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Chronicle of Theophanes

Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts, Chronology, Seismic Effects, and Locations
Holy Desert Quake

Excerpts

English from Mango and Scott (1997)

[A.M. 6238, AD 745/6] II In this year there was a great earthquake in Palestine, by the Jordan and in all of Syria on 18 January, in the 4th hour. Numberless multitudes perished, churches and monasteries collapsed, especially those in the desert of the Holy City. IIa

II In the same year a pestilence that had started in Sicily and Calabria travelled like a spreading fire all through the 14th indiction1 to Monobasia2, Hellas, and the adjoining islands, thus scourging in advance the impious Constantine and restraining his fury against the Church and the holy icons, even though he remained unrepentant like Pharaoh of old. This disease of the bubonic plague spread to the Imperial City in the 15th3 indiction. All of a sudden, without visible cause, there appeared many oily crosslets upon men's garments, on the altar cloths of churches, and on hangings. The mysteriousness of this presage inspired great sorrow and despondency among the people. Then God's wrath started destroying not only the inhabitants of the City, but also those of all its outskirts. Many men had hallucinations and, being in ecstasy, imagined to be in the company of certain strangers of terrible aspect who, as it were, addressed in friendly fashion those they met and conversed with them. Taking note of their conversation, they later reported it. They also saw the same men entering houses, killing some of the inmates, and wounding others with the sword. Most of what they said came to pass just as they had seen it.

In the spring of the 1st indiction4 the plague intensified and in the summer it flared up all at once so that entire households were completely shut up and there was no one to bury the dead. Because of extreme necessity a way was devised of placing planks upon animals saddled with four paniers each5 and so removing the dead or piling them likewise one upon the other in carts. When all the urban and suburban cemeteries had been filled as well as empty cisterns and ditches, and many vineyards had been dug up and even the orchards within the old walls6 to make room for the burial of human bodies, only then was the need satisfied7. When every household had been destroyed by this calamity on account of the impious removal of the holy icons by the rulers, straight away the fleet of the Hagarenes sailed from Alexandria to Cyprus, where the Roman fleet happened to be. The strategos of the Kibyraiots fell upon them suddenly in the harbour of Keramaia8 and seized the mouth of the harbour. Out of 1,000 dromones9 it is said that only three escaped. IIb
Footnotes

a Cf. Agapios, 261 (Jan.): earthquake in Palestine, esp. at Tiberias, where more than 100,000 were killed.

Mich. Syr. ii. 509-10; Chr. 1234, 254. 33 ff. (without date): damage at Damascus, Tiberias, Mabbug, and elsewhere.

Ps.-Dion. Chron. 42-3, AG 1059: Chalcedonian bishop of Mabbug crushed with his flock.

b Cf. Nik. 67. 4-43,- 68. 3-11. Kleinchronik, 1. 17 (Schreiner, i. 45) abbreviates Theoph. as regards the plague.



1 AD 745/6.

2 Monemvasia on the east coast of the Peloponnese.

3 dB mistakenly prints '5th'.

4 AD 747/8. This is the date given for the plague in Kleinchronik, 2. 4 (Schreiner, i. 47).

5 Reading Sia £AIA V aayp novp.4vu v vno TETpaKavdr/Xov. For the meaning of this expression see I. Rochow, Klio, 69 (1987), 571-2.

6 The Constantinian walls.

7 On the plague see also Theodore Studites, Laud. Platonis, PG 99: 805D. Nik. Antirrh. Ill, PG 100: 496B-D, adds that the emperor betook himself during the plague to the suburbs of Nicomedia. So also Geo. Mon. 754 and Epist. ad Theophilum, PG 95: 364B.

8 Situation unknown. See Sir George Hill, A History of Cyprus, i (Cambridge, 1940); 262 n. 5; L. Philippou, KvnpiaKai Sirovhal, 6 (1942), 1-5, who believes the battle did not take place in Cyprus. According to Nik. the conflict was initiated by Constantine, who sent a fleet against the Arabs.

