The 92 BC Levant earthquake is mentioned in catalogues of historical earthquakes. An earthquake and a tsunami reportedly affected areas of the Levant, including the modern states of Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, and Syria.
Primary sources
There is a mention of the earthquake in the Megillat Taanit (Scroll of Fasts). Classical sources mention the earthquake affecting the city of Apamea, Phrygia, but do not mention effects on the wider Levant.
A Greek inscription from Magdolum mentions a "seismos" (Greek for earthquake) which affected Egypt, at some point between 97 and 94 BC. But it has been suggested that the inscription was metaphorically describing a local "disturbance" or an incident of extortion.
Jewish accounts
The main Jewish source on the earthquake is the Megillat Taanit. The text summarizes Jewish oral traditions about 35 dates of joyous events in Jewish history, mainly recording events to the reign of the Hasmonean dynasty (167–37 BC). At these dates, it was prohibited to either observe mourning or fasting.
When the text was written is unclear, though it predates the Siege of Jerusalem (70 AD) and the destruction of the Second Temple. The text focuses on the annual observance of dates, and not on historiography. The events are recorded by their order in the annual calendar, and not by their chronological order in history.
The observances themselves were only celebrated for a few centuries, but the text was preserved and transmitted in the Jewish literary canon. The Scroll of Fasts includes both a brief record of events, and three versions of Gemara (Scholia) which were added to the original text as addendums. There are three main surviving manuscripts. The exegesis which was added to the original text dates from the Talmudic period (2nd–6th centuries) to the Late Middle Ages.
The quality of the Scholia as historical sources is often unclear. Some of the explanations are "historically correct", and may reflect that their author used a valuable oral or written source to make his additions. Other explanations are of poor value, and reflect the questionable competence of their author. Scribal errors are commonplace in these manuscripts, with frequent errors in the copying of geographic and personal names. This explains most of the differences between the manuscript copies.
The main surviving versions of the text are the Parma manuscript (14th century), the Oxford manuscript (15th century), and a Common version (also known as the "Vulgata"). The Parma manuscript derives its information from the Babylonian Talmud, while the Oxford manuscript derives its information from the Jerusalem Talmud. The Common version is the last of them chronologically, and has copied information from both earlier versions. The blending of information from the two manuscript traditions seems to have started before the 11th century. It was complete by the time the first printed version of the text was published in Mantua during 1519.
Information on the earthquake is attached to an event dated to the 17th day of the month Adar in the Hebrew calendar. The event is the 33rd event covered in the text. According to the original Megillat Taanit, on that date "the natives" attacked a remnant of scribes in the country of "Belikos" and "Beit Zabdai". A salvation came to the "House of Israel". The Parma manuscript claims that "the natives" wanted to kill the "scribes of Israel". The scribes escaped to "Beit Zabadi", and the date of their escape was turned into an annual holiday. The Oxford manuscript claims that Alexander Jannaeus, the King of Judaea (reigned 103–76 BC) wanted to kill the brothers "Bukinos" and "Bukius", who escaped him and fled to Syria. The natives of the country of "Blikus" gathered to kill the brothers, but a great "raash" ("earthquake" of "clamor") send by El Shaddai (God Almighty) rescued the brothers. In the Common version, Alexander Jannaeus wanted to kill the scribes, who escaped him and fled to the country of "Koselikos". The natives were gentiles who rose against the scribes and wanted to kill them. The scribes managed to scare away their attackers and then fled to "Bet Zabadi". In this version, a comment by "Rabbi Hidka" records that the sea itself upwelled and "destroyed a third in the settled land".