Intagliata (2018:103) argued that a major earthquake caused “considerable damage” in Palmyra “at the end of the 6th or the beginning of the following century,” and that destruction levels are recorded at the Praetorium in the Camp of Diocletian ( Kowalski 1994:57), House F in the city center ( Gawlikowski 1992a), the western stretch of Great Colonnade ( al-Asʿad and Stuniowski 1989), Church I (Gawlikowski, 1992:74), and the Sanctuary of Baalshamin ( Intagliata 2017a).

For the Praetorium, the earthquake claim is tied to observed structural change and later rebuilding. As summarized by Kowalski (1994:57–58) and reiterated by Intagliata (2018:36, 78), the building “must have been destroyed by an earthquake,” with elements such as fallen columns later replaced by walls, column drums re-used as benches, and substantial reconfiguration of circulation and room use. The rebuilding phase is argued to fall in the late 6th/early 7th century because part of the renovation of a key enclosure wall is associated with a coin described as an “Arab-Byzantine” imitation of a Heraclius / Heraclius Constantine follis, with proposed date ranges in the mid-7th century (e.g., 640–670 or the 680s), used as a chronological anchor for the post-destruction phase.

For House F, the earthquake claim is framed as damage to specific walls and rebuilding evidence “in the late 6th century.” In Gawlikowski (1992a:71), the reported damage includes serious wall failure including a partition wall, as well as a rebuilding response including blocking of doors, altered courtyard access, dismantling of stair installations, and apparent abandonment of the upper floor in part of the building.

For the Sanctuary of Baalshamin, the claim is that domestic reuse and its subsequent destruction/reconstruction belong to a late antique sequence in which a 6th-century destruction and an Umayyad-time or slightly later reconstruction are supported by “ numismatic evidence, pottery, and the epigraphic record,” rather than by a single date marker alone, as summarized by Intagliata (2018:35) with reference to his detailed treatment in Intagliata (2017a).