In 363 CE, as Jewish communities in Jerusalem were reportedly clearing the old foundations on the Temple Mount in anticipation of rebuilding the Temple, a sequence of powerful earthquakes struck the city. Although the surviving sources frame the events in dramatic and at times supernatural language, their accounts converge on a shared core of phenomena: violent ground shaking, the displacement of foundation stones, deaths and injuries, fire, and the destruction of nearby buildings. Cyril of Jerusalem supplies unusually precise chronology, stating that the first and most destructive shock occurred at about 10:30 pm on Sunday 18 May 363 CE, followed by a second shock around 4:30 am on Monday 19 May 363 CE, and he further laments a substantial loss of life. Artemii Passio records the collapse of a stoa, while Sozomen, Socrates Scholasticus, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus describe the collapse of structures surrounding the Temple Mount. Most reports, however, focus their attention on damage at the Temple Mount itself. Ammianus Marcellinus recounts that “fearful balls of fire burst forth” near the foundations, rendering the area inaccessible; his imagery likely reflects the shock of sudden destruction at an active construction site, possibly intensified 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.