Earth changes in the Roman Empire from 100 AD to

200 AD
105 - Earthquake in the Gulf of Edremit and Greece
The towns of Cyme, Myrina, Elaeae and Pitane, all within a radius of 10 km around the Gulf
of Edremit, were destroyed by an earthquake as well as two cities in Greece. Orosius and
Michael the Syrian syncretise this earthquake with the later event in Galatia and the lightning
on the Pantheon in 110.
An inscription found at Ulucak, near Magnesia records repairs of the road from Smyrna to the
north, round the western end of Mount Yamanlar, carried out sometime between 10 December
102 and 13 May 105, probably in the aftermath of this earthquake1.
Jerome Chronicle, p. 278:
Four cities of Asia overthrown in an earthquake: Elaea, Myrrhina, Pytanae, and Cymae: and
two in Greece, Opuntis and Oritos.
Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 7.12.5:
Four cities in Asia, Elea, Myrina, Pitane, and Cyme along with two in Greece, those of the
Opuntii and Oriti, were destroyed by an earthquake that also ruined three cities in Galatia. At
Rome, the Pantheon was struck by lightning and burnt down, while an earthquake in Antioch
almost levelled the entire city.
Michael the Syrian, Chronique, 6.4 p. 174:
At the same time, there was a very violent earthquake in which many cities were overthrown:
(among others) four cities in Asia: Elea, Myrina, Pytane and Cyme in Greece Opyntis and
Myrrin and three towns in Galatia. The temple of the Pantheon, i.e. of all the Gods, was
destroyed by lightning.

107-108 - Extreme weather in Italy

Pliny the Younger, in a letter to his friend Minucius Macrinus, describes extreme weather in
Rome, namely severe storms, violent floods of the Tiber and of the Aniene River, tornados
and heavy rains. Though difficult to date as most of Pliny's letters, this one seems to have
been written around 107-1082.
Pliny the Younger, Letters, Translated by William Melmoth, Book 8. letter 17 p. 143144:
1 Ambraseys, Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 2009, p. 121
2 Aldrete, Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome,

p. 29

Is the weather in your parts as rude and boisterous as it is with us ? All here is tempest and
inundation. The Tiber has overflowed its channel, and deeply flooded its lower banks.
Though drained by a dyke, which the Emperor providently had cut, it submerges the valleys,
swims along the fields, and entirely overspreads the flats. The streams which it ordinarily
receives and carries down commingled to the sea, it now forcibly checks in their course, by,
so to speak, advancing to meet them ; and thus deluges with borrowed waters lands it cannot
reach itself. That most delightful of rivers, the Anio, which seems invited and detained by the
villas upon its banks, has destroyed and carried away much of the woods that shade its brink.
It has undermined mountains, and its channel being-blocked by the resulting landslides, it has
wrecked houses in the endeavour to regain its course, and surges high above the ruins.
Dwellers in the uplands, who were out of reach of this fearful inundation, have seen, here the
household gear and heavy furniture of lordly mansions, there instruments of husbandry,
elsewhere ploughs and oxen with their drivers, elsewhere again herds of cattle let loose and
astray, together with trunks of trees, or beams and gables of the neighbouring villas all
floatinc about far and wide. Nor indeed have even these uplands, to which the river did not
rise, escaped calamity. For long torrential rains, and waterspouts hurled down from the
clouds, have destroyed all the enclosures on the valuable farms, and shaken, and even
overturned, public buildings.
Numbers have been maimed, crushed, or buried by such accidents, and loss of property has
been aggravated by bereavements.

110 - Earthquake in Galatia

See above.
Jerome, Chronicle p. 279:
110
Three cities of Galatia wiped out by an earthquake.
The Pantheon in Rome burned down by lightning.

115 - Juvenals comet

While describing the gossiping woman who knows everything that is going on, Juvenal
(6.407-412) is the only source for this comet that preceded the 115 Antioch earthquake.
Barrett3 thinks that it is solely a reference to comets in general, whereas Ramsey4 postulates
that this is the Chinese comet of January 117.
Juvenal, The Satires of Juvenal, p. 57-58:
3 Barrett, A. A., Observations of Comets in Greek and Roman Sources Before A.D. 410, Journal of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 72, 1978, p.81

4 Ramsey J.T., A Catalogue of Greco-Roman Comets from 500 B.C. to A.D. 400, Journal for the History of Astronomy 28
(2007), 175-97.

She (the gossiping woman) is the first to see the comet that menaces the Armenian and
Parthian king; and she intercepts at the gates the reports and freshest news. Some she invents
as well. That Niphates (a mountain in Armenia) has overwhelmed whole nations, and that the
whole country is there laid under water by a great deluge; that cities are tottering, the earth
sinking down - this she tells in every place of resort to everyone she meets.

118 Solar eclipse

The Fasti Vindobonenses Priores correctly dates a total solar eclipse on 3 September 118. The
rough track of totality runs from the Atlantic to Southeast Asia with noon point in the Black
Sea. The eclipse was the greatest one visible in Europe around the time indicated5.
The Fasti Vindobonenses Priores, MGH AA 9 p. 285:
118
Hadrian and Salinator. Under theses consuls, there was an eclipse of the sun.

120 Earthquake in Bithynia

About 120 a major earthquake in Bithynia destroyed its capital Nicomedia as well as
the greater part of Nicaea. A funerary inscription from Nicomedia is connected with this
event, since it commemorates the death of two children and a slave in an earthquake and
dates from about this time. The city of Nicomedia was rebuilt and given the title Hadrian to
commemorate Hadrians having been there; and some coins were also minted in which
Hadrian is described as Restitutor Nicomediae.
The Chronicon Paschale dates the earthquake to 128 and adds that Aoria6 in Bithynia was
damaged. Michael the Syrian dates it after the death of Euphrates the Stoic in 118.
Guidoboni amalgamates this event with the earthquake at Cyzicus reported by Malalas, and
adds a tsunami and dates it to 120-1287.
Jerome, Chronicle, p. 282:
120

5 Schove, Chronology of Eclipses and Comets AD 1-1000, 1987, p. 24

6 The location of Aoria is problematic. If Aoria is meant for Aorata, the latter has been generally recognised as situated near
Hiera Germe, near where modern Kirmasti Kassaba is located, south of Cyzicus. The Aoria earthquake is otherwise
unrecorded.

