The Earthquake of 363 CE

Often when we study history, we think of people as our focus. We talk about people as agents of change, weaving history like millions of spiders slowly spinning a web. We dig in archeological sites in order to discover how people lived, and we read ancient texts to figure out how they thought. We act as if people have always been in control of history, intentionally or accidentally crafting a story for later generations to piece together. In this narrative of human actions and consequences, we forget that there are forces outside of human control. We forget that sometimes the narrative of history consists of tragedy that wasn’t concocted in a throne room for an emperor’s entertainment.

On the southern banks of the Dead Sea, four gravestones remind us that people have always lived in an unpredictable world. In May of 363 CE, a woman named Slitha and her daughter Kyra were killed in an earthquake in the city of Zoar. Alongside them, a fifteen year old girl named Obbe and her father Samakon also perished in the same natural disaster. Obbe’s gravestone, as found in the IIP database (zoor0023), reads:

Μνημεῖον
Ὄββης Σαμά-
κωνος παυ
σαμένης ἐτ(ῶν)
ιεʹ ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ
ἔτους σνηʹ μη(νὸς)
Ἀρτεμισίου
ηκʹ θάρσει
Ὄββη οὐδεὶς ἀ-
θάνατος
Εἷς Θεός

Monument of Obbe, (daughter) of Samakon, who died (at the age) of 15 years during the earthquake, in (the) year 258, on (the) 28th (day) of (the) month Artemisios, on (the) day of (the) Moon (Monday). Be of good cheer, Obbe, no one (is) immortal. One (is) the God.¹

The earthquake of 363 CE is mostly remembered for the religious and political significance assigned to it in the 5th and 6th centuries.³ It’s timing in May marks the second to last month of Emperor Julian’s reign over the Roman Empire, the last time a pagan emperor held the throne. Historians generally agree that Julian was indeed dedicated to fighting the rise of Christianity, a cause that often took the form of Jewish favoritism.⁴ According to traditional narratives, he was the last person to attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.⁵

The earthquake of May 363 shook huge swaths of the Roman Palestinian territories, from Galilee to Petra and (as we know from our tombstones) Zoar.⁶ Various individuals have connected the earthquake to Emperor Julian and his death. For example, his good advisor Libanius said:

“earthquakes were the harbingers of woe, destroying the cities of Palestine Syria either wholly or in part. We were sure by these actions that heaven had given us a sign of some great disaster, and, as we prayed that our guess should not be right, the bitter news reached our ears that our great Julian was being carried out in his coffin.”²

In contrast, several contemporary Christian narratives of the time attributed a greater theological significance to the natural disaster, seeing the event as a sign of God’s wrath against a pagan emperor.⁷ Furthermore, in several Christian narratives, the earthquake is sent by God to end the construction of the Jewish Temple. In these stories, the earthquake of May 19, 363 destroys progress on the Temple building, as a great fire sweeps through Jerusalem to seal its fate. The symbolism is clear:  this is a turning point of Christian power in the Roman Empire.⁸ The Temple had been destroyed and rebuilt before in pagan Rome; this time, God himself would stop it. While current historians argue that Julian’s untimely death resulted in the end of the Temple construction, unrelated to natural disasters in Palestine and Syria,⁹ the connections between Roman religious trends and our earthquake cannot be ignored.  One historian has recently argued that the destruction of pagan temples in Petra and surrounding areas was a significant factor in the rise of Christianity and the decline of pagan worship in the area.¹⁰

With all of the significance attached to the earthquake of 363, it is easy to forget that this natural disaster impacted people simply living their daily lives, unconscious of long-term trends in religion and empire. So we return to the tombstones in Zoar, and to our inscribed memories of Slitha, Kyra, Obbe, and Samakon. On May 19, 363, they became victims of an uncontrollable natural disaster. The earthquake took their lives – for them and for those who loved them, the larger picture could not possibly have mattered.

Bibliography

“Julian | Roman Emperor.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed February 10, 2018. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Roman-emperor.

Levenson, David B. “The Palestinian Earthquake of May 363 in Philostorgius, the Syriac Chronicon Miscellaneum, and the Letter Attributed to Cyril on the Rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple.” Journal of Late Antiquity 6, no. 1 (June 24, 2013): 60–83. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2013.0010.

