320 Earthquake: Alexandria, Egypt

This event is spurious and should not be included in catalogs.

Reference #14380:

Alexandria in Egypt is reported to have been highly affected in A.D. 320 by an earthquake somewhat similar to the 1955 M 6.4 event, the strongest near-field event in this country since 1900. The A.D. 320 event was later characterized as spurious, reflecting a misunderstanding of a word referring to the impacts of the heresy of Arius on the Alexandria Church by the ninth century historian Theophanes. Shedding light on this earthquake is important because it is included in earthquake catalogs and studies of seismic risk; the latter is high due to the type of structures and foundation soils of Alexandria, a sprawling city of nearly six million people. An analysis of the previously examined and ignored ancient texts, of their sources, of their historical context, as well as of their copying, editorial, and translation history, indicates no earthquake in Alexandria in A.D. 320, nor that this spurious event reflects the misunderstanding of an ancient word. A possibility is that the information on an earthquake in the year A.D. 320, confirmed by another sixth century book, refers not to Alexandria, but to another town, the composite name of which was corrupted. According to this hypothesis, the A.D. 320 earthquake affected Alexandria Troas, on the Aegean coast, near the Homeric Troy, and close to a strand of the North Anatolian fault and the Aegean Sea, or Alexandria Catisson (Alexandria ad Issum), modern Iskenderun, near the East Anatolian fault. Both towns are in highly seismically active areas in Türkiye (Turkey).

Reference #9116:

AD 320 Alexandria. Theophanes (died 818) records an earthquake that damaged many houses in Alexandria and injured many people (Theoph. 13/24). He does not mention whether the earthquake affected other regions, but an earlier chronicle of the sixth century says the earthquake extended to many places (Chr. Ps.Dion. i. 159/119). The data indicate the year as being 320 and suggest either a spurious earthquake or a relatively large earthquake of unknown origin. This event is recorded by Theophanes, who dates it to a.M. 5812 (1 September 319 to 31 August 320). In his chronicle this earthquake comes immediately after Arius, bishop of Alexandria, proclaimed his beliefs to his congregation: ‘Arianism’ was to be the cause of acrimonious debates and schisms. Theophanes probably created this earthquake by adapting the metaphorical language of his source, here preserved in the Passio S. Artemii .Inapassage, which is otherwise verbatim Theophanes, it is said that ‘ Arius shook ( ) the Church ’. Theophanes may still be exaggerating, however. Since his description of the earthquake follows his ‘severe earthquake formula’, he is clearly trying to connect this event with Arius’s infamous sermon. Theophanes does not mention whether this earthquake affected other regions, but an earlier chronicle of the sixth century AD says that the shock extended to many places in 2335 a.Ab. (AD 319–320).