7 Guidoboni, Catalogue of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century, 1994, p . Ambraseys,
Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 2009, p. 125-126

After an earthquake had happened, Nicomedia lay in ruins, and many things were overturned
in the city of Nicaea: for the reconstruction of which, Hadrian generously gave funds from the
public treasury.
Michael the Syrian, Chronique, 6.4, p. 175-176:
At this time, there was an earthquake, in which Nicomedia was totally destroyed, and most of
Nicaea.
Chronicon Paschale, PG 92 p. 618
During their consulship, Nicomedia and Aoria in Bithynia were overturned by an earthquake.

123 - Earthquake in Cyzicus

The capital of the province of the Hellespont, Cyzicus, was ruined by a large earthquake.
Malalas dates it to 10 November in an unspecified year during the reign of Hadrian.
Ambraseys connects Malalas earthquake with a passage from the Chronicon Paschale (PG
92, p. 615) which does not mention the earthquake, but only Hadrians construction
programme in Nicomedia, Nicaea and Cyzicus, which is dated to 123. The construction
programme of Hadrian began soon after his progress through Asia Minor in 124. According to
Ambraseys, to have merited imperial assistance, Cyzicus must have been struck by the
earthquake only shortly before, so probably on 10 November 123.
Guidoboni, who syncretises this event with the one in Nicomedia in 120, links it with a
passage from the Sibylline Oracles mentioning a tsunami and an earthquake affecting both
Cyzicus and Baris, about 30 km west of the latter.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/
Cyzicus, also thy vast wealth the sea
Shall break off.

125 to 136 Ptolemys lunar eclipses

In his Almagest, Ptolemy records four lunar eclipses from 125 to 136. All the eclipses were
observed from Alexandria by him, though Toomer notes that the eclipse of 125 may have been
observed by the mathematician Theon who transmitted several planetary observations to
Ptolemy.
Ptolemy used his own chronology throughout the Almagest. This commenced with the
beginning of the reign of Nabonassar (equivalent to 26 February 747 BC).
He also uses the Egyptian year of twelve 30 day months followed by 5 extra days, making a
total of 365 days. This system, which allows accurate day counts to be made with ease, is

probably due to Hipparchus. In addition, when discussing observations made during the night,
Ptolemy often gives a double date to avoid confusion8.
Ptolemy, Almagest, p.206
The second eclipse we used is the one observed in Alexandria in the ninth year of Hadrian.
Pachon [IX] 17/18 in the Egyptian calendar. 3 3/5 equinoctial hours before midnight. At this
eclipse too the moon was obscured 1/6th of its diameter from the south9.
Ptolemy, Almagest, p 198
Let us now turn to the three eclipses which we have selected from those very carefully
observed by us in Alexandria.
The first [eclipse] occurred in the seventeenth year of Hadrian, Pauni [X] 20/21 in the
Egyptian calendar. We computed the exact time of mid-eclipse as 3/4 of an equinoctial hour
before midnight. It was total10.
Ptolemy, Almagest, p 198
The second occurred in the nineteenth year of Hadrian. Choiak [IV] 2/3 in the Eyptian
calendar. We computed that mid-eclipse occurred 1 equinoctial hour before midnight. [The
moon] was eclipsed 5/6 of its diameter from the north.
Ptolemy, Almagest, p 198
The third eclipse occurred in the twentieth year of Hadrian, Pharmouthi [VIII] 19/20 in the
Egyptian calendar. We computed that mid-eclipse occurred 4 equinoctial hours after midnight.
[The moon] was eclipsed half of its diameter from the north11.

129 Earthquake in Nicopolis and Caesarea

8 Steele J.M., A Re-analysis of the Eclipse Observations in Ptolemys Almagest, Centaurus, vol. 42, 2000, p. 89-108
9 5 April 125.
10 20 October 134.
11 5 May 136.

An earthquake affected both Caesarea and Nicopolis in Palestine about 12912. According to
Russell, this earthquake is the only explanation for structural damage or rebuilding, early in
the second century, in Caesarea13.
Elias of Nisibis, La Chronographie d'lie Bar inaya Mtropolitain de Nisibe, p 57 :
Year 438 (126-127). In which there was an earthquake; Nicopolis and Caesarea were
overthrown (Chronological Canon of Andronicus).
Jerome, Chronicle, p 284:
129
Nicopolis and Caesarea were ruined in an earthquake.

132 - Star of Antinous

In 130, Antinous, the lover and favorite of the Emperors Hadrian, died while saving the
Emperor from drowning in the Nile. It is said that after his drowning a comet was seen
shining in the sky. Since the 18th century, it has been assumed that the comet was the one
witnessed by the Chinese in January 132 (Pingr, p. 291-292). In his memory, Hadrian created
the constellation Antinous, now obsolete, near the Eagle. Ptolemy alludes to it in his Almagest
(p. 357).
For Newman14 and Ramsey15, this comet was the star depicted on the coins of Shimon Bar
Kosiba, better known as Bar Kokhba (i.e. Son of the Star), the leader of a Jewish revolt
during Hadrians reign from 132 to 135. His coins represent a star above the facade of the
Temple in Jerusalem. Since the comet was observed five months before the Bar Kokhba
revolt, for Ramsey it was the catalyst for his surname "Son of the star and the star on his
coinage reinforcing Jewish messianic hopes (Ramsey). On the other hand, Newman
underlines that the coins of the revolt were similar to the one minted by Hadrian in honor to
his lover Antinous.

12 Ambraseys proposes that the cities affected were not in Palestine but in northeastern Anatolia in the province of Pontus.
As such, the sites would have been Niksar (Neocaesarea) and Susehri (Nikopolis) located about 110 km apart on the
Anatolian fault zone and linked by a major Roman road: Ambraseys, Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East,
2009, p. 126-127.

13 Russell, K. W., The earthquake chronology of Palestine and Northwest Arabia from the 2nd through the mid-8th century
AD, BASOR, 260, 1985, p. 3759.

