The Doors of Hekal and another potential aftershock
Background and Biography Excerpts The Babylonian Talmud
The Babylonian Talmud may contain indirect evidence for an earthquake shock to the second Temple sometime around 30 CE. In Yoma 39 b Paragraph 2, one can read:Our Rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-coloured strap become white; nor did the westernmost light shine; and the doors of the Hekal would open by themselves, until Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai rebuked them, saying: Hekal, Hekal, why wilt thou be the alarmer thyself?Since the second Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, 40 years before its destruction refers to ~30 CE. The signs above were interpreted as omens of the Temple’s ensuing destruction. Many of the signs appear superstitious but the spontaneous opening of the doors of Hekal (the main sanctuary building) could be a reflection of seismic damage to the doorway as doors that do not open or close properly are a frequent result of light structural damage from an earthquake. Subsidence is also a possible cause of distortion of a door frame.
Josephus
Josephus describes a similar portent foreshadowing destruction of the second Temple in Book 6 Chapter 5 Paragraph 3 of the Jewish WarMoreover, the eastern gate of the inner [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night.Josephus does not provide a firm date for this spontaneous door opening; only stating that it happened "before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war". Like the Talmud, Josephus described other portents some of which seem possible (e.g. a celestial object described as looking like a sword and a comet) and others which seem fantastical (e.g. a heifer birthing a lamb in the Temple). While this suggests oral transmission, embellishment, and invention, a second source describing spontaneous opening of the doors gives more credence to the door opening observation in the Talmud.
Tacitus
Tacitus in Histories Book 5 Paragraph 13 recounts portents (or prodigies) similar to Josephus including the following describing doors of the second Temple:The doors of the inner shrine were suddenly thrown open, and a voice of more than mortal tone was heard to cry that the Gods were departing. At the same instant there was a mighty stir as of departure.The similarity of other prodigies (or portents) mentioned by Tacitus in paragraph 13 suggests that Josephus was one of Tacitus' sources so this cannot be necessarily be viewed as independent corroboration. Like Josephus, Tacitus did not provide a firm date for the spontaneous door opening only stating that it "had occurred" before the first Roman-Jewish War.
Josephus records a potential aftershock
Later in Book 6 Chapter 5 Paragraph 3 of the Jewish War, Josephus, in describing these portents or prodigies, includes what could be a seismic aftershock on the 21st of May some days after the doors of Hekal spontaneously opened.Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence."