The Antioch Earthquake of 115
In 115, Antioch – Modern Antakya in Turkey – was a flourishing city and the Roman Empire’s third biggest metropolis after Rome and Alexandria. It owed its success to its location at the end of a road linking the Mediterranean with Mesopotamia and Persia, making Antioch a trade hub between the Roman and Persian empires. Unfortunately, Antioch’s location also had the misfortune of being near the junction of three tectonic plates – the African, Anatolian, and Arabian – whose friction made the region particularly susceptible to earthquakes.
On December 13th, 115, a devastating earthquake struck. As described by the Roman historian Cassius Dio, a loud and bellowing roar preceded the earthquake. Then, the ground violently vibrated, tossing people and entire trees up into the air as if they were water drops shaken off a wet dog’s fur, and lifting buildings off the ground and slamming them back to earth.
Many were killed or injured by falling debris, and many more by buildings collapsing atop them. The aftershocks, which continued for days, killed and injured many survivors of the first day’s tremors. The earthquake also triggered a tsunami that slammed into the eastern Mediterranean coast and caused extensive damage as far south as Caesarea in Palestine, whose harbor was wrecked. About 260,000 were killed, with many more injured and/or made homeless.
When the earthquake struck, the Roman emperor Trajan and his chief deputy and successor, the future emperor Hadrian, were wintering in Antioch, overseeing preparations for a military campaign against Parthia. The city and the surrounding region were even more crowded than usual, due to the legions encamped nearby. Trajan managed to escape via a window from the building in which he had been housed, and was fortunate to suffer only light injuries.