Meimaris, Yiannis, and Kalliope Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou. Inscriptions from Palaestina Tertia Vol. Ia: The Greek Inscriptions from Ghor Es-Safi (Byzantine Zoora). Athens, Greece: National Hellenic Research Foundation, 2005.

Russell, Kenneth W. “The Earthquake of May 19, A. D. 363.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 238 (1980): 47–64. https://doi.org/10.2307/1356515.

Ward, Walter D. “The 363 Earthquake and the End of Public Paganism in the Southern Transjordan.” Journal of Late Antiquity 9, no. 1 (June 1, 2016): 132–70. https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2016.0003.

1. Yiannis Meimaris and Kalliope Kritikakou-Nikolaropoulou, Inscriptions from Palaestina Tertia Vol. Ia: The Greek Inscriptions from Ghor Es-Safi (Byzantine Zoora) (Athens, Greece: National Hellenic Research Foundation, 2005). ↩
2. Levenson, 62 ↩
3. David B. Levenson, “The Palestinian Earthquake of May 363 in Philostorgius, the Syriac Chronicon Miscellaneum, and the Letter Attributed to Cyril on the Rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple,” Journal of Late Antiquity 6, no. 1 (June 24, 2013): 60–83, https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2013.0010, 61. ↩
4. “Julian | Roman Emperor,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed February 10, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-Roman-emperor. ↩
5. ibid. ↩
6. Kenneth W. Russell, “The Earthquake of May 19, A. D. 363,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 238 (1980): 47–64, https://doi.org/10.2307/1356515. 47-49. ↩
7. ibid. ↩
8. Russell, 52 ↩
9. See Levenson for a discussion of timeline and the reports of Julian’s death in various sources. ↩
10. Walter D. Ward, “The 363 Earthquake and the End of Public Paganism in the Southern Transjordan,” Journal of Late Antiquity 9, no. 1 (June 1, 2016): 132–70, https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2016.0003. ↩

Relevant Inscription(s):

ZOOR0023
View this inscription [View in XML]	Transcription: + Μνημεῖον + Ὄββης Σαμά- κωνος παυ- σαμένης ἐτῶν ιεʹ ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ ἔτους σνηʹ μηνὸς Ἀρτεμισίου ηκʹ θάρσει Ὄββη οὐδεὶς ἀ- θάνατος + Εἷς …	Translation: Monument of Obbe, (daughter) of Samakon, who died (at the age) of 15 years during the earthquake, in (the) year 258, on (the) 28th (day) …	Languages: Greek Date: 363CE to 363CE Dimension: H: 45 cm.; W: 28 cm.; D: 08 cm. Letter Height: 1.2-2 cm.

ZOOR0022
View this inscription [View in XML]	Transcription: + Μνημεῖον Σίλθα Οὐα- λεντίνου καὶ Κύρας θυγατρός τετελευτηκότων ἐν ὁσιότη- τι μετὰ καλοῦ ὀν- όματος ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ ἐτῶν ληʹ ἔτους σ …	Translation: Monument of Slitha, (daughter) of Valentinus, and of Kyra, (her) daughter, who have both died in holiness, having a good name, during the earthquake (at …	Languages: Greek Date: 363CE to 363CE Dimension: H: 54.5 cm.; W: 38.5 cm.; D: 07.5 cm. Letter Height: 1.1-2.5 cm.

ZOOR0024
View this inscription [View in XML]	Transcription: μνημεῖον Σαμάκωνος ἀ- ρχιδιακόνου μνημεῖον Σαμά- κωνος Ζάβδα ἀρχιδιακόνου ἀπογενόμενος ἐτῶν μʹ ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ ἔτους μνηʹ μηνὸς Ἀρτεμισίου ηκʹ θάρσει οὐδείς ἀθάνατος ἡμέρᾳ …	Translation: Monument of Samakon, (the) archdeacon, who died… Monument of Samakon, (son) of Zabdas, (the) archdeacon, who died (at the age) of 40 years during the …	Languages: Greek Date: 363CE to 363CE Dimension: H: 56 cm.; W: 38 cm.; D: 7 cm. Letter Height: 0.8-2.5 cm.

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