14 Newman H., The Star of Bar Kochba, in: H. Eshel and B. Zissu (eds.),

New Studies on the Bar Kochba Revolt ,

Ramat Gan (Bar-Ilan University), 2001, pp. 95-99 (in Hebrew).

15 Ramsey J., The Jewish Revolt of Bar Kokhba (AD 132-135) and the Star of Antinous. delivered at the Annual Meeting
of the American Philological Association in San Antonio, 8 January 2011.

141 Lycia Earthquake

Strong earthquakes affected a large area in southwest Turkey and the Dodecanese Islands.
Damage extended from the island of Cos and Rhodes to the Gulf of Antalya and to Cine in the
north, an area of radius 90 km.
From Pausanias' account and epigraphic evidence, Ambraseys infers that the region was
affected by two separate earthquakes. The first shock occurred between autumn 141 to
February 142, and the second shock probably happened in late winter-spring 142.
Aelius Aristides, in an oration composed in the aftermath of the earthquake, adds that a
tsunami destroyed Rhodes and the Island of Cos. Aristides was in Egypt, and visited the island
soon afterwards16. The Historia Augusta mentions the earthquake in Rhodes among other
disasters. Oddly, no church historian records the earthquake.
Numerous inscriptions from Lycia mention by name the 28 towns which were affected,
expressing their gratitude for the assistance received for repairs and for the
reconstruction of public buildings. The repairs were made by Opraomas, a philanthropist
from Rhodiapolis.
Two inscriptions coming from Stratonicea commemorate the fact that Leo, an elder of the city,
had gone to Rome to seek the help of Antoninus Pius, who subsequently gave 250 000
denarii. The other inscription is dedicated to the Emperor and the fatherland by some citizens
of Stratonicea who escaped unharmed from a series of violent earthquakes. Other inscriptions
come from Rhodes and Lindos17.
The earthquake was so strong, that tectonic subsidence over the Dalmatian type coasts of
the Island of Kekova are visible even today18.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.43.4:
The cities of Lycia and of Caria, along with Cos and Rhodes, were overthrown by a violent
earthquake that smote them. These cities also were restored by the emperor Antoninus, who
was keenly anxious to rebuild them, and devoted vast sums to this task.
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Vol I, Translation by David Magie,p. 121-123:
"Life of Antoninus Pius
16 Franco C. Aelius Aristides and Rhodes: Concord and Consolation, in Harris W.V. and Holmes B. (eds), Aelius Aristides
between Greece, Rome, and the Gods, Leiden - Boston 2008, p. 217-250

17 Ambraseys, Earthquakes in the Mediterranean and Middle East, 2009, p. 128-131; Guidoboni, Catalogue of ancient
earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century, p. 235-236

18 Erel T.L. and

Adatepe F., "Traces of Historical earthquakes in the ancient city life at the Mediterranean region". Journal
of Black Sea/Mediterranean Environment, 13, 2007, p. 241252.

The following misfortunes and prodigies occurred in his reign: the famine, which we have just
mentioned, (during the reign of Hadrian) the collapse of the Circus (c. 140, it is said that 1112
persons were killed) an earthquake whereby towns of Rhodes and of Asia were destroyed all
of which, however, the Emperor restored in splendid fashion , and a fire at Rome which
consumed three hundred and forty tenements and dwellings.
The town of Narbonne, the city of Antioch, and the forum of Carthage also burned.
Aelius Aristides, Oration 25, in The Complete Works, Volume 2 Orations XVII-LIII,
Translated by Behr, , 19-28, p. 61-63:
Who would still behave with moderation when he remembered that wretched noon
hour, in which the evil rst began and fell upon you, when the sea stood still awaiting what
was to come, as it were expecting some other great and deadly storm, and all the air was
silent, as it were in anticipation of what shall be, and the birds and all else remained quiet for
that which was to come. The city was being prepared for such a catastrophe and the whole
force of the earthquake was being readied against it. The sun for the last time then shone upon
his city.
And suddenly every terror was at hand at once. The sea drew back, and all the interior of the
harbours was laid bare, and the houses were thrown upwards, and the tombs broken open, and
the towers collapsed upon the harbours, and the storage sheds upon the triremes, and the
temples upon the altars, and the offering upon the statues, and men upon men, and everything
upon one another. In the time that it took for a man to raise anchor to sail off, when he turned
around, he could no longer see the city, but everything was jumbled together, the harbours on
dry land, the city in the dust, empty streets in place of the houses from avenue to avenue,
death at every house, at the temples, doors, and gates. The tombs cast out their contents,
within the new dead lay concealed. Like votive offerings, there were seen upon the tops of the
walls the hands of some, the feet of others, and of others different remains. And it was
impossible to guess to whom each of these remnants belonged. And some in eeing their own
houses perished in those of others, others transxed by fear perished in their own, some
overtaken while running out; others left behind half alive, unable to emerge or save
themselves, starved in addition to their other miseries, and proting only to the extent of
knowing that their country did not exist, they perished. Others bodies were sundered by
chance, half left within doors, half left exposed without. And in addition other bodies fell
upon them, and household implements, and stones, and whatever the earthquake carried off
and tossed upon each.
Some waited, some were searching for their relatives, others did not know whether to mourn
themselves or their families. Some bewailed their city, others were consumed in ames when
the roofs and hearths crashed together. Some were overtaken in the very act of snatching away
their children, others committed suicide. [ . . . ] Everything happened at once: the earthquake
from the sea, the cloud, the noise, the cries, and the crash of the ruins, the heaving of the
earth. I think that neither the cataracts south of Egypt nor the surf of the outer ocean nor ery
thunderbolts nor whatever sounds the loudest among men can be compared with that evil and
din then, which arose as a combination of everything, forming an unexpected and unpleasing

symphony in which Rhodes rose up in destruction. And there were thrown together corpses
and altars, ceilings and dust, blood and utensils, roofs and foundations, slaves and masters, the
limbs of bodies and statues, sacrices at tombs and dinners. [ ] The city was overthrown
and fell quicker than ever a sinking ship. The ensuing days and nights revealed those who
were alive, at least who were breathing, to be wounded and those who had already died to be
rotting, and without any limbs intact, but however the ruin had worked its amputations and its
grafting on each.
Unaccustomed pyres burned both night and day, in contrast to the former sacred months. . . .
now in one day the god of fortune has condemned so many men to annihilation both within
the city and along with the city, and he has made the city which could not be entered by
murderers a grave for each of the slain.

