A devastating earthquake known in scientific literature as the Earthquake of 749 struck on January 18, 749, in areas of the Umayyad Caliphate, with the epicenter in Galilee. The most severely affected areas were west and east of the Jordan River. The cities of Tiberias, Beit She'an, Pella, Gadara, and Hippos were largely destroyed, while many other cities across the Levant were heavily damaged. The casualties numbered in the tens of thousands.
There are firm reasons to believe that there were either two, or a series of, earthquakes between 747 and 749, later conflated for different reasons into one, not least due to the use of different calendars in different sources. It seems probable that the second quake, centered more to the north, which created massive damage mainly in modern-day northern Israel and Jordan, did so not so much due to its catastrophic magnitude, but rather as a result of buildings being weakened by the previous, more southerly earthquake.
Damage and casualties
According to historical sources, supported by archaeological findings, Scythopolis (Beit She'an), Tiberias, Capernaum, Hippos (Sussita), Jerash and Pella suffered widespread damage. A Coptic priest from Alexandria reported that support beams had shifted in houses in Egypt and a Syrian priest wrote that a village near Mount Tabor had "moved a distance of four miles." Other sources reported a tsunami in the Mediterranean Sea, several days of aftershocks in Damascus, and towns swallowed up in the earth. The town of Umm el-Qanatir and its ancient synagogue were destroyed.
Historical sources describe how the death toll in Jerusalem numbered in the thousands. Many buildings, among them the Al-Aqsa Mosque, were severely damaged. However, some caveats are required. The view of the severity of the damage caused by the 749 quake is contested by new research. Earlier claims that the large Umayyad administrative buildings south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque were so badly damaged that they were abandoned and used as stone quarries and sources of lime, lime kilns being found at the site, are reportedly wrong, the buildings staying in use until the 1033 earthquake. Similarly, the new Arab capital city at Ramla shows only minimal signs of damage.
Agapius of Hierapolis claimed the number of casualties exceeded 100,000, while in the Chronicle of 1234, there were 800 casualties in the fortress of Beit Cubaya, Damascus. In the cities of Judea, Samaria and Galilee, nearly 600 villages altogether were severely affected. A tsunami-like event was reported in the Dead Sea and probable inundation occurred in its southern basin.
Religious significance
"Ra'ash shvi'it" is mentioned in piyyutim (Jewish liturgical poems). Some rabbis believe the earthquake struck in a Sabbatical year, in which case the translation of the term would be "earthquake of the seventh year."
Dating issues and primary sources
All local and regional earthquake catalogues list one or more earthquakes that affected the Middle East in the mid-8th century, with reported damage in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. The primary sources offer multiple year dates for the seismic events, but seismic catalogues of the 1980s and 1990s agreed in attributing all descriptions to an earthquake occurring on 18 January, 749. This reduction was based on two Hebrew texts concerning an earthquake on this date and a commemorative fast.
A different view is that the primary sources describe at least two different seismic events, set apart by up to three years in time and hundreds of kilometers in distance. This is based on comparison of available primary sources on this period.
The first earthquake may have weakened a number of structures, while the second earthquake completed the process and was the immediate cause of their collapse.
Byzantine sources
The historian Theophanes the Confessor (9th century) is one of the major sources for the 8th century. He lists two earthquakes that affected Palestine and the Levant in the mid-8th century. The first earthquake is dated to 18 January of the year 6238 of the Byzantine calendar (the year 747 in Anno Domini era). Theophanes reports that the earthquake affected Palestine by the Jordan River, and all of Syria. Churches and monasteries reportedly collapsed in the desert of the Holy City (Jerusalem).
Theophanes reports that a second earthquake took place in the year 6241 (749/750 in the Anno Domini system). He does not give an exact date for the event, but the earthquake narrative immediately follows Theophanes' entry on the birth of Leo IV the Khazar. Leo IV was a son of Constantine V and his birth is safely dated to 25 January, 750.
This second earthquake destroyed some cities in Syria, and damaged others. A number of cities reportedly slid down from mountainous positions to "low laying plains". The moving cities reportedly stopped at a distance of about 6 mi (9.7 km) from their original positions. Eyewitness accounts from Mesopotamia reported that the ground was split at a distance of 2 mi (3.2 km). From this new chasm emerged a different type of soil, "very white and sandy". The reports also spoke of a mule-like animal emerging from the chasm and speaking in a human voice.
The distances in Theophanes' account are scaled up. Otherwise this is a credible account of the earthquake causing landslides, surface rupture, and sand boils in a semi-arid area. Such events would be more common during the year's wet season. The only clearly fantastical element of the narrative is the talking animal.
Theophanes is thought to have used as his source a Melkite chronicle written c. 780 in Palestine, and later transported by monks who fled religious persecution in Palestine. Theophanes' information on Iraq and North Syria may have been based on local sources using the Seleucid era, but which had started their counting from the Spring of 311 BC, rather than the Fall of 312 BC. A resulting transcription error may explain why Theophanes dates his second earthquake to 750 rather than 749.
Nikephoros I of Constantinople (9th century) gives a nearly identical description of the 750 earthquake. The 747 earthquake is not described in the currently extant text of Theophanes, though this may be due to a lacuna in the relevant section of the manuscript.
The 747 earthquake is described in the Great Chronographer and the Minor Chronicles, while events connected to the 750 earthquake are depicted there among a series of "wondrous events" which followed the birth of Leo IV. Accounts of both earthquakes appear in other chronicles, such as those written by Paul the Deacon (8th century), Anastasius Bibliothecarius (9th century), and George Kedrenos (12th century).
