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The dating of the ‘Earthquake of the Sabbatical Year’ of 749 C.E. in Palestine1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Yoram Tsafrir  and
Gideon Foerster
Yoram Tsafrir
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Gideon Foerster
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Extract

In the mid eighth century, towards the end of the Umayyad regime, a major earthquake occurred in Palestine and the East, of which we know from Christian, Jewish and Muslim sources. Archaeologists relate to destruction by this earthquake layers in several sites, such as Jerusalem, Gerasa in Arabia, and sites mostly along the Jordan valley, among them Kh. Mefjer near Jericho, Pella, Capernaum, Sussita-Hippos, and recently, Bet Shean-Scythopolis (see below).

The exact date of this earthquake is controversial; some scholars date it to 746, others to 747 or 748, In 1960, M. Margaliot suggested that the earthquake took place in 749. In this article we present new archaeological and numismatic evidence in support of this later date (see below p. 234, and pl.II).

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 1992 , pp. 231 - 235
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1992

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References

2 On the earthquake in Jerusalem near the Temple Mount see Mazar, B., The excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem (Jerusalem, 1969), 20Google Scholar.

3 Ostratz, A. A., ‘odrome of Gerasa: a report on the excavations and research 1982–1987’ syria, 66, 1989, 74–7 (and further bibliography there). The author dates the earthquake to 747/8Google Scholar.

4 Hamilton, R. W., Khirbet Al Mafjar-an Arabian mansion in the Jordan Valley (Oxford, 1959), 8, and further bibliography there. The author dates the earthquake to 746 C.EGoogle Scholar.

5 McNicoll, A. et al., Pella in Jordan: an interim report on the joint University of Svdnev and the College of Wooster excavations at Pella 1979–1981 (Canberra, 1982), 123–41. The authors suggest a dating to 746/7Google Scholar.

6 Tzaferis, V., Excavations at Capernaum I, 1978-1982 (Winona Lake, 1988), 145–79, 219Google Scholar. A hoard of 282 gold Umayyad dinars was discovered here, the latest of which was minted in 744. The destruction of stratum 4 is related to the earthquake of 746/7.

7 See photographs (figs. 8–10) in Karcz, I. and Kafri, U., ‘Evalution of supposed archeoseismic damage in Israel’, Journall of Archaeological Science, 5, 1978, 237–53CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 See for example, Willis, B., ‘Earthquakes in the Holy Land’, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 18, 1928, 73–103, esp. p. 80Google Scholar; Kallner-Amiran, D. H., ‘A revised earthquake catalogue of Palestine’, Israel Exploration Journal, 1, 1950–51, 223–46, esp. p. 226, and further bibliography thereGoogle Scholar.

9 Margaliot, M., ‘The date of an earthquake at Tiberias’, Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, 8, 1941, 97–104 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar; Russell, K. W., ‘The earthquake chronology of Palestine and Northwest Arabia from the 2nd through the mid 8th century A.D.’. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 260, 1985, 37–59, esp. 47–9Google Scholar.

10 Margaliot, M., ‘A new document for the Fast of the Earthquake’, Tarbiz, 29, 1960, 339–14 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar.

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13 Grumel, V., La chronologie (Paris, 1958). See tables pp. 357, 380, 431, 435, 447Google Scholar.

14 See Russell, art. cit. n. 9 above.

15 On the reconstruction of the text in al-Muqaddas‛: Le Strange, G., Palestine under the Moslems (London 1890), 92Google Scholar; on the other traditions, from al-Wāsit‛ onwards, see Bakr, AbūAhmad al-Wāsitī, Muḥammad b., Faḍā'il al-Bayt al Muqaddas, (ed.) Hasson, I. (Jerusalem, 1979), 84Google Scholar.

16 Taghrībirdī, Abū'l-Maḥāsin b., Al-Nujūm al-zāhirafi-mulūk Miṣr wa-'l Qāhira, I (Cairo, 1929), 311Google Scholar, quoting Sībṣ b. al-Jawzī, Mir'āt al-Zamān, MS British Museum, Add. 23, 277, fol. 135b, 11. 11–17 (Year A.H. 130). On the existence of the earlier source of al-Jawzī we have learnt from an unpublished study by A. El‘ad, who collected the various Arabic sources and traditions concerning the earthquake (see above note 1).

