Jerash, the Decapolis, and the Earthquake of AD 749

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.

List of Illustrations

1. The Earthquake of AD 749: A Watershed Event in the History of the Southern Levant? Introduction
Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja

Jerash
2. Impacts of Earthquakes on the Natural Resources in Jarash. A Long-Term Perspective
David D. Boyer
3. Excavation and Magnetic Prospection Urban Renewal after the Earthquake of AD 749. New Evidence from Jerash’s Southwest District
Louise Blanke
4. Life After the Earthquake. Early Abbasid Ceramic Assemblages From Domestic Contexts in Jerash’s Southwest District
Raffaella Pappalardo
5. The Impact of the 749 CE Earthquake on Gerasa. Old and New Evidence — Old and New Questions — Old and Persisting Problems
Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja

Other Decapolis Cities
6. The Eighth Century Earthquake at Abila. Destruction and Continued Occupation
David H. Vila
7. Baysān in the Early Islamic Period. From Conquest to Destruction
Gabriel Mazor and Walid Atrash
8. The Hinterland of Gadara After the 749 Earthquake
Jutta Häser
9. Hippos (Sūsiya) of the Decapolis during the Early Islamic Period and the AD 749  Earthquake
Michael Eisenberg and Arleta Kowalewska

Beyond the Decapolis
10. Traces of the AD 749 Earthquake in Jerusalem. New Archaeological Evidence from Mount Zion
Jennifer Zimni-Gitler
11. Rewriting the Narrative: Umm al-Jimal and the AD 749 Earthquake
Elizabeth A Osinga