Text (with hotlink) | Original Language | Biographical Info | Religion | Date of Composition | Location Composed | Notes |
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Introduction | ||||||
Annales by Marcellinus Comes | Latin |
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Orthodox (Byzantium) | ca. 534 CE | Constantinople | Marcellinus reports that many Palestinian cities were ruined by an earthquake. He dates the earthquake to the same Olympiad year that Valentinian was born. Valentinian was born on July 9, 419 AD and since the Olympiad year starts on roughly July 20 or August 20, this would date this earthquake to between July/August 418 and July/August 419. Marcellinus further places the earthquake under the heading of Monaxius and Plinta who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire in consulship in 419 AD. This further constrains the date of the earthquake to 1 January 419 to July or August 419. |
Sermon XIX by Augustine of Hippo | Latin |
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Orthodox (Byzantium) | ca. 419 CE | Hippo Regius in what is now Annaba, Algeria | Augustine of Hippo reported in a sermon that great earthquakes are reported from the Eastwhere some great cities suddenly collapsed in ruinsand Jews, Pagans and Catechumens in Jerusalem were terrified, and all were baptised. |
Chronicon by Idatius (aka Hydatius) | Latin |
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Orthodox (Byzantium) | ca. 469 CE | Aquae Flaviae in Gallaecia (now Portugal) | Idatius reported that the holy places in Jerusalem and other areas were shaken by a terrible earthquake.Idatius states that Eulalius was bishop of Rome when the this earthquake struck. This constrains the date of the earthquake to 27 December 418 - 3 April 419 when Eulalius was the antipope in Rome. Since Marcellinus Comes dates the earthquake to the consulships of Monaxius and Plinta which was in 419 CE, this earthquake is further constrained to approximately the first quarter of 419 CE - 1 January 419 to 3 April 419. |
Consularia Constantinopolitana | Latin |
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Orthodox (Byzantium) | a complex document of differing dates and hands(Burgess, 1993:175) |
Constantinople | Consularia Constantinopolitana is essentially a list of consuls (leaders) which may show that Monaxius and Plinta ruled the Eastern Roman Empire in 419 CE and mentions a letter from Jerusalem speaking of signs and terror from God. |
Text (with hotlink) | Original Language | Biographical Info | Religion | Date of Composition | Location Composed | Notes |
Location (with hotlink) | Status | Intensity | Notes |
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Khirbet Shema | possible to unlikely |
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Khorazin | possible |
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Aphek/Antipatris | possible | ≥ 7 |
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Tiberias - Introduction | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Hammath Tiberias - Synagogue | needs investigation |
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Khirbet Wadi Hamam | possible |
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En Hazeva | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Avdat/Oboda | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Mampsis | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Haluza | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Yotvata | possible to probable | ≥ 8 |
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Petra - Introduction | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Petra - Wadi Sabra Theater | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Petra - Jabal Khubthah | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Petra - ez Zantur | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Petra - Urn Tomb | possible |
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Petra - NEPP site | possible |
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Khirbet Tannur | possible | ≥ 8 |
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Location (with hotlink) | Status | Intensity | Notes |
Location (with hotlink) | Status | Intensity | Notes | |||||||||||||||
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al-Harif Syria | possible | ≥ 7 (based on 4.2 m of slip) |
Sbeinati et. al. (2010) report a seismic event X which they dated to 335 AD ± 175 years at a displaced aqueduct at al-Harif, Syria (close to Masyaf, Syria). | |||||||||||||||
Bet Zayda | no evidence | ≥ 7 | Wechsler at al. (2014) did not see any evidence for this earthquake in paleoseismic trenches just north of the Sea of Galilee (aka Lake Kinneret). | |||||||||||||||
Dead Sea - Seismite Types | n/a | n/a | ||||||||||||||||
Dead Sea - ICDP Core 5017-1 | possible | 6 | Lu et al (2020) associated a turbidite in the core to the Monaxius and Plinta Quake. CalBP is reported as 1513 +/47. This works out to a date of 437 CE with a 1σ bound of 390-484 CE. Ages come from Kitagawa et al (2017). The deposit is described as a 2.7 cm. thick turbidite (MMD). Lu et al (2020) estimated local seismic intensity of VI which they converted to Peak Horizontal Ground Acceleration (PGA) of 0.09 g. Dr. Yin Lu relates that "this estimate was based on previous studies of turbidites around the world (thickness vs. MMI)" ( Moernaut et al (2014). The turbidite was identified in the depocenter composite core 5017-1 (Holes A-H). | |||||||||||||||
Dead Sea - En Feshka | possible | 7.9-8.8 |
Kagan et. al. (2011) identified
two seismites at En Feshka which might match with the
Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE.