9 Thirty in Anast., probably correctly.

English from Mango and Scott (1997) - embedded



English from Turtledove (1982) - embedded



Chronology
Year(s)
Year Reference Corrections Notes
25 Mar. 745 to 24 Mar. 747 CE A.M.a 6238 extra year added in case Theophanes A.M.a is a year too low
1 Sept. 745 to 31 Aug. 746 CE 14th indiction none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • If we use Grumel's (1934:398-402) synchronisms, the 14th indiction is in synchronism MB and should date from 1 Sept. 745 to 31 Aug. 747 CE (see Theophanes' Calendaric Inconsistencies under Notes)
18 June 746 to 17 June 747 CE Constantine, 6th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • reign started 18 June 741 CE
4 Dec. 746 - 3 Dec. 747 CE Marouam, 3rd year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • reign started on 4 December 744 CE
4 Dec. 753 - 3 Dec. 754 CE Zacharias, 13th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • consecrated on 4 or 6 December 741 CE
1 Jan. 746 - 30 Dec. 747 CE Anastasios, 17th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • installed 730 CE
1 Jan. 746 - 30 Dec. 747 CE Theophylaktos, 3rd year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • installed 744 CE
1 Sept. 745 to 31 Aug. 746 CE In the same year a pestilence that had started in Sicily and Calabria travelled like a spreading fire all through the 14th indiction none
  • The 14th indiction went from 1 Sept. 745 to 31 Aug. 746 CE (calculated using CHRONOS)
Time and Date
Time and Date Reference Corrections Notes
~10 am on 18 January on 18 January, in the 4th hour none
  • 4th hour refers to the 4th hour of daylight
Seismic Effects
  • there was a great earthquake in Palestine, by the Jordan and in all of Syria
  • Numberless multitudes perished
  • churches and monasteries collapsed, especially those in the desert of the Holy City.
Locations
  • Palestine
  • by the Jordan
  • all of Syria
  • the desert of the Holy City [Jerusalem]1
Footnotes

1 Ambraseys (2009) makes a tenuous argument that the desert of the Holy City would somehow refer to Moab, however the Holy Desert seems to be well located as the desert east of Jerusalem where many churches and monasteries were built in the area where Jesus is reported to have spent 40 days alone after his baptism by John the Baptist. Further, Theophanes mentions damage along the nearby Jordan River which is where the seismically active Jordan Valley Fault is located.

Talking Mule Quake

Excerpts

English from Mango and Scott (1997)

[A.M. 6241, AD 748/9] In this year Marouam was pursued by the Maurophoroi, who captured him and killed him after waging a very heavy war1. They were commanded by Salim, son of Alim2, one of the aforementioned fugitives who had sent Aboumouslim on his mission3. The rest of them gathered in Samaria and Trachonitis3 and awarded their leadership by lot to Aboulabas4, and next to him to his brother Abdela5, and next to the latter to Ise Ibinmouse6. II They appointed Abdela, son of Alim and brother of Salim, to be commander in Syria; Salim himself to be commander in Egypt; while Abdela, brother of Aboulabas (from whom he received the nomination to the command) they appointed over Mesopotamia. IIb Aboulabas himself, who was in supreme authority, established his seat in Persia, the government and all the seized treasure (which Marouam had carried away) having been transferred to him and his Persian allies from Damascus. Marouam's surviving sons and relatives went from Egypt to Africa, whence they crossed the narrow sea that separates Libya from Europe next to the Ocean at a place called Septai and settled until this day in Spain of Europe, where some kinsmen and correligionists of theirs had come to dwell at an earlier time — the latter being descendants of Mauias who had suffered shipwreck there7. The devastation in the days of Marouam lasted six years and in the course of it all the prominent cities of Syria lost their walls except Antioch, which he planned to use as a refuge. Innumerable Arabs were also killed by him for he was very cunning in civil matters. He belonged to the heresy of the Epicureans, that is Automatists, an impiety he had imbued from the pagans who dwell at Harran8.

II On 25 January of the same 3rd indiction9 a son was born to the emperor Constantine by the daughter of the Chagan of Chazaria and he called him Leo. In the same year there was an earthquake and terrible destruction in Syria, as a result of which some cities were entirely destroyed, others partially so, while others slid down entire, with their walls and houses, from positions on mountains to low-lying plains, a distance of six miles or thereabout10. Eyewitnesses affirmed that the ground in Mesopotamia was split along two miles and that out of the chasm was thrown up a different soil, very white and sandy, in the midst of which, they said, there came up an animal like a mule11, quite spotless, that spoke in a human voice and announced the incursion of a certain nation from the desert against the Arabs, which indeed came to pass.