147 Flood of the Tiber

Among many disasters, the Historia Augusta mentions a flood of the Tiber. From the Fasti
Ostienses, a fragmentary marble calendar, the flood occurred on 20 March 14719.
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Vol I, Translation by David Magie,p. 121-123:
"Life of Antoninus Pius
Besides, the Tiber flooded its banks (147), a comet was seen (probably Halley in 141), a twoheaded child was born, and a woman gave birth to quintuplets.
There was seen, moreover, in Arabia, a crested serpent larger than the usual size, which ate
itself from the tail to the middle; and also in Arabia there was a pestilence, while in Moesia
barley sprouted from the tops of trees. And besides all this, in Arabia four lions grew tame and
of their own accord yielded themselves to capture."

161 Earthquake in Lesbos

During the proconsulate of Albus, Aelius Aristides, an eyewitness of the event, writes that
there were many frequent earthquakes over several days. He adds that Mytilene was almost
demolished, many villages were utterly destroyed and there was general terror in Ephesus and
Smyrna.
However, the problem of this earthquake lies in the date of the proconsulate of Albus. Several
dates were proposed. Bowersock20 argues a date of 161, whereas Alfdy21 is in favor of 148-

19 Aldrete, Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome,

p. 28.

20 Bowersock G.W., The Proconsulate of Albus, Harv. Stud. Class. Philol. 72, 1968, p. 289-294
21 Alfldy G., Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter den Antoninen, Bonn, 1977, p. 213

14922.A date toward the end of Antoninus reign seems preferable23. Aurelius Victor records
the restoration of Ephesus and Nicomedia under Marcus Aurelius. Furthermore, evidence of
rebuilding at Smyrna appears also in Marcus time in a letter of about 163-164 from the
Emperor to Euxenianus Pulius24.
This earthquake is maybe the same as that mentioned by Dio Cassius as having occurred at
the time of Antoninus Pius in Cyzicus. Fronto reports the earthquake in a letter to Marcus
Aurelius dated to 162, where he mentions a speech of Marcus to the Senate.
Fronto, The Correspondence, Vol. 2, Edited by Capps E. et al., Loeb, p. 41-43:
() so that not more suddenly or more violently was the city (Cyzicus) stirred by the
earthquake than the minds of your hearers by your speech.
Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus, p.19 :
() and many cities were founded, settled, restored or embellished and in particular
Punic Carthage, which fire had terribly ravaged, and Ephesus in Asia and Nicomedia in
Bithynia, which had been levelled by an earthquake.
Aelius Aristides, Oration 44, in The Complete Works, Volume 2 Orations XVII-LIII, 1928, Translated by Behr, 38-43, p. 314-315:
And later, when Albus was Governor of Asia, there were many frequent earthquakes, and
Mytilene, on the one hand, was nearly all levelled and, on the other hand, in many other cities
there were many shocks, and some villages were wholly destroyed. The Ephesians and the
Smyrnaeans ran to one another in great agitation. The series of earthquakes and terrors was
extraordinary. And on the one hand, they sent emissaries to Clarus, and the Oracle was fought
about, and on the other, holding the olive branch of supplication, they made processions about
the altars and the market places and the circuit of the cities, no one daring to stay at home.
And nally they gave up supplicating [At the gods command Aristides sacrices an ox to
Zeus.] As to what happened next, who wishes to believe, let him believe, and who does not, to
him I say farewell! For all those earthquakes stopped, and after that day there was no longer
any trouble, through the providence and power of the gods, and by our necessary ministration.
The following is no less marvellous than this, if not even more. On about the sixth or seventh
day before the earthquakes began, he ordered me to send to the old hearth, which is at the
Temple of Olympian Zeus, and to make sacrices and to establish altars on the crest of the hill
of Atys. And these things were just nished when the earthquake came and so ravaged all the
other land in between that not an inn was left standing, except some small ruin. But it did not
22
23 See also Behr C.A., Studies on the Biography of Aleius Aristides, in Hildegard Temporini,Wolfgang Haase Aufstieg U
Niedergang D Roemwelt Teil 2 Bd 34/2, Volume 2 ;Volume 32 ;Volume 34, p. 1140-1233

24 Guidoboni, Catalogue of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean area up to the 10th century, 1994, p. 237

proceed up the Atys, nor to our Laneion estate at the south of the Atys, except only to perceive
it, and ravaged nothing beyond. And I became so bold that, almost in the midst of the
earthquakes, as I was returning from the warm springs to the city in accordance with my
dreams and saw men in supplication and distraught, I intended to say that there was no need
to be afraid, for no harm would befall.

162 - Flood of the Tiber

Between the date of the accession of Marcus Aurelius and Verus in March 161 to the
departure of Verus from Rome to lead the war against Parthia during the summer of 162, a
violent flood of the Tiber devastated Rome and lead to a serious famine25.
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Vol 1, p. 151-153
Life of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus
And now, after they had assumed the imperial power, the two emperors (Marcus Aurelius and
Lucius Verus) acted in so democratic a manner that no one missed the lenient ways of Pius;
for though Marullus, a writer of farces of the time, irritated them by his jests, he yet went
unpunished.
They gave funeral games for their father. And Marcus abandoned himself to philosophy, at the
same time cultivating the good-will of the citizens.
But now to interrupt the emperors happiness and repose, there came the first flood of the
Tiber the severest of their time which ruined many houses in the city, drowned a great number
of animals, and caused a most severe famine; all these disasters Marcus and Verus relieved by
their own personal care and aid.
At this time (162), moreover, came the Parthian war, which Vologaesus (Vologases IV of
Parthia) planned under Pius (Antoninus Pius) and declared under Marcus and Verus, after the
rout of Attidius Cornelianus, then governor of Syria.