Both earthquakes are absent in the chronicles of Eutychius of Alexandria (10th century), Michael Glykas (12th century), and Leo Grammaticus (13th century). George Hamartolos (9th century) repeated verbatim Theophanes' account of the 749/750 earthquake, and only commented on the oracle-like mule. Joannes Zonaras (14th century) dates the earthquake as having followed the fall of Germanikeia (modern Kahramanmaraş) at the hands of Constantine V. This siege event is dated to 745/746 by Theophanes.
Muslim sources
Al-Suyuti reports on two distinct earthquakes events which damaged Jerusalem and Damascus. The first event can be dated to Hijri year 130 (747/748 Anno Domini), and the second to Hijri year 131 (748/749). Al-Suyuti uses as a primary source the narrative of historian Abdalla al-Katir (8th–9th century), as transmitted by al-Wadai (14th century).
This narrative reports that Damascus was affected by an earthquake in Hijri year 130, which led the inhabitants of the city to abandon it. The poultry market of Damascus collapsed under fallen rocks. In Hijri year 131, a second earthquake split the roof of the mosque. The open sky was visible from the interior of the mosque. A subsequent earthquake closed the crack in the roof of the mosque.
The historian Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (13th century) gives a hesitant and possibly confused account of this earthquake. Ibn Taghribirdi (15th century) reports that multiple strong earthquakes affected Syria in Hijri year 130. Jerusalem was reportedly heavily damaged, while Damascus was abandoned for a period of 40 days. The population of Damascus fled to desolate areas.
Mukadassi (10th century) reported that an earthquake in the days of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) threw down the sanctuary, with the exception of the part surrounding the mihrab. His narrative has been connected to the 750 earthquake event. In 750, Marwan II of the Umayyad Caliphate died and the Abbasid dynasty succeeded him. The Commemoratium de Casis Dei (c. 808), compiled by agents of Charlemagne, mentions that the Church of Maria Nea was still in ruins following its destruction in an earthquake. This may be the 750 earthquake or a subsequent earthquake of the early Abbasid era.
Arab reports of one or two earthquakes appear in two 11th-century compilations of traditional accounts of the Abd el Rahman family of Jerusalem. The compilers were the cousins al-Wasiti and Ibn al-Murajja. Based on their accounts, the earthquakes damaged the eastern and western parts of the Al-Aqsa Compound in Jerusalem. Repairs were ordered by Al-Mansur (reigned 754–775) when he visited Jerusalem in Hijri year 141 (757/758 Anno Domini). The Al-Aqsa Mosque was repaired by 757, but then damaged by a new earthquake. It was repaired again by order of Al-Mahdi (reigned 775–785), following his visit in Jerusalem at Hijri year 163.
One of the traditions preserved by Ibn al-Murajja reports that the first earthquake took place during the Ramadan of Hijri year 130 (in May), during a cold and rainy night. A crack appeared in the mosque, but supposedly closed immediately by order of Heaven. Muslim literature often associated earthquake narratives with the holy month of Ramadan, so the offered date may have been chosen to make the story seem more reliable.
Another traditional account from Jerusalem appeared in several later chronicles. It reported that there was earthquake damage across Syria (Bilad al-Sham), but places its emphasis on destruction in Jerusalem itself. It also reported injuries to the descendants of Shadad ibn Aus, one of the companions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Eastern Christian sources
There are four major Syriac chronicles which mention damage from earthquakes, though may not all be describing the same events. The first chronicle was the Zuqnin Chronicle, mistakenly attributed to Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (9th century), but currently thought to have been written by an anonymous 9th-century monk of the Zuqnin Monastery. The second was the chronicle of Elijah of Nisibis (11th century), the third was the chronicle of Michael the Syrian (12th century), and the fourth and last was the Chronicle of 1234 (13th century).
There is some dating confusion. The chronicles all follow the Seleucid era calendar, but use two different reckonings of the era (the Babylonian and Macedonian versions). They all cover the second earthquake described by Theophanes. The only one who provides a specific chronology for the event was Elijah of Nisibis, who reports that the earthquake actually started in year 1059 of the Seleucid era and ended in year 1060 of the same era (Spring 748 and Spring 749). He counted spring as the start of the year.
The Chronicle of 1234 dates the earthquake to year 1060 of the Seleucid era. Michael the Syrian offers no clear date, though a 19th-century translator noted in a footnote that the event could be dated to 6241 Anno Mundi, year 1060 of the Seleucid era, and year 749/750 Anno Domini. The dating was reportedly off by a year, since Michael's chronicle includes many chronological errors. It is unclear whether Michael himself was responsible for the errors, or whether they were introduced by copyists of the chronicle. The Zuqnin Chronicle dated the earthquake to year 1059 of the Seleucid era.
None of the four Chronicles dates the event to 18 January. The date would nearly coincide with the Feast of Mary for the Seeds (blessing of the crops), one of the principal feasts of Mary, mother of Jesus in the Syrian tradition. It was celebrated on 15 January. In 749, the feast occurred on a Sunday, and so it would be celebrated a day or two following the actual date.
The Zuqnin Chronicle mentions only one locality damaged by the earthquake, Maboug (modern Manbij). It also mentions vaguely damage in the Western region. In the Syriac Orthodox Church, the western region referred to the ecclesiastic province centered in Antioch, as opposed to the eastern region which was the ecclesiastic province centered in Tikrit. There was no strictly geographic definition of the ecclesiastic provinces.