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Reconstructed Lost Chronicle Of Theophilus of Edessa

Background and Biography
Background and Biography

Excerpts
English from Hoyland (2011)

  • from Hoyland (2011:270-273)
  • Hoyland (2011) attempted to reconstruct Theophilus' lost Chronicle from dependent sources and produced an extensive entry for one amalgamated earthquake (Holy Desert Quake and Talking Mule Quake combined) in 749 CE. As this reconstruction comes via textual transmission from significantly later sources, it cannot be expected to faithfully reproduce Theophilus' original account however it has great value in summarizing reported seismic effects. It's chronology, however, should likely be ignored as chronology is often the first victim of textual transmission.
  • Bold text comes from Hoyland (2011) and represents passages shared by Michael the Syrian and Chronicon Ad Annum 1234 (see also footnote 818)
(749) A severe earthquake in Syria, Jordan and Palestine817

Theophanes: There was a great earthquake in Palestine, by the Jordan and in all of Syria on 18 January, in the fourth hour. Numberless multitudes perished, churches and monasteries collapsed, especially those in the desert of the Holy City. | There was an earthquake and terrible destruction in Syria, as a result of which some cities were entirely destroyed, others partially so, while some slid down entire, with their walls and houses, from positions on mountains to low-lying plains, a distance of six miles or thereabout. Eyewitnesses affirmed that in Mesopotamia the ground 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 mule, 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.

Agapius: There was a violent earthquake in January on the sea coast of Palestine. Many places collapsed there and many people perished in them, especially at Tiberias, where 100,000 people or so were lost.

[Note by Williams: Hoyland refers below to the Lost Chronicle of Dionysius of Tell-Mahre and not to the Chronicle of Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre (aka the Chronicle of Zuqnin). This indicates that Hoyland's account of Dionysius is also "reconstructed" and therefore subject to the errors of textual transmission.]

Dionysius:818 In the year 1060 of the Greeks and 134 of the Arabs819 disorder gripped the world not only in affairs of the civil sphere, but also those of the church, as we have recounted and written in our book on ecclesiastical matters. I mean the schisms and confrontations that took place in the time of the patriarch John and Athanasius Sandalaya, the arguments and fights with which the church was filled, and the way in which creation itself acknowledged these events and proclaimed God's anger towards mankind. I shall now, therefore, speak of those things which happened in the west at this time: of earthquakes and submersions, of fires and death in many forms, of the removal of villages and forts from their places, of springs the waters of which are mutated, of the shifting of rivers and water sources and other calamities which a mind is incapable of describing, such that Marwan, king of the Arabs, who did not even believe in God, when he heard these things and saw them with his own eyes, he was shaken and terrified, and wrote a letter of penitence and admonition to all regions of the kingdom of the Arabs that all should give up the evil they were doing and beseech God with remorse and tears to constrain and withhold these chastisements from the world.820

[Note by Williams: End of "reconstructed" Lost Chronicle of Dionysius of Tell-Mahre.]

There was at Damascus (Chron 1234: and the whole of its region) an earthquake which lasted for days and which shook the city (Chron 1234: and made it quiver / MSyr: like leaves on trees). At Beth Qubayeh there was a palace built by Hajjaj ibn Yusuf821, on which he had lavished much (Chron 1234: care and) expense; it collapsed from top to bottom and more than (MSyr: 80 / Chron 1234: 800) persons were (MSyr: suffocated / Chron 1234: fell and were buried) in it. In the city itself many perished. In the Ghuta and Darayya822 innumerable people died in this earthquake. Bostra, Nawa (MSyr: and Adraa) were entirely swallowed up823. At Baalbek (Chron 1234: much of it collapsed and) the sources of water became as though blood were in them; (MSyr: after the penitence of its inhabitants and frequent prayers it returned to its usual colour). In the sea there was an extraordinary (Chron 1234: and unusual) storm such that its waves reached (Chron 1234: so it seemed) to the sky and its foam boiled like a cauldron on the fire, making a terrifying and fearful noise. It gushed forth and surpassed its usual limits, destroying many (MSyr: cities and) villages on the coast. (Chron 1234: Many other things are narrated which, if recorded, would make much work for their writer and the reader.) In the region of the Balqa', that is, Moab, there was a palace situated on the sea:824 inhabited by Yemeni Arabs, which was struck by the waves of the sea, uprooted from its foundations and flung three miles away.

