December 13, 115 Earthquake: Antakya (Antioch), Turkey

115. Heavy destruction, 260,000 victims, intensity X-XI. (reference #1222)

115, December 13. Antakya, Karasu Valley, 36.1 N, 36.1 E, 250,000 or 260,000 deaths, intensity IX or VI, magnitude 7.3 or 7.5. (reference #3733)

115, December 13. Antioch. An earthquake in the Orontes valley during the morning of 13 December AD 115 almost totally destroyed Antioch, Daphne and four other cities, including Apamea. This was the third time that Antioch had been destroyed by an earthquake. A great roar preceded the shock. People standing in the open were thrown down and trees were uprooted and toppled. Almost all structures in Antioch were damaged, and three quarters of the city collapsed, killing a large number of people, including the consul Pedo Vergilianus. The exact number of deaths is unknown, but it must have been exceedingly high because the emperor Trajan was wintering there with this troops at the time, and his presence had attracted many litigants, embassies and sightseers; in addition, to that, since the earthquake occurred first thing in the morning, many people would still have been indoors. Very few of those in Antioch went unscathed, and the Emperor himself, trapped in the ruins of his residence, made his way out through a window of the room in which he was staying, with slight injuries. During the remainder of the period he lived in the open, in the hippodrome. (reference #9116)

13 December A.D. 115 at night. 36.25 N 36.1 E Magnitude 7.4 (ML). (reference #9275)

13 December A.D. 115. This earthquake was felt throughout the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean and caused destruction in Antioch. (reference #2815)