• from Chat GPT 5.2, 18 January 2026
• sources: Joshua 3

Qasr al-Yahud (Qasr el-Yehud), the Byzantine ruins of the Church of John the Baptist, are located on the west bank of the Jordan River at one of the most important pilgrimage landscapes in the southern Levant. The church stood immediately adjacent to the traditional baptism site of Jesus by John the Baptist and formed part of a densely ritualised riverine complex that attracted pilgrims from Late Antiquity through the early Islamic period.

The site is also traditionally identified as the place where the ancient Israelites first crossed the Jordan into the “Promised Land”, as described in Joshua 3. This biblical association explains the Arabic toponym al-Yahud, “of the Jews”, and underscores the long-lived sacred geography that framed the construction, use, and repeated rebuilding of the Byzantine church complex.

• Location Map from Serbian Orthodox Church
  The Holy Monastery of St. John the Baptist on the banks of the Jordan River
  
  Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox Church
• Qasr al-Yahud in Google Earth
  Qasr al-Yahud
  click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
• Qasr al-Yahud on govmap.gov.il
  Qasr al-Yahud on govmap.gov.il
  
  click on image to explore this site on a new tab in govmap.gov.il

Discussion

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
Collapsed Walls Foundation Damage	Monastery of John the Baptist Qasr al-Yahud click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth		"In those days, when the Arabs were assembled there with Mu'awiya, there was an earthquake and a violent tremor and the greater part of Jericho fell, including all its churches, and of the House of Lord John at the site of our Saviour’s baptism in the Jordan every stone above the ground was overthrown, together with the entire monastery." - The Maronite Chronicle "On the banks of the Jordan are built three monasteries, namely, that of the Forerunner, of Chrysostom . . . the monastery of the Forerunner having been levelled with the ground by an earthquake, now by the munificent hand of our Emperor, Manuel Comnenus Porphyrogenitus, crowned by God,* has been entirely rebuilt, the prior being entrusted with the superintendence of the restoration." - The Concise Description of the Holy Places by John Phokas

• Earthquake Archeological   
  Earthquake Archeological Effects Chart
  
  Click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013)
  Effects from Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
• Synoptic Table of ESI 2007   
  Synoptic Table of ESI 2007 Intensity Degrees
  
  Accuracy improves in higher degrees, especially VIII–XII.
  
  Click on image to open in a new tab
  
  Michetti et al. (2007)
  Intensity Degrees from Michetti et al. (2007)
• Simple MMI Intensity Scale
  Simple MMI Intensity Scale
  
  Click on image to open in a new tab

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Collapsed Walls Foundation Damage	Monastery of John the Baptist Qasr al-Yahud click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth		"In those days, when the Arabs were assembled there with Mu'awiya, there was an earthquake and a violent tremor and the greater part of Jericho fell, including all its churches, and of the House of Lord John at the site of our Saviour’s baptism in the Jordan every stone above the ground was overthrown, together with the entire monastery." - The Maronite Chronicle "On the banks of the Jordan are built three monasteries, namely, that of the Forerunner, of Chrysostom . . . the monastery of the Forerunner having been levelled with the ground by an earthquake, now by the munificent hand of our Emperor, Manuel Comnenus Porphyrogenitus, crowned by God,* has been entirely rebuilt, the prior being entrusted with the superintendence of the restoration." - The Concise Description of the Holy Places by John Phokas	VIII+ IX+

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of IX (9) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).