Jerash, the Decapolis, and the Earthquake of AD 749
The Fallout of a Disaster
Edited by Achim Lichtenberger Edited by Rubina Raja
Taking the AD 749 earthquake as its starting point, this volume aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the quake’s effects, questioning its role as a sole watershed moment and exploring the various other factors at play that influenced urban change.
Gerasa/Jerash and the Decapolis are located along the seismically active area of the Dead Sea Rift, a point where four tectonic plates meet to create the 110km-long fault known as the Dead Sea Transform. It was activity along this fault that led, in AD 749, to a famously devastating earthquake in the region. Measuring at least 7.0 on the Richter scale, this quake not only had a profound physical impact on the Decapolis, Galilee, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, causing widespread destruction and reshaping urban landscapes, but also led to a clear shift in socio-economic dynamics through a combination of economic decline and population displacement. It thus stands as a clear watershed moment in Late Antiquity. In its aftermath, some cities struggled to regain prominence, while others declined and were abandoned. Taking the AD 749 earthquake as its starting point, this volume aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the quake’s effects, questioning its role as a sole watershed moment and exploring the various other factors at play that influenced urban change. The contributions gathered here, which clearly recognize earthquakes as non-human actors in this process, clearly highlight the diverse impacts that this seismic event had on the city life in the southern Levant, and the fallout in the decades that followed.
- Edited by Achim Lichtenberger
- Edited by Rubina Raja
Other Titles in this Series
Environmental Studies, Remote Sensing, and Modelling
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project I
Volume 6
Metal Finds and Coins
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project II
Volume 7
Glass, Lamps, and Jerash Bowls
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project III
Volume 8
Middle Islamic Jerash (9th century – 15th century)
Archaeology and History of an Ayyubid-Mamluk settlement
Volume 3
Miscellaneous Objects
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VI
Volume 12
Ceramic Finds in Context (Roman to Early Islamic Times)
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VII
Volume 13
Architectural Elements, Wall Paintings, and Mosaics
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project IV
Volume 9
Similar Books
Ḫattušaš utnē išḫameški
Hittite and Other Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Piotr Taracha on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday
Punning in Odd or Elegant Constructions in Jeremiah
The Convergence of Linguistics, Rhetoric, and Textuality in the Hebrew Text of Jeremiah
Shame in the Worlds of the Hebrew Bible and Akkadian Texts
A Linguistic Study and Its Implications
Volume 33
Telling Contexts
Archaeological and Textual Studies in Honor of Elizabeth Bloch-Smith and Mark S. Smith
The Body
Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox
Die Entwicklung erdbebensicherer Bautechniken in der Frühen und Mittleren Eisenzeit in Ostanatolien
Volume 11
Kultur – Kontakt – Kultur
Beiträge anlässlich der 66. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Frankfurt/Main und Mainz, 25.–29. Juli 2022
Volume 35
Sprachwissenschaftliche und kulturhistorische Reflexionen
Festschrift zu Ehren von Jörg Klinger
Volume 31
A Numismatic History of Barikot
Catalogue and Analysis of the Coin Finds from the Excavations at Bir-koṭ-ghwaṇḍai (Barikot), Swat, Pakistan (1984-2022) Pakistan (1984-2022). With a contribution by Luca M. Olivieri
Volume 69
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia II: From Prehistoric Times to the End of the Iron Ages
Proceedings of the 2nd Archaeology of Eastern Anatolia Colloquium, 23-25 April 2021, Online (Arkeolojihaber Youtube Channel)
Volume 43
Ash-sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East No 9 1-2 2025
Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies
Assyria and the West
A Fresh Look at the Unshakeable Pillars of Late Bronze and Iron Age Chronology in the Eastern Mediterranean World
Autocratic Rule in Antiquity
Proceedings of the 14th Melammu Workshop, Krakow, 46 October 2021
Volume 12
Boğazköy Tablets in the Museum of Anatolian Civilisations (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesinde Bulunan Boğazköy Tabletleri (Bo 95–Bo 3993)
Volume 3
Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue – Volume 2
Sessions 3, 7 and 8 from the Conference Broadening Horizons 6 Held at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24–28 June 2019
Ceramic Finds in Context (Roman to Early Islamic Times)
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VII
Volume 13
Christian Settlements and Monasteries in the Northern Judaean Shephelah and the Western Samaria Hills during the Byzantine Period
From Egypt to the Levant and Beyond
African Individuals and Groupsain Cuneiform Texts from the Late Bronze Age
Volume 133
Groundbreaking Technologies in the Middle Paleolithic of the Levant
8igh Resolution and Multi-scale Functional Analysis of Ground Stone Tools
Volume 3
It All Began with Stratigraphy and Chronology
Archaeology in Central Anatolia. Festschrift Dedicated to Sachihiro Omura on his 77th Birthday
Khirbet al-Khalde
Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023
Volume 2