162 Lucius Verus meteor

At the beginning of the Roman-Parthian War of 161-166, Lucius Verus, the co-emperor with
Marcus Aurelius, on his way to Antioch, stopped at Athens where he stayed with the sophist
Herodes Atticus and was initiated into the Mysteries of Eleusis. While he was performing a
sacrifice a meteor was observed crossing the sky26.
Cassiodorus, Chronica, MGH AA 11, p. 143
25 Aldrete, Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome,

p. 30-31

26 Barrett, A. A., Observations of Comets in Greek and Roman Sources Before A.D. 410, Journal of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 72, 1978, p.81; Anthony Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p. 126

While Lucius Caesar was sacrificing in Athens a fire was seen to be carried in the sky from
west to east.

164 Solar Eclipse

According to Proclus of Athens in his Hypotyposis, Sosigenes the Peripatetic, the teacher of
Alexander of Aphrodisias, observed a solar eclipse in Greece. Neugebauer, follows by
Schove, identifies this one with the annular eclipse on 4 September 164 which crossed Central
Spain, Italy, Greece, Western Cyprus, Palestine and Arabia27.
Proclus of Athens, Procli Diadochi. Hypotyposis Astronomicarum Positionum, ed
Carolus Manitius , Leipzig 1909, 4, 98, p. 130 :
If this is correct, it is thus clearly proven, that it is not correct, what the Peripatetic Sosigenes
told in his script On the retroactive spheres, that the Sun is not seen fully covered if the
eclipse happens close to its perigee, but that the sun protrudes with its outermost rim above
the lunar dish and shines unobstructed.

165 The Antonine Plague

During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Empire was struck by a lasting and
destructive epidemic. From the description of the epidemic by the most famous physician of
Antiquity, Galen, who was an eyewitness, scholars have identified the epidemic as smallpox28.
Known as the Antonine Plague or the Plague of Galen, it broke out in Mesopotamia in 165 or
early 166, during Lucius Verus Parthian campaign. For the ancients, the pestilence was the
result of sacrilege, bringing divine displeasure29.
It spread rst to Parthia, then to Smyrna (165), and was then disseminated with the Roman
army back to the city of Rome (166), then more widely in Italy (Aquileia attested in 168
169), in Dacia (167), and to Egypt (attested in 168169 and 179), the Rhine, and Gaul. The
two Emperors died of the epidemic: Lucius Verus in 169 and Marcus Aurelius in 180. The
disease broke out again in 189, striking at least Rome and Italy and killing 2000 people in the
Imperial City30.
27 Neugebauer, A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, Vol 1, Springer-Verlag, New York Heidelberg Berlin, 1975,
p. 104; Schove, Chronology of Eclipses and Comets AD 1-1000, 1987, p. 28

28 Littman, R.J. and Littman, M.L. "Galen and the Antonine Plague". The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 94, No. 3
(Autumn, 1973), p. 243255

29 According to Ammianus, during the sack of Seleucia in 165 by Lucius Verus, the Temple of Apollo was plundered. In
plundering the temple, the soldiers discovered an ancient tomb, closed by the magic of the Chaldeans. When they opened it,
the pestilence was released. The Historia Augusta gives a slightly different version. The pestilence issued forth from a temple
in Babylon, also captured by Verus in 165. A Roman soldier found a golden casket in the temple of Apollo, and when he
broke it open, the pestilence erupted.

Overall the Antonine Plague caused a mortality of at least 10 percent, with armies and
urban centers being hit the hardest (perhaps at 13 to 15 percent) producing a
minimum of 10 million deaths. Several studies suggest that there were pockets of high
incidence (where mortality would reach 2530 percent) and others of low incidence. For
example, papyrological data from Egypt show the disastrous effects of smallpox on Egyptian
society. From the Arsinoite nome between 33 to 47 % of the population died31.. A study shows
that 12 villages out of 20 in the Nile Delta were abandoned because of the disease32.
The effects on the economic, social and political life were catastrophic. Scheidel33 who based
his conclusions on the works of Duncan-Jones34, claims that the effect of the epidemic were
detected in 6 categories of source material, which enable one to determine its seriousness35:
1 - no dated inscriptions in Rome between 167 and 180
2- comparatively few dated inscriptions in Italy between 160 and 192
3 few public buildings financed by privates or towns in Italy between 160 and 192
4- no public buildings financed by Emperors in Italy between 160 and 192
5- a reduced volume of brick-production from the 160s onwards
6 no marble from the quarries in Phrygia dated to the years 166-172
As the death-rate was between 10 and 30 % during 24 years, the Antonine Plague created a
shortage of manpower, leading to the recruitments of Barbarians in the army and to their
settlement inside Roman Empire36.

30 Joseph P. Byrne (ed), Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics and Plagues, p. 536-537

31 Boak A., 1955, The Population of Roman and Byzantine Karanis, Historia, 4, 1955, p. 157-162;

Boak A., 1959,

Egypt and the Plague of Marcus Aurelius, Historia, 8, 1959, p. 248-250

32 Rathbone D. W., Villages, Land and Population in Graeco-Roman Egypt,

Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological

Society, 36, 1990, p. 103-42.

33 Scheidel W. A model of demographic and economic change in Roman Egypt after the Antonine plague, in: Journal of
Roman Archaeology 15 (2002), 97-114

34 Duncan-Jones R. P., "The impact of the Antonine plague", Journal of Roman Archaeology (=JRA), 1996, p. 108-136
35 Bruun C., The Antonine plague in Rome and Ostia, JRA, 16, 2003, p. 426-434.