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Dead Sea - En Gedi | possible | 5.6-7 | Migowski et. al. (2004)
assigned a 419 CE date to 0.5 cm. thick seismite at a depth of 237 cm (2.37 m).
Williams et. al.(2012) varve counted part of the same
1997 GFZ/GSI core that Migowski et. al. (2004)
worked on and produced an estimate of varve count uncertainty based on distance from a well dated "anchor" earthquakes
which in this case are the Josephus Quake
of 31 BC and the Sabbatical Year Quake of 747/749 CE. These anchor quakes are
between 329 and 394 years away from the Cyril Quake of 363 CE and/or the
Monaxius and Plinta Quake
of 419 CE. Assuming a worst case scenario of 394 years, the 8% varve count error estimated by Williams et al (2012)
constrains Migowski et. al.'s (2004) 419 CE to +/-32 years - i.e. between 387 and 451 CE. Two conclusions can be drawn.
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Dead Sea - Nahal Ze 'elim | possible | 8.0-8.9 (ZA-1) 8.1-8.9 (ZA-2) |
There has been an ongoing debate since the start of the millennium whether a seismite in Nahal Ze 'elim should be assigned to the southern
Cyril Quake
of 363 CE or to the Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE. Ken-Tor et al. (2001a) assigned a 4 cm. thick Type 4 seismite dated to 358-580 CE (± 2σ) and labeled as Event D in Nahal Ze 'elim (ZA-1) to the 363 CE Cyril Quake Seismite as did Williams (2004). Neither Ken-Tor et al. (2001a) nor Williams (2004) were aware at the time that the Cyril Quake was a result of two earthquakes with northern and southern epicenters; just that the damage reports were so widespread that it was doubtful that one earthquake could have produced so much destruction. Considering the possibility that textual reports overstated the damage, this cast significant uncertainty in determining which date to assign to the seismite. Williams (2004) estimated that that the Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE was unlikely to produce sufficient shaking to form a seismite in Nahal Ze 'elim which is why he rejected that earthquake for Event D. At the time, he was relying on Russell (1980) whose article suggested an epicenter north of the Sea of Galilee. This may not have been a good assumption. He also noted that at the time three authors (Abou Karaki, 1987, Ben-Menahem et. al, 1981, and Galli and Galadini, 2001) had placed the epicenter of the 363 CE Cyril Quake to the south in the Araba. Other authors had estimated that the epicenter was in the north due to the many northern cities listed in Cyril's letter (Brock, 1977). At ZA-2, Kagan et. al. (2011) assigned a 5 cm. thick intraclast breccia at a depth of 342 cm (Modeled Age ±1σ - 453 CE ± 67, ±2σ - 456 CE ± 86). to the Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE. this appears to be the same seismite Ken-Tor (2001a) labeled as Event D at ZA-1. Kagan et al (2011) likely assigned a 419 CE date because it better fits with the modeled ages. Bookman (nee Ken-Tor) co-authored a paper in 2010 ( Leroy et. al., 2010) which maintained a 363 CE date for Event D. Because Migowski et. al. (2004) had used varve counting in the En Gedi core to assign a seismite to the 419 CE earthquake rather than the 363 CE Cyril Quake, there was doubt whether the 363 CE Cyril Quake had created seismites in the Southern Dead Sea. Because the southern Cyril Quake produced fatalities in nearby Ghor-es-Safi, Jordan (see Archeoseismic evidence for the Cyril Quake), it seems likely that the southern Cyril Quake produced a seismite in Nahal Ze 'elim however there is a significantly better radiocarbon match with the Monaxius and Plinta Quake of 419 CE and thus the correct Quake assignment remains unresolved. |
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Araba - Introduction | n/a | n/a | n/a | |||||||||||||||
Araba - Taybeh Trench | possible | ≥ 7 | LeFevre et al. (2018) might have seen evidence for this earthquake in the Taybeh Trench (Event E3 - Modeled Age 551 AD ± 264). | |||||||||||||||
Araba - Qatar Trench | possible | ≥ 7 | Klinger et. al. (2015) identified a seismic event (E6) in a trench near Qatar, Jordan in the Arava which they modeled between 9 BCE and 492 CE. The large spread in age caused them to consider two possible earthquakes as the cause; the Incense Road Quake between 110 CE and 114 CE and the southern Cyril Earthquake of 363 CE. They preferred the Cyril Earthquake of 363 CE based on weighing other evidence not related to their paleoseismic study and noted that further investigation was required. Although they did not consider the Monaxius and Plinta Earthquake of 419 CE as a possibility, it fits within their modeled ages. | |||||||||||||||
Location (with hotlink) | Status | Intensity | Notes |