In 363 CE, while Jewish communities in Jerusalem were allegedly clearing the old foundations on the Temple Mount in hopes of rebuilding the Temple, a powerful earthquake struck the city. The sources describe the scene through dramatic and sometimes supernatural imagery, yet their accounts share a common nucleus: violent ground motion, the upheaval of foundation stones, and the destruction of adjacent structures. Ammianus Marcellinus writes that “fearful balls of fire burst forth” near the foundations, rendering the area inaccessible. His imagery reflects the shock of sudden destruction at an active construction site, possibly amplified by a post-earthquake urban fire.

Several Greek ecclesiastical historians relay similar sequences. Socrates Scholasticus describes “a mighty earthquake” that tore up the old foundation stones and collapsed nearby buildings, followed by a blaze from heaven that consumed the builders’ tools. Sozomen likewise recounts an earthquake so violent that stones were “thrown up from the depths,” injuring workers and onlookers and bringing down the surrounding houses, with reports of a fire that came from the Temple or the earth itself. Theodoret of Cyrrhus tells of a “great earthquake” followed by fire running through the excavated foundations, and the collapse of an adjacent building where many laborers were sleeping. Their accounts, though embellished, all emphasize structural failure around the Temple Mount.

Centuries later, Pseudo-Dionysius of Tell-Mahre and Chronicon anonymum ad annum 846 collectively report that the foundation stones “flew up” and that fire destroyed the tools and preparations for rebuilding. Even Michael the Syrian repeats the pattern: shaking earth, rising stones, and a fire from the sky which consumed the builders’ equipment.

These narrative traditions blend eyewitness memory, rumor, theological interpretation, and the visual aftermath of a major urban disaster. The fire repeatedly described across sources was likely a large post-earthquake conflagration—common in densely built ancient cities—rather than a supernatural ascent or descent of flame as was typically described. Archaeological evidence from the Givati Parking Lot excavations strengthens the historical core of these accounts, confirming that structures adjacent to the Temple Mount suffered collapse in the mid-4th century CE. When the testimonies are read together with this material evidence, a consistent picture emerges: during foundation work for a new Jewish Temple, the 363 CE earthquake violently disrupted the margins of the Temple Mount, toppling nearby buildings, throwing stones from disturbed foundations, and triggering secondary fires that later authors reshaped into miraculous signs.