36 E Lo Cascio, Fra equilibrio e crisi, in A Schiavone (ed.), Storia di Roma II.2 Torino 1991, p. 701-731

At a time when Marcus Aurelius carried out special religious rites for appeasing divine wrath,
the Roman population accused the Christians as responsible for the disaster. Because of their
failure to honour and worship the gods of Rome, the Emperor instituted a persecution of the
Christians37.
The Antonine Plague was a significant factor leading to the collapse of the Western Roman
Empire38. From 14 to 164, the Roman population increased from 45 million to 60 million39.
With a death rate varying between 10-30% and killing at least 10 million people, at the end of
the epidemic in 189, the population of the Empire would have been almost identical as in 14
AD.
62 years later, in the middle of the Crisis of the Third Century, another smallpox epidemic, the
Plague of Cyprian, struck the remaining population of 50 million people, worsening the
decline of the Empire.
Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 7.15.5-6
There followed a plague which swept over most of Romes provinces and such a great
pestilence laid waste to all of Italy that farms, fields, and towns every- where were stripped of
their tillers and inhabitants and turned into ruins and woodland.
It is said that the Roman army and all its legions stationed far and wide in their winter
quarters lost so many men that the Marcomannic war which broke out at this time could not
be have been waged without the fresh levy of troops which Marcus Antoninus held at
Carnuntium for three years running.
Scriptores Historiae Augustae, Vol 1, p. 223
Life of Lucius Verus
It was his fate to seem to bring a pestilence with him to whatever provinces he traversed on
his return, and finally even to Rome.
It is believed that this pestilence originated in Babylonia, where a pestilential vapour arose in
a temple of Apollo from a golden casket which a soldier had accidentally cut open, and that it
spread thence over Parthia and the whole world.
Eutropius, Brevarium, 8.12, p. 512
37 Anthony Birley, Marcus Aurelius, p169
38 Rufus Fears J. The plague under Marcus Aurelius and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, Infect Dis Clin N Am
18, 2004, p. 6577

39 Frier B., Demography, in Bowman A., Garnsey P. and Rathbone D., The
Cambridge Unversity Press, Cambridge, p.787-816.

Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. XI, 2000,

() there occurred so destructive a pestilence, that at Rome, and throughout Italy and the
provinces, the greater part of the inhabitants, and almost all the troops, sunk under the disease.
Ammianus Marcellinus, The History, 23.6.24
When this city (Seleucia) was stormed by the generals of Verus Caesar (as I have related
before) (In a lost book), the statue of Apollo Comaeus was torn from its place and taken to
Rome, where the priests of the gods set it up in the temple of the Palatine Apollo. And it is
said that, after this same statue had been carried off and the city burned, the soldiers in
ransacking the temple found a narrow crevice; this they widened in the hope of finding
something valuable; but from a kind of shrine, closed by the occult arts of the Chaldaeans, the
germ of that pestilence burst forth, which after generating the virulence of incurable diseases,
in the time of the same Verus and of Marcus Antoninus polluted everything with contagion
and death, from the frontiers of Persia all the way to the Rhine and to Gaul

172 - The Rain Miracle

From 166 to 180, Marcus Aurelius was engaged in a series of conflicts against Germanic
tribes, known as the Marcomannic Wars. After the Iazyges and the Marcomanni were
conquered, the Emperor embarked on war against the Quadi in 172. The legion called XII
Fulminata (i.e. the Thundering legion) found itself in a difficult position, surrounded by a
Quadi force, suffering from the extreme heat, and on the verge of capitulation owing to a
severe shortage of drinking and being outnumbered. But a sudden divine intervention saved
the legion. A shower of rain followed by hailstorms and thunderbolts gave the victory to the
Roman soldiers and Marcus was saluted imperator for the seventh time.
This episode of the Marcommanic Wars was widely celebrated in literary, numismatic,
epigraphic and artistic sources from the second century to the Middle Ages. Dio40 ascribes
this miracle to Arnuphis, an Egyptian magician, whereas the father of the Church Tertullian to
the prayers of Marcus Christian soldiers. The Aurelian Column finished around 193 ascribed
the Rain Miracle and the Roman Victory to an unidentifiable deity41, while imperial coinage
assigned Mercury42.
Tertullian, To Scapula, Chapter 4. p. 219-220, ANF03:

40 This passage from Dio is lost, and it is only known from the epitome of the Byzantine scholar John Xiphilinus

(11th c.).

41 The column of Marcus in Rome depicts two scenes of divine intervention. In scene 11, Marcus himself is present and he
is saved by a thunderbolt that destroys the enemys war machine. In scene 16, where the Emperor is not present, there is a
depiction of the Rain Miracle.

42 For a full treatment of the Rain Miracle, see Pter Kovcs, Marcus Aurelius Rain Miracle and the Marcomannic Wars,
BRILL, 2008; Israelowich I. The Rain Miracle of Marcus Aurelius: (Re-) Construction of Consensus, Greece and Rome
(Second Series), 55, 2008, p. 83-102

Marcus Aurelius also, in his expedition to Germany, by the prayers his Christian soldiers
offered to God, got rain in that well-known thirst.455 When, indeed, have not droughts been
put away by our kneelings and our fastings? At times like these, moreover, the people crying
to the God of gods, the alone Omnipotent, under the name of Jupiter, have borne witness to
our God.
Dio Cassius, Roman History, 71-8-10:
So Marcus subdued the Marcomanni and the Iazyges after many hard struggles and dangers.
A great war against the people called the Quadi also fell to his lot and it was his good fortune
to win an unexpected victory, or rather it was vouchsafed him by heaven.
For when the Romans were in peril in the course of the battle, the divine power saved them in
a most unexpected manner. The Quadi had surrounded them at a spot favorable for their
purpose and the Romans were fighting valiantly with their shields locked together; then the
barbarians ceased fighting, expecting to capture them easily as the result of the heat and their
thirst. So they posted guards all about and hemmed them in to prevent their getting water
anywhere; for the barbarians were far superior in numbers. The Romans, accordingly, were in
a terrible plight from fatigue, wounds, the heat of the sun, and thirst, and so could neither fight
nor retreat, but were standing and the line and at their several posts, scorched by the heat,
when suddenly many clouds gathered and a mighty rain, not without divine interposition,
burst upon them. Indeed, there is a story to the effect that Harnuphis, an Egyptian magician,
who was a companion of Marcus, had invoked by means of enchantments various deities and
in particular Mercury, the god of the air, and by this means attracted the rain.
This is what Dio says43 about the matter, but he is apparently in error, whether intentionally or
otherwise; and yet I am inclined to believe his error was chiefly intentional. It surely must be
so, for he was not ignorant of the division of soldiers that bore the special name of the
Thundering legion - indeed he mentions it in the list along with the others (Book 45.23), - a
title which was given it for no other reason (for no other is reported) than because of the
incident that occurred in this very war. It was precisely this incident that saved the Romans on
this occasion and brought destruction upon the barbarians, and not Harnuphis, the magician;
for Marcus is not reported to have taken pleasure in the company of magicians or in
witchcraft. Now the incident I have reference to is this: Marcus had a division of soldiers (the
Romans call a division a legion) from Melitene; and these people are all worshippers of
Christ. Now it is stated that in this battle, when Marcus found himself at a loss what to do in
the circumstances and feared for his whole army, the prefect approached him and told him
that those who are called Christians can accomplish anything whatever by their prayers and
that in the army there chanced to a whole division of this sect. Marcus on hearing this
appealed to them to pray to their God; and when they had prayed, their God immediately gave
ear and smote the enemy with a thunderbolt and comforted the Romans with a shower of rain.
Marcus was greatly astonished at this and not only honored the Christians by an official
43 This passage is Xiphilinus comment advocating the Christian version and confronting Dio's views.