This earthquake destroyed the city of Tiberias, except for the villa of a man named `Isa Galba. It knocked down thirty synagogues of the Jews and some wonderful natural sites there. The baths, a fine structure erected by Solomon (MSyr: son of David / Chron 1234: the King), collapsed and fell down. There was there a healing spring (Chron 1234: given by God for the health of men), above which marvellous buildings had been erected and all around it was everything necessary825 for the use of those who came in search of a (MSyr: cure / Chron 1234: purge). (Chron 1234: They say that) placed there were earthen jugs skillfully arranged, on each one of which was written how many times it flushed the stomach of the one who drank it. Thus each person chose a jug according to how much he desired (Chron 1234: to be purged). All those buildings have now been (Chron 1234: destroyed and) expunged. Near Mount Tabor826 a village was moved ( Chron 1234: and transported) four miles, along with its houses and contents, without a stone or a piece of plaster falling from its buildings and without a man or beast dying, not even a hen.

The spring of water next to Jericho, the one on which were built palaces827, gardens and mills by Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik, remained in place, but the river from which it arose was transported and moved six miles. away from its place where it had been flowing. All the structures which Sulayman had erected on this river were thus destroyed. At Mabbug there was destruction everywhere and many people perished as a result of it. At its church, at the time of the sacrifice of our Lord, while the priest was standing with his hands held over the offering, suddenly perdition struck them; it (the church) fell down and they were unable to get out of the holy building and all who, were in it were trampled and destroyed, priests as well as lay people. Instead of hymns and spiritual psalms, sighs and lamentations were heard throughout the city. Also the walls collapsed down to their foundations. When these things had come to pass, and even greater things, men still did not refrain from wicked and impious deeds. The affairs of the church were particularly troubled at this time. For this reason people were crushed by much affliction: heavy taxes, poor harvests, wars and shedding of blood in all regions828
Footnotes

817 Theophanes, 422 | 426; Agapius, 521: Msyr 11.XXII. 466-67/508-10; Chron 1234, 325-28. Cf. Chron Zuqnin, 191 (AG 1059); Elias of Nisibis, 171-72 (AH 131 = 748-49; AG 1059 = 747-48). citing Daniel the Miaphysite (see n. 743 above). Theophanes has two notices about earthquakes, both occurring in January, but it makes more sense to assume that he has two different sources for the same event, which he assigns to different years, rather than that there were two very major earthquakes occurring in the same month only two years apart. For the date of this earthquake see Tsafrir and Foerster. 'The dating of the earthquake of 749 CE'.

818 Since this is a very long account, with a lot of material common to both Msyr and Chron 1234 (highlighted in bold). I do not give each version separately, but present them as one narrative with the extra phrases. principally from Chron 1234, indicated within brackets.

819 An incorrect synchronisation: AG 1060 = 748-49: 134 AH = 751-52.

820 This paragraph is only from Chron 1234 where it serves as a kind of foreword to the account of the earthquake. It is not in Msyr, except for the point about Marwan writing a letter, which, though the wording is almost the same, is linked by Msyr to a plague and famine (see n. 752 above), not to this earthquake.

821 Muslim sources know of a place called the palace (qasr) of Hajjaj, that was just outside Damascus, in view of the Jabiya gate (e.g. Dhahabi. 9.286: Yaqut. `Qasr Hajjaj' ). but this may not be what is meant.

822 The Ghuta is the agricultural land surrounding Damascus: Darayya was a small village some 5 miles south of Damascus (now it is a suburb in south Damascus).

823 Bostra, Nawa and Adraa (modern Der'a) are all towns in modern south Syria, near the border with Jordan.

824 Moab was the territory on the eastern side of the Dead Sea; the Balqa' corresponded to modern north and central west Jordan and had Amman as its capital. Thus the northernmost portion of the Dead Sea is probably meant here. unless Moab is being used in a general way to refer to the east side of the Jordan. and then the Sea of Tiberias (Lake Galilee) could possibly be meant.

825 Chron 1234 has 'n'nqy'. plausibly representing Greek anagkel 'need' (the Latin translation has latrinae): Msyr has 'nqy'. behind which lies, says Chabot, the Greek pandokeial guesthouse.

