Crowfoot (1929:21) noted that the Church of Saint Theodore was located on the west bank of the river in the centre of town, close to the Temple of Artemis suggesting that it was the most important, if not the largest, of the Christian churches in Jerash. An inscription dated laying of the foundation to the autumn of 494 CE and completion of construction to around 496 CE (Crowfoot, 1929:22). The church was part of a larger ecclesiastical complex.

• from Jerash - Introduction - click link to open new tab

Maps and Plans

Discussion

Crowfoot (1929:19) attributed destruction of the Church of Saint Theodore to a mid 8th century CE earthquake noting that this date fits the latest class of objects which we found upon our floor levels. Crowfoot (1929:26) described the collapsed columns as follows:

The columns, fourteen in number, with their Corinthian capitals, were all lying where they had fallen ; not a single capital was missing, not a single drum had been removed, but not a single one was upon its base ; in the west half of the church the columns had fallen inwards, across each other, but in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls, both of which in this part had fallen to the south. Masons' marks on the sections of the column drums showed that these columns had been used previously for the same building as the engaged columns and certain other carved blocks which we found built into the side walls ; the style of the Corinthian capitals suggests that this earlier building may have belonged to the beginning of the third century, and the lettering of the masons' marks appears to belong to the same period.

Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938) described the archaeoseismic evidence at the Church of St Theodore in Jerash.

It was quite clear from the condition of the basilica and the atrium that both had been destroyed by an earthquake. In the basilica all the columns were lying where they had fallen; not a single capital or drum had been carried away, but the bases only were in position. In the west half the columns fell inwards across each other; in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls ; the apse fell outward into the Fountain Court. The violence of the shock which ruined the place was particularly clear at the entrance to the atrium, where some of the upper blocks seem to have turned a somersault in the air. In two of the side chambers there were signs of preparations to salvage building material. Fallen stones and tiles were found stacked in neat piles, but the place was ultimately abandoned wholly to squatters who converted the rooms and alleys round the atrium into stables for their animals and dwelling places for themselves.

Crowfoot (1938:260) in Kraeling (1938) noted that the west wall of the atrium was built of very massive stones, many of them dangerously dislocated by earthquake shocks.

Walmsley (2007) reports the following archeoseismic evidence at Jerash (Gerasa)

At Gerasa the evidence is less categorical but suggests at least sections of the town - but not perhaps all of it - were damaged in A.D. 749. Thick levels of building wreckage were encountered above the cathedral steps, in the church of St Theodore and the group of three churches dedicated to SS Cosmas and Damianus, St George and St John the Baptist, which the Yale Mission attributed to earthquake activity in the 8th c.²⁹ In 2004, further graphic evidence for the impact of the earthquake at Gerasa was recovered from a room on the eastern part of the south decumanus, in which was found the crushed skeletal remains of a human victim and a mule accompanied by a hoard of 148 silver dirhams, of which three were minted in 130 A.H. (A.D. 747/48).

Footnotes

29 Kraeling (1938) 208, 223, 247–49.

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
Fallen Columns	Basilica Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		In the basilica all the columns were lying where they had fallen; not a single capital or drum had been carried away, but the bases only were in position. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938) In the west half the columns fell inwards across each other; in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)
Collapsed walls	side walls of the east half of the Basilica Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		In the west half the columns fell inwards across each other; in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)
Vault collapse	Apse Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		the apse fell outward into the Fountain Court. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)
Collapsed walls	Entrance to the Atrium Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		at the entrance to the atrium, where some of the upper blocks seem to have turned a somersault in the air. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)
Displaced Masonry blocks	west wall of the atrium Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		the west wall of the atrium was built of very massive stones, many of them dangerously dislocated by earthquake shocks. - Crowfoot (1938:260) in Kraeling (1938)

• Modified by JW from Fig. 1 of Moralee (2006)

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Fallen Columns	Basilica Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		In the basilica all the columns were lying where they had fallen; not a single capital or drum had been carried away, but the bases only were in position. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938) In the west half the columns fell inwards across each other; in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)	V +
Collapsed walls	side walls of the east half of the Basilica Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		In the west half the columns fell inwards across each other; in the east half most of them had fallen to the north after the collapse of the side walls - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)	VIII +
Vault collapse	Apse Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		the apse fell outward into the Fountain Court. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)	VIII +
Collapsed walls	Entrance to the Atrium Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		at the entrance to the atrium, where some of the upper blocks seem to have turned a somersault in the air. - Crowfoot (1938:223-4) in Kraeling (1938)	VIII +
Displaced Masonry blocks	west wall of the atrium Fig. 1 Ecclesiastical complex at Gerasa, adapted from Beat Brenk et al., "Neue Forschungen zur Kathedrale von Gerasa: Probleme der Chronologie und der Vorgângerbauten," ZDPV 112 (1996): 139-55, fig. 1. Moralee (2006)		the west wall of the atrium was built of very massive stones, many of them dangerously dislocated by earthquake shocks. - Crowfoot (1938:260) in Kraeling (1938)	VIII +

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).