On December 13, 115 AD, he could completely change the course of the history of the Roman Empire. That day there was an earthquake in the city of Antioch on the Orontes (today Antakya on the southeast coast of Turkey), whose maximum intensity on the Mercalli scale has been estimated as XI or extreme. That day, caught in the middle of the earthquake, the Emperor Trajan and his successor Hadrian were there.
While the emperor was staying in Antioch, a terrible earthquake occurred; many cities were damaged, but Antioch was the most unlucky of all. As Trajan spent the winter there and many soldiers and civilians had come there from all over in connection with lawsuits, embassies, business or tourist visits, there was no nation that escaped unscathed; and so, at Antioch, the whole world under Roman influence suffered a disaster. There were many storms and portentous winds, but no one would have expected that so much evil would result from them.
Cassius Dio, roman history 68.24
On the magnitude scale of surface waves, it reached 7.5 and the city was practically destroyed, and with it the largest colonnaded avenue of antiquity, which was no less than 2 kilometers and 275 meters long, flanking the thistle of the city
The city, at that time, was full of Roman troops, but also many civilians, because Trajan was wintering there, preparing to culminate his war against the Parthians, fresh from a campaign in Armenia, and the imperial court was accompanying him . Hadrian had been in Antioch since January 114 AD, the city in which he had fixed his residence as an imperial legate.
Although both Trajan and Hadrian were able to escape with only minor injuries, the consul Marcus Pedon Vergiliano was not so lucky and was killed.
However, many of them were spared, as expected in such a large crowd; however, not all escaped unscathed. Many lost legs or arms, some had their heads smashed, and others vomited blood; the consul Pedo was one of them, and he died immediately. In a word, there was no kind of violent experience that those people did not suffer at that time.
Cassius Dio, roman history 68.25
It all started in the early hours of the morning, with a loud bang, while most of the inhabitants of Antioch were still sleeping, possibly including the emperor. Those who were outside could immediately feel a violent shake, and saw how the trees were suddenly uprooted and felled, while everything began to shake with great force.
Trajano, who was possibly woken up by the initial rumble, had just enough time to climb out of a window in his bedroom when the walls and ceiling were already beginning to collapse under the onslaught of the earthquake, sustaining injuries in the fall.
Trajan left through a window of the room in which he was staying. Some being, taller than human stature, had approached him and guided him forward, so that he escaped with only a few minor injuries; and as the clashes lasted for several days, he lived in the open at the racetrack. Mount Cassius itself shook so much that its peaks seemed to tilt and break and fall on the city itself. Other hills also settled, and much water that did not exist before came to light, while many streams disappeared.
Cassius Dio, roman history 68.25
Adriano, who was probably in his official residence, managed to get out in a similar way and also with minor injuries caused either by the collapse of the building or by having to jump from a high floor. In any case, they both headed in the direction of the circus, the only open place where there was no danger of collapse.
There, in the circus, a temporary camp was established, where everyone, including the emperor, remained during the time that the earthquake and its aftershocks lasted. Duration, which according to Dio Cassius was several days and nights.
And while the gods continued the earthquake for several days and nights, the people were in a desperate and helpless situation, some of them crushed and perishing under the weight of the buildings that pressed down on them, and others starving, whenever the opportunity arose. chance that they remained alive, either in a clear space, the timbers being so inclined as to come out of such space, or in a vaulted colonnade
Cassius Dio, roman history 68.25
Three-quarters of the city was destroyed, and virtually every structure sustained some sort of damage. Once the ground stopped shaking, it was time to search through the ruins and rubble for survivors.
The scenes of horror, described with great realism by the historian Dión Casio, give an account of the great desolation produced by the tremor.
When the evil had finally calmed down, someone who ventured to search the ruins saw a woman still alive. She was not alone, but she had a baby; and she had survived by feeding herself and her child on her milk. They dug her up and resurrected her and her baby, and then they searched the other mounds, but they couldn’t find anyone still alive except a child suckling at the breast of her mother, who was dead. As they removed the corpses they could no longer feel any pleasure even in their own flight.
Cassius Dio, roman history 68.25
The earthquake triggered a tsunami on the Levantine coast that seriously damaged the port of Caesarea Maritima, as recorded in the Talmud, and other coastal towns. The total number of victims of the earthquake is estimated at around 260,000, a number that some consider exaggerated or at least not very reliable. If correct, the Antioch earthquake would be one of the deadliest in history.
The area is the point of convergence of several tectonic plates (African, Arabian, Anatolian) and has therefore suffered several large earthquakes in the last 2,000 years. In fact, that earthquake in the year 115 AD was already the third time that Antioch had been destroyed by an earthquake. And it would not be the last, because in 526 AD it suffered another earthquake that completely destroyed it.
Trajan immediately ordered the start of reconstruction work on the city, which would be implemented and continued by Hadrian.
According to the 6th-century AD chronicler John Malalas, a native of Antioch, Trajan commemorated the city’s rebuilding by erecting a gilded copy of Tyche of Eutychides in the theater. Tyche was the patron deity of Antioch, she presided over the city’s prosperity, bringing hope and good fortune to its citizens. Tyche’s original sculpture was a bronze statue by the Greek sculptor Eutychides, a student of Lysippos, created for the city of Antioch in the early 3rd century BC showing the goddess crowned with towers, sitting on a rock, symbol of Mount Silpius, with her feet resting on the Orontes River, represented as a young swimmer.
One year and eight months after Trajan’s death earthquake, on August 11, 117 AD, Hadrian was proclaimed emperor by the army at Antioch. He remained in the city until September, when he left for Rome.
Sources
The Tsunami of December 13, 115 AD and the destruction of Herod the Great’s Harbor at Caesarea Maritima, Israel (Gloria I.López) / National Geophysical Data Center / Trajan: Optimus Princeps (Julian Bennett) / Roman History (Dión Casio) / Following Hadrian / Wikipedia.