The next year, in the 4th indiction12, on the feast of holy Pentecost the impious emperor Constantine conferred the imperial crown on his son Leo by the hand of the false patriarch Anastasios who shared his views. IIc
Footnotes

a Cf. Chr. 1234, 258. 33 ff., with many details.

b Ibid. 264. 5-8; Agapios, 272.

c Cf. Nik. 69. 1-70. 2


1 In Aug. 750: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 39.

2 Salih b. Ali: Caetani, Chron., AH 132, no. 16. See also Chr. Z234, 258.33; Agapios, 267-9.

3 East of the Jordan.

4 The Caliph Abu-l-Abbas al-Saffah, proclaimed at Ktifa in Nov. 749.

5 Abdallah AbuDja'far, appointed governor of Mesopotamia, Armenia, etc. (Elias Nis. 82 (AH 133) ).

6 Isa ibn Musa, Al-Saffah's cousin. Cf. Agapios, 273.

7 The passage of the Umayyads to Spain 'in the days of Justinian Rhinotmetos' is recorded by Const. Porph. DAI 21. 28-32, who adds that these events 'are not recorded by our historians'. He confuses the first conquest of Spain (711) with the establishment of the emirate of Cordova by 'Abd al-Rahman (756). Cf. Bury, BZ 15 (1906), 527-9.
8 Mich. Syr. ii. 508 says that Marwan did not believe in God.

9 AD 750.

10 According to Mich. Syr. ii. 5 10 and Chr. 1234, 255. 28 ff. a village near Mount Tabor was moved 4 miles with all its houses intact, and a source near Jericho was shifted 6 miles. Cf. Elias Nis. 82 (AH 131).

11 A female mule in Nik. 69.

12. AD751. Pentecost fell on 6 June.

English from Mango and Scott (1997) - embedded



English from Turtledove (1982) - embedded



Chronology
Year(s)
Year Reference Corrections Notes
25 Mar. 748 to 24 Mar. 750 CE A.M.a 6241 extra year added in case Theophanes A.M.a is a year too low
1 Sept. 749 to 31 Aug. 750 CE 3rd indiction none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • If we use Grumel's (1934:398-402) synchronisms, the 3rd indiction is in synchronism MB and should date from 1 Sept. 749 to 31 Aug. 750 CE (see Theophanes' Calendaric Inconsistencies under Notes)
18 June 749 to 17 June 750 CE Constantine, 9th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • reign started 18 June 741 CE
4 Dec. 749 to 3 Dec. 750 CE Marouam, 6th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • reign started on 4 December 744 CE
4 Dec. 756 to 5 Dec. 757 CE Zacharias, 16th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • consecrated on 4 or 6 December 741 CE
1 Jan. 749 to 30 Dec. 750 CE Anastasios, 20th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • installed 730 CE
1 Jan. 749 to 30 Dec. 750 CE Theophylaktos, 6th year none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • installed 744 CE
25 March 749 - 24 March 750 CE same A.M.a that Constantine's son Leo was born. none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • Leo was born on 25 January 750 CE which was in A.M.a 6242
  • possible forced synchronicity - Did Marwan really die on the same day that Leo was born ?
25 March 749 - 24 March 750 CE same A.M.a that Marwan (aka Marouam) died none
  • calculated using CHRONOS
  • Marwan died on 25 January 750 CE which was in A.M.a 6242
  • possible forced synchronicity - Did Marwan really die on the same day that Leo was born ?
Seismic Effects
  • there was an earthquake and terrible destruction in Syria
  • some cities were entirely destroyed, others partially so
  • block slide type of landslide - others slid down entire, with their walls and houses, from positions on mountains to low-lying plains, a distance of six miles or thereabout
  • Sand boils appeared in an earth fissure - the ground in Mesopotamia was split along two miles and that out of the chasm was thrown up a different soil, very white and sandy
Despite any possible exaggerations, these describe real secondary effects of an earthquake. As noted by Karcz (2004), the translational landslide and the sand boils would be more likely to occur in the rainy season when water table was higher. Sand boils are a common liquefaction effect and can be used to estimate a minimum intensity. There was also an oracular talking mule which, though only a secondary seismic effect in fiction, may have been the most memorable part of the story to subsequent readers and authors. All the Byzantine authors listed in this catalog who describe the Talking Mule Quake mention the talking mule and by the time we get to Glycas, the talking mule is all that remains in his shortened account. He doesn't even mention the earthquake.

Locations
  • Syria
  • Mesopotamia

Sources
Sources

Online Versions and Further Reading
References

Notes
Theophanes' Calendaric Inconsistencies