
Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre vs. Dionysius of Tell-Mahre

Online Versions and Further Reading
References