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Unusual Historic Crises and Calamities

Khalid Elhassan April 16, 2020 34 min

7. An Earthquake That Almost Killed an Emperor

The city of Antioch in the Roman province of Syria, modern Antakya in Turkey, was rocked by an extremely intense earthquake on December 13^th, 115 AD. The upheaval caused widespread devastation and high loss of life in the region, destroying not only Antioch, but also the nearby city of Apamea, and inflicting significant damage upon Beirut as well.

The tremors also triggered a tsunami that slammed into the eastern Mediterranean coast. It caused extensive damage as far south as the seaport of Caesarea in the Roman province of Palestine, whose harbor was wrecked by the wall of water. It is estimated that about 260,000 people lost their lives, with many more injured and/or made homeless. Emperor Trajan was in the city at the time, and he barely survived the disaster.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.