826 In the Galilee, northern Palestine, south-west of Tiberias: the site of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

827 Hesne: see n. 112 above. The clear attribution of these buildings at Jericho to Sulayman may mean that the construction of Khirbat al-Mafjar, an Umayyad palace at Jericho, usually attributed to the caliph Hisham or his nephew Walid II. should perhaps be placed earlier. See El. 'Khirbat al-Mafdjar'.

828 For this paragraph I only give the version of Chron 1234, since Msyr is extremely brief, just noting that: 'The spring of water next to Jericho was moved from its place six miles. At Mabbug, at the time of the offering, it (the church) fell down, and people were killed, and cattle. for great churches and walls collapsed. At Constantinople the statues of the kings fell and many buildings: the same was true of Nicaea and other cities.'

Chronology

See the Michael the Syrian and Chronicon Ad Annum 1234 for the Chronology of their accounts. Warning: both accounts are of very limited use chronologically.

Seismic Effects
Seismic Effects Table

The reconstruction by Hoyland produces an excellent compendium of Seismic Effects which are summarized in the table below:

Location Damage Description Earthquake
Damascus an earthquake which lasted for days and which shook the city
Beit Qubayeh At Beth Qubayeh there was a palace built by Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, on which he had lavished much; it collapsed from top to bottom and more than 80 or 800 persons were buried in it. In the city itself many perished. Location unknown - could be either.
Ghautah and Dareya innumerable people died in this earthquake
Bosrah and Nawa entirely swallowed up
Ba'albek much of it collapsed, spring "turned to blood"
Sea Tsunami destroyed many villages on the coast
Balqa', that is, Moab fortress on shore moved 3 miles by seismic sea wave Balqa' is north of Moab. Balqa' suggests Sea of Galilee tsunami. Moab suggests Dead Sea tsunami.
Tiberias destroyed. It knocked down thirty synagogues of the Jews and some wonderful natural sites there. Destroyed buildings around a healing spring. Holy Desert Quake
Village near Mount Tabor (very likely mis-located) Translational Landslide Talking Mule Quake (possibly Holy Desert Quake) - see discussion below
Jericho spring or river moved 6 miles Difficult to say. Jericho suggests Holy Desert Quake but the earliest Byzantine sources associated this with the Talking Mule Quake and did not specify a location.
Mabbug destruction everywhere - Church and Walls collapsed Talking Mule Quake
The translational landslide is recounted by the three earliest Byzantine authors (Paul the Deacon, Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and Theophanes) as an effect of the Talking Mule Quake and is not located near to Mount Tabor - which is a better fit for the Holy Desert Quake. These three early Byzantine authors do not locate the translational landslide and, by implication, they indicate that the landslide took place in Syria. It is only the three latest Syriac sources (Elias of Nisibis, Michael the Syrian, and Chronicon Ad Annum 1234) which specify that the landslide took place in a village near Mount Tabor. The significance of Mount Tabor should not be lost when reading the accounts of these theologically minded authors. Mount Tabor is the traditional pilgrimage site for the high mountain where the New Testament story of the transfiguration takes place - where, according to the Gospels, Jesus revealed to his disciples for the first time both his identity as the messiah and his divine status. Thus, a translational landslide in Syria may have been relocated to Mount Tabor for literary effect. The extracts above from Hoyland make notes of the schisms in Christianity at this time, laments them, and views the earthquakes as divine punishment. For example, in the reconstructed account of Dionysius of Tell-Mahre, we can read about the arguments and fights with which the church was filled, and the way in which creation itself acknowledged these events and proclaimed God's anger towards mankind.. In the reconstructed account by Theophilus of Edessa, we can read: When these things had come to pass, and even greater things, men still did not refrain from wicked and impious deeds. The affairs of the church were particularly troubled at this time. What better way to show divine displeasure than to take a poorly located Syrian landslide and relocate it to the top of the "Holy Mountain" where "God's son" first revealed the full import of his mission.

Locations
  • Damascus
  • Beit Qubayeh - Location unknown
  • Ghautah
  • Dareya
  • Bosrah
  • Nawa
  • Ba'albek
  • Sea - which one (Mediterranean Coast, Sea of Galilee, and/or Dead Sea) is not clear
  • Balqa'/Moab (Dead Sea or Sea of Galilee)
  • Tiberias
  • Village near Mount Tabor (very likely mis-located)
  • Jericho
  • Mabbug
Online Versions and Further Reading
References

Notes
Issues of chronology in Theophilus' Lost Chronicle