Cistern Destruction Earthquake
Balandier and Guintrand (2023:64)
used ceramic evidence to date both the construction and subsequent
destruction of a
cistern on
Fabrika Hill in New Paphos to the 2nd century
CE. They attributed the destruction to a 2nd-century earthquake and
suggested that it was “probably the one that occurred during the reign
of
Hadrian,” which they place in 127 CE; however, the specific event
being invoked is unclear. Neither
Ambraseys (2009) nor
Guidoboni et al. (1994)
list an earthquake in Cyprus during this period. While
Guidoboni et al. (1994) note that the
Historia Augusta records, in very general terms, that
various disasters occurred during Hadrian’s reign (117–138 CE), these
events are neither precisely dated nor geographically specified and are
interpreted as affecting the Italian mainland. A further report of an
earthquake around c. 130 CE, often placed in Palestine, is
spatially and temporally ambiguous and is catalogued in this Earthquake
Encyclopedia as the
Eusebius Mystery Quake.