- Collapsed Walls
- Fatalities (due to collapsed walls)
- Landslides
- Rockfalls
- Aftershocks
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Samosata |
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- "Thus were fulfilled the words of the prophet, who said: "Lo, he looked at the earth and caused it to tremble. Now, since God
wrathfully looked askance at his creation, all living creatures gave up hope and succumbed to the terror of the Lord's might.
In accordance with this, on Sunday the 12th of the month of Mareri, the day of the Feast of the Discovery of the Cross, a
frightful phenomenon occurred on the earth; moreover, we have never heard of such a wrathful event having happened in the
past or in the present, or having been mentioned in Scripture. Now, while we were in a deep sleep, a horrible, crackling,
and reverberating sound was heard, and all of creation resounded from the noise. A severe concussion was felt, and the
plains and mountains shook with a frightful echoing sound, while tremendous rocks were cleft and hills were split open.
Because of the intensity of this frightful calamity, the mountains and hills resounded, just like live animals who when they are
terrified, shrilly cry out; this resounding noise hit the ears like the sound of a large throng in a camp. In this way, like a
churned-up sea, all living creatures quaked and trembled from fear of the might of the Lord God; for all the plains and mountains
resounded like the clanging of bronze, shaking and moving to and fro like trees struck by a high wind. The cries and groans of
people issued forth like the plaintive moans of persons sick for a very long time, forcing them through fear to seek their own
destruction. Like a fugitive, the whole land was reduced to despair and trembled with fear and like one condemned [to die],
gave forth plaintive and tearful cries; moreover, these noises were heard even after the trembling ended, for about an hour
during the night. Now, out of fear of the noises concomitant with this calamity, everyone despaired of their lives, saying:
'The final day, the day of judgement, has arrived.' Indeed the day of this calamity was a true mirror of that last day of
judgment; for it happened to be Sunday and the day on which the heavy and somber tone of the Armenian chant was used,
besides which the moon was in its last phase. Thus all the signs pointing to the last day were in evidence at this time.
In consequence of all this, those who already were plunged into the depths of despair now became horror-struck and frozen with fear as if they had just died." -
Matthew of Edessa providing eyewitness testimony about the earthquake, written while he was living in a monastery just outside Samosata.
- "So on this night Samosata, Hisn-Mansur, Kesoun, and Raban were destroyed" -
Matthew of Edessa
- "Sumaisat sank and its position was swallowed up" -
Ibn al‑Jawzi
- "Samosata also fell in that earthquake" -
Michael the Syrian
- "At this time, the country of Gargar was governed by an Armenian named Michel, son of Constantine, who had been buried in the prison in Samosate, during the earthquake which destroyed Mar'as" -
Chronicon Ad Annum 1234
- "In Jumādā II [November 1114] there was a violent earthquake in the Jazīra, Syria and elsewhere. It destroyed much of Edessa, Ḥarrān,
Sumaysāṭ, Bālis and other places. A great number of people perished under the rubble." -
Ibn al‑Athir
- "very many houses fell down in Samosata. Constantine, the lord of Gargar, was present in the town, and he, together with many others, was suffocated in the ruins." -
Bar Hebraeus
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Samsat in Google Earth