decree but also named the legion the thundering legion. It is also reported that there is a
letter of Marcus extant on the subject. But the Greeks, though they know that the division was
called the thundering legion and themselves bear witness to the fact, nevertheless make no
statement whatever about the reason for its name.
Dio goes on to say that when the rain poured down, at first all turned their faces upwards and
received the water in their mouths; then some held out their shields and some their helmets to
catch it, and they not only took deep draughts themselves but also gave their horses to drink.
And when the barbarians now charged upon them, they drank and fought at the same time;
and some, becoming wounded, actually gulped down the blood that flowed into their helmets,
along with the water. So intent, indeed, were most of them on drinking that they would have
suffered severely from the enemys onset, had not a violent hail-storm and numerous
thunderbolts fallen upon the ranks of the foe. Thus in one and the same place one might have
beheld water and fire descending from the sky simultaneously; so that while those on the one
side were being consumed by fire and dying; and while the fire, on the one hand, did not
touch the Romans, but, if it fell anywhere among them, was immediately extinguished, the
shower, on the other hand, did the barbarians no good, but, like so much oil, actually fed the
flames that were consuming them, and they had to search for water even while being
drenched with rain. Some wounded themselves in order to quench the fire with their blood,
and others rushed over to the side of the Romans, convinced that they alone had the saving
water; in any case Marcus took pity on them. He was now saluted Imperator by the soldiers,
for the seventh time; and although he was not wont to accept any such honor before the
Senate voted it, nevertheless this time he took it as a gift from heaven, and he sent a dispatch
to the senate.

178 179 Earthquake in Smyrna

Between 178-179, an earthquake struck Smyrna, the modern Izmir in Turkey. The event is
chiefly known from a letter of Aelius to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son
Commodus, who was governor of Asia Minor. The earthquake occurred shortly after Aelius
departure from the city. After receiving the news, he wrote a letter to the Emperor describing
what had happened and imploring them to supply the funds needed for the restoration of the
city, whereupon Marcus Aurelius immediately decided to undertake the work of restoration.
Philostratus celebrates the actions of Aelius for the rebuilding of the city describing him as a
new founder.
Jerome, Chronicle, p. 292
179
Smyrna, a city of Asia, was destroyed by an earthquake; for the reconstruction of which, a
ten-year moratorium on its tribute was granted.
Chronicon Paschale, PG 92 p. 639

178
Smyrna in Asia collapsed in an earthquake.
Aelius Aristides, Oration 19, in The Complete Works, Volume 2 Orations XVII-LIII,
Translated by Behr, 1-7, p. 10-11
A letter to the emperors concerning Smyrna. To the Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus Augustus and the Emperor Caesar Lucius Aurelius Commodus Augustus, Aelius
Aristides sends greetings.
In the past, O Emperors most high, I sent you pieces from oratorical contests, lectures, and
such things. But now the god of fortune has given another subject. Smyrna, the ornament of
Asia, the jewel of your empire, has fallen, crushed by re and earthquake. In the name of god
offer a helping hand, and one such as bets you. Smyrna, which was the most fortunate city of
present-day Greece through the efforts of the gods and you emperors past and present, as well
as the Senate, has now suffered the greatest misfortune in our memory. Still even in these
circumstances the god of fortune preserved one thing for it, almost like a token of salvation.
You saw the city. You know the loss () All now lies in dust. The harbour, which you saw,
has closed its eyes, the beauty of the market place is gone, the adornments of the streets have
disappeared, the gymnasiums together with the men and boys who used them are destroyed,
some of the temples have fallen, some sunk beneath the ground. That which was the most
beautiful city to behold and bore the title of fair among all mankind has been made the most
unpleasant of spectacles, a hill of ruins and corpses.
() A few days before the event the god moved me and brought me to a certain estate of
mine, and ordered me to remain there. And while I was staying there, I learned what had
happened. When I learned of it, I could not remain quiet. Nothing else was left for me, I think,
other than to call on the gods and you. For this reason I did not wait for a public embassy, nor
did I feel that I should take my cue from anothers actions () Others who were powerful
at the courts of kings acquired gifts for their countries in times of prosperity. But if I have
any inuence with you, I ask and beg that the city receive this favour, not to be thrown away
like a broken utensil, condemned for uselessness, but that it live again through you.
Philostratus, Life of the Sophists, p. 216-217
To say that Aristeides founded Smyrna is no mere boastful eulogy but most just and true. For
when this city had been blotted out by earthquakes and chasms that opened in the ground, he
lamented its fate to Marcus in such moving words that the Emperor frequently groaned at
other passages in the monody, but when he came to the words : " She is a desert through
which the west winds blow " the Emperor actually shed tears over the pages, and in
accordance with the impulse inspired by Aristeides, he consented to rebuild the city.

181 Earthquake in Nicomedia

Malalas is the sole source for this earthquake in Nicomedia. Malalas simply gives the day and
month in an unspecified year in the reign of Commodus (180-192).