17 al-Muqaffa, Severus b.‘, History of the Patriarchs of the Church of Alexandria, III, (ed. and tr.) Evetts, B., Patrologia Orientalis, 5, 1, 1947, 139–40Google Scholar.

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19 Chronique de Michelle le Syrien, Patriarch Jacobite D'Antioch II, (ed. et tr.) Chabot, J. B. (Paris, 1901), 509–10Google Scholar. For the eastern origins of the source see introduction, I, pp. xiii-xxxvii.

20 Eliae Metropolitae Nisibeni, Opus Chronologicum, (ed.) E. W. Brooks (Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 62. Scriptores Syri, 21), 171–2; ibid., 63/23, 82.

21 Zulai, M., ‘Liturgical poems on various historical events’, Studies of the Research Institute for Hebrew Poetry in Jerusalem, vol. 3 (Berlin, 1937), 151–62 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar.

22 Margaliot, art. cit. n. 9 above.

23 Shalem, N. mentions briefly the existence of Christian sources for the earthquake dating it to 18 January 746, but with no further discussion: ‘On the date of the Tiberias earthquake’, Bulletin of the Jewish Palestine Society, 8,1941, 117 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar. Shalem also mentions that Michael the Syrian describes an earthquake in the year 947 (misprinted for 749), but hedoes not explain this calculation.

24 Margaliot, art. cit. n. 9. See an additional list of fasts mentioning the 23rd of Shevat in: Fleischer, E., ‘Hadutha–Hadutahu–Chedweta–solving an old riddle, Tarbiz, 53, 1984, p. 95, n. 8 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar.

25 Mahler, E., Handbuch der jüdischen Chronologie (Frankfurt, 1916; repr. Hildesheim, 1967), 546Google Scholar. According to Mahler, 18 January falls exactly on the 23rd of Shevat. According to another calculation it falls on the 24th of Shevat, Fried, N., Calendar for six thousands years, founded by A. A. Akavia (Jerusalem, 1976), 384 (in Hebrew)Google Scholar.

26 Foerster, G. and Tsafrir, Y., ‘Bet Shean Archaeological Project: B. Center of Ancient Bet Shean—North’, Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 6, 1987–88, 32–5; 7–8, 1988–89, 22Google Scholar. In these earlier publications we used the dating of 747 or 748. Forthe new discoveries and the hoard, see ibid., 9,1990, 126–8.

27 Unpublished. Objects from the hoard have been exhibited in the Israel Museum. The coins were examined by Amitai-Preiss, N. and Meshorer, Y.. Photographs by Laron, GabyGoogle Scholar.

28 One hypothesis for Theophanes's, inaccuracy in dating the year may be that he derived his information from a list of memorial days commemorated in churches during his period. This church calendar had to contain the exact day of the commemoration, but did not necessarily mention the precise year of the catastrophe, a task left to Theophanes. A similar phenomenon is found in the Jewish lists of fasts; they all mention the 23rd day of Shevat, but in only one case is the year of the earthquake mentioned (see above, p. 233–4)Google Scholar. Compare the commemoration of an earthquake on 13 February in the church of St. Demetrius in Thessalonica, Garitte, G., Le calendrier palestinogèorgien du Sinaiticus 34 (X‘ siècle) (Brussels, 1958), 50, and discussion on p. 158. No such commemoration has hitherto been found in church calendars for 18 January; thus our suggestion must remain hypotheticalGoogle Scholar.

29 See above, note 16.

30 Bickerman, E. J., Chronology of the ancient world (London, 1968), 73Google Scholar. See also Bornstein, H. I., ‘Calenders of Israel’, Halkufa, 8,1920, 281–328; 9, 1921, 202–64 (esp. 8, pp. 287–321); (in Hebrew)Google Scholar.

31 Margaliot, (see above, n. 9)Google Scholar. See also the ample discussion by Haparhi, Eshtory, Estori ha- Parchi. Caftor Va-Pherach, (ed.) Luncz, A. M. (Jerusalem, 1897), 681–702Google Scholar.

32 Wacholder, B. Z., ‘The calendar of sabbatical cycles during the Second Temple and Early Rabbinic Period’, Hebrew UnionCollege Annual, 44, 1973, 153–96Google Scholar.

33 One wonders whether this catastrophic event did not contribute to the fall of the Umayyad dynasty some time later; thisquestion, however, is beyond the scope of the present paper.