Malalas, writing in the 6th century CE and employing his customary euphemism for an earthquake, "divine wrath" (θεομηνία), reported that Antioch suffered an earthquake on "23 Dystrus, that is to say March, in the eighty-fifth year of the era of Antioch, early in the morning." He gave no details of specific damage or casualties, yet his note that the Roman emperor "Gaius [Caligula] gave a great deal of money to the city and its surviving inhabitants" implies both structural destruction and fatalities. Malalas also recorded earthquake damage in nearby Daphne. Ambraseys (2009) identified an additional account in the Slavonic translation of Malalas, which refers to a "second fall" on "the hill of the Orontes," a likely landslide. No other ancient author is known to mention this earthquake.

Jordan Pickett in De Giorgi et al. (2024:438–440), without citing a source, reports that rebuilding funds were used to construct a new aqueduct, a varium, a nymphaeum (the Trinymphon), and temples. He further observes that "the only archaeological evidence for this event may come from Princeton’s excavations of the so-called Atrium House, where mosaics may be dated to the period after 37 CE."

There is some disagreement about the precise date of this earthquake, though the year is secure. Using CHRONOS, the 85th year of the Antiochene Era spans from 1 October 36 CE to 30 September 37 CE, placing the event in 37 CE. However, Ambraseys (2009) argues that the correct date is 9 April rather than 23 March, since "23 Dystrus (March) in the first year of Gaius’s reign and the 85th year of the Antiochene era" corresponds to 9 April 37 CE. He notes that "modern scholars erroneously give 23 March, failing to translate the date." In contrast, Guidoboni et al. (1994) dated the earthquake to 23 March 37 CE as seems to be indicated in the text.