Since he refers to an event which can be dated to 181 in the paragraph following the
description of this earthquake, it may be that the Nicomedia earthquake occurred before that,
but we cannot be sure.
Malalas, The Chronicle of John Malala, p. 153-154
During the reign of Commodus, Nikomedeia, the metropolis of Bithynia, suffered from the
wrath of God. This was her third calamity and it extended to Moudoupolis and the river
Sangaris and surrounding districts, on 3rd May-Artemisios at daybreak. The emperor gave
generously to the city and restored it.

185 SN 185
According to the Astrological Annales of the Houshanshu written by Fan Ye, a guest star was
seen on 7 December 185 and remained during 8 months. It has been established that this
object is the earliest record of a supernova. SN 185 (the supernova remnants is called today
RWC 86) appeared near the direction of Alpha Centauri, between the constellations Circinus
and Centaurus
According to new findings made with WISE and Spitzer, the event was a Type la supernova
created by the relatively peaceful death of a star like our sun, which then shrank into a dense
star called a white dwarf. The white dwarf is thought to have later blown up in a supernova
after siphoning matter, or fuel, from a nearby star44.
Basing his argument on two passages from Herodian and the Historia Augusta, Stothers45
postulates that this supernova was observed in the Roman Empire. Herodian writes that stars
remained visible during the day. The passage is inserted among the portents of Commodus
reign, after the fall of the praetorian prefect Cleander (189-190) and before the comet of 191.
Since all of the portents during Commodus' reign were collected by Herodian in one passage,
it is possible that this short passage refers to SN 185.
The second reference is better since the Historia Augusta says that the heavens were ablaze,
before the War of the Deserters in 18646, suggesting a possible observation of the supernova.
Nevertheless, another natural event could be related to these Chinese and Romans accounts.
Around 180, the Taupo erupted in New Zealand. Known as the Hatepe eruption or the Taupo
eruption, it is considered New Zealand's largest eruption during the last 20,000 years. The
44 Zhao FY; Strom RG; Jiang SY. "The Guest Star of AD185 Must Have Been a Supernova". Chinese J Astron Astrophys. 6
(5), 2006, p. 635640 ; NASATelescopes Help Solve Ancient Supernova Mystery, 10.24.11 :
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20111024.html

45 Stothers, R., Is the supernova of A.D. 185 recorded in ancient Roman literature? Isis, 68, 1977, p. 443-437
46 The revolt was headed by a soldier named Maternus who gathered a band of fellow-soldiers and desperadoes and
plundered Gaul. The Roman troops under Pescennius Niger defeated and scattered them; whereupon, Maternus himself fled
to Italy and attempted to assassinate Commodus, but was caught and beheaded.

eruption ejected some 120 km3 (29 cu mi), a VEI 7 eruption, of which 30 km3 (7.2 cu mi) was
ejected in the space of a few minutes. This makes it one of the most violent eruptions in the
last 5000 years, comparable to the Tianchi eruption of Baekdu at around 1000 and the 1815
eruption of Tambora47.
Wilson et al.48 identify the passages from Fan Ye, Herodian and the Historia Augusta to this
large volcanic eruption which would have been visible from China and Rome. Palaeoclimatic
signals show a period of cooling in central Europe around 150 and particularly from 200,
albeit with some periods of warming around 365. Zabehlicky49 argues that the Taupo eruption
caused this cooling period, and detects a cultural response in the form of warmer uniforms for
Roman soldiers (that, as he observes, at least in part antedate the eruption), and in an increase
of the proportion of villas with central heating.
Notwithstanding, the date of the eruption has been challenged by a new study based on
radiocarbon dating that claims that the eruption happened about 23350.
Stothers, R., Is the supernova of A.D. 185 recorded in ancient Roman literature? Isis, 68,
1977, p. 443-437.

189 - Last wave of the Antonine plague

Dio Cassius, Roman History, 72.14.3-4
Moreover, a pestilence occurred, the greatest of any of which I have knowledge; for two
thousand persons often died in Rome in a single day. Then, too, many others, not alone in the
City, but throughout almost the entire empire, perished at the hands of criminals who smeared
some deadly drugs on tiny needles and for pay infected people with the poison by means of
these instruments. The same thing had happened before in the reign of Domitian.

200 - Eruption of Jabal Zabib,

An eruption of Jabal Zabib, north of San'a, occurred sometime during the third century
AD. The lava flowed southeast of a small adventive crater on the east side of the volcano,
47 Wikipedia. A study claims that this large eruption created a worldwide tsunami: Lowe, D.J. and W.P. de Lange, Volcanometeorological tsunamis, the c. AD 200 Taupo eruption (New Zealand) and the possibility of a global tsunami. Holocene
10(3), May 2000, p. 401-407.

48 Wilson, C. J. N.; Ambraseys, N. N.; Bradley, J.; Walker, G. P. L.,"A new date for the Taupo eruption, New Zealand".
Nature 288 (5788), 1980, p. 252253.

49 Zabehlicky, H. 1994. Kriegs- oder Klimafolgen in archologischen Befunden? Markomannenkriege: Ursachen und
Wirkungen, edited by H. Friesinger, J. Tejral, and A. Stuppner, Vienna, 1994 p. 463469.

50 Sparks, R. J.; Melhuish, W. H.; McKee, J. W. A.; Ogden, J.; Palmer, J. G. (1995). "14C calibration in the Southern
Hemisphere and the date of the last Taupo eruption: evidence from tree-ring sequences". Radiocarbon 37 (2): 155163.

and stopped after a flow of 5.5 km near the village of al-Huqqa, where it overlies loess and
recent loams. Inscriptions found here indicate that there was a large temple of the Moon God
Ta'lab Ri'am, of which, however, no ruins were found, possibly buried under the lava flow.
Ruins of the temple of the Sun Goddess Dhat Ba'dan suggest that the site was burnt
down, probably by this eruption. This temple is located a few hundred metres southeast
of al-Huqqa (Bait al-Haqr) which, according to an inscription, was still in use in AD 200.
Thus, if the temple was burnt by this eruption, the activity must have taken place after
that year51.

51 Ambraseys et al. The Seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea: a historical review, p. 21-22