**1. Introduction**

The onset of the 21st century has brought a new public awareness of natural hazards. Recent catastrophic events like the 2004 tsunami in Asia or the 2005 flooding of New Orleans have made it not only to the headlines in news publications around the globe but have also contributed to a more profound desire to accumulate knowledge about natural hazards in general among people all over the world. Earthquake research belongs to the most fascinating (albeit problematic) topics in the field of natural hazard research. Hardly any other hazard claims more lives, destroys more values and can lead to catastrophic aftereffects (as can be seen when looking at the 2011 earthquake with resulting tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan). In most cases scientists are not able to forecast when and where an earthquake may take place, but only the approximate region and the probability, not the precise date and the magnitude. Geoscientists therefore by and large concentrate on assessing and mapping regions that experienced earthquakes in the past.

As a consequence, the description of past earthquakes is of utmost importance for a reliable projection of future earthquakes. Several ways exist to sum up details about historical earthquakes, the most important of which was the analysis of written documents in premeasurement times (see Fig. 1). From the 19th century onwards the installation of seismometers has considerably improved the situation and nowadays the analysis of a new earthquake relies almost completely on measurements.

This paper strives to offer a short introduction to the following aspects:


The paper will concentrate on (but not limit itself to) German attempts in the aforementioned aspects, including a short overview of the current state of research. Of special importance in this context is the Bavarian BASE-project, which serves as a role model for a modern and complete collection of historical earthquake data

Fig. 1. A selection of sources for written documents for the analysis of historical earthquakes (F. Barnikel).

#### **2. Historical earthquakes and aspects of their reception history**

Bolt et al. (1975) point out the different causes of earthquakes as follows: they list (in that order) tectonic earthquakes, the principle of elastic rebound, the dilatancy in crustal rocks, nuclear earthquakes, reservoir-induced earthquakes and volcanic earthquakes. Even if some of these causes can be discarded for ancient times, the event of an earthquake has shaken the trust of ancient populations in a *terra firma* at all times.

Consequently, it is no wonder that the first record of an earthquake dates back to the year 1831 BC. It is mentioned in the Chinese *Chronicle on Bamboo*: "Mount Taishan quaked." Even older, but considered not very reliable by the Chinese historians, is a reference to the year 2221 BC: "While the San-Miao was going to be destroyed, the Earth quaked, fountains sprang" (quoted after Xie, 1988). But the oldest 'known' (and completely unspecified) earthquake on the other hand was, as Seyfart, with a piety not typical for his time, noted in the 18th century, "undoubtedly the one triggered by God on the third day of the creation through the power of the fire inside the globe" (quoted after Fréchet, 2008).

Approximately one thousand years later the Chinese began their continuous listing of quake events, which lasts until today. Some of the descriptions are thus detailed that current research is able to reconstruct the approximate magnitude of the event. Chinese scholars first explained earthquakes with other forms of disasters, like floodings, droughts or the plague. Among the most popular lores from ancient times is the well

Fig. 1. A selection of sources for written documents for the analysis of historical earthquakes

Bolt et al. (1975) point out the different causes of earthquakes as follows: they list (in that order) tectonic earthquakes, the principle of elastic rebound, the dilatancy in crustal rocks, nuclear earthquakes, reservoir-induced earthquakes and volcanic earthquakes. Even if some of these causes can be discarded for ancient times, the event of an earthquake has shaken the

Consequently, it is no wonder that the first record of an earthquake dates back to the year 1831 BC. It is mentioned in the Chinese *Chronicle on Bamboo*: "Mount Taishan quaked." Even older, but considered not very reliable by the Chinese historians, is a reference to the year 2221 BC: "While the San-Miao was going to be destroyed, the Earth quaked, fountains sprang" (quoted after Xie, 1988). But the oldest 'known' (and completely unspecified) earthquake on the other hand was, as Seyfart, with a piety not typical for his time, noted in the 18th century, "undoubtedly the one triggered by God on the third day of the creation

Approximately one thousand years later the Chinese began their continuous listing of quake events, which lasts until today. Some of the descriptions are thus detailed that current research is able to reconstruct the approximate magnitude of the event. Chinese scholars first explained earthquakes with other forms of disasters, like floodings, droughts or the plague. Among the most popular lores from ancient times is the well

**2. Historical earthquakes and aspects of their reception history** 

through the power of the fire inside the globe" (quoted after Fréchet, 2008).

trust of ancient populations in a *terra firma* at all times.

(F. Barnikel).

known ancient Japanese belief that linked earthquakes to the fish species of brown bullhead (*namazu*), which were said to move their tails to and fro. Other mythological creatures include frogs (China), a snake (Philippines) or the God Poseidon himself (Greece; for the history of earthquake reception cf. Bolt et al., 1995 or Zeilinga de Boer & Sanders, 2005).

In Asia among the most severe earthquakes in China are the events in 110 AD (Dian), in 1290 (Chihli) and the 1556 event in Shaanxi. In nearby Japan some of the gravest events include the 869 AD Sanriku Earthquake, the 1293 Kamakura event, an earthquake 1498 in Honshu, and the 1707 Hoei and the 1896 Meiji events (all events before the introduction of modern seismometers). Srivastava & Das (1988) quote archaeological evidence pointing at an earthquake c. 1730 ± 100 BC in Rajasthan. The earliest earthquake records for Indochina date back to 642 BC (Prachuab, 1988). The case lies different with New Zealand for example, where no older written sources exist. But Eiby mentions that "Maori oral tradition records an important earthquake in about 1460" (Eiby, 1988), an interesting reminder of ancient ways of transmitting information.

The oldest specific date for an earthquake event in Europe and the Middle East dates back to about 1274 - 1234 BC, when the Assyrians noted an earthquake in Nineveh. But it was the Greeks who made the first attempts to write about explanations for earthquakes and their origin in Europe and the adjoining regions. Thales of Milet was the first to think that land would drift on the surface of the oceans and that the waves might cause earthquakes. In the 6th century BC Anaximenes thought that falling stones inside the globe caused earthquakes, Anaxagoras, one hundred years later, believed fire was the reason for it (for a beautiful illustration of a similar concept, see Fig. 2). In 464 BC a strong earthquake is thought to be one reason for the outbreak of the Peloponnese War, when the poor helots revolted against the rulers, of whom many soldiers, women and boys (as future soldiers) had died as a result of the event (Zeilinga de Boer & Sanders, 2005). Aristoteles wrote about a central fire inside the Earth and thus was one of the first to acknowledge the energy inside the Earth in the 4th c. BC. A lot of events were listed by the geographer Strabo and known to the more educated Greeks. In 226 BC a very notable earthquake event destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the ancient wonders of the earth. Other severe events in historic times include the 365 AD Crete event and other earthquakes 856 in Corinth, 1303 in Crete, and 1481 in Rhodes.

Among the earliest (and most colourful) descriptions of earthquakes in the Near and Middle East belong some bible texts (as aforementioned), although they cannot be dated precisely. One example is Zechariah 14:4, which describes in detail a horizontal displacement close to an epicentre: "In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." Other early and unspecific descriptions include Genesis 19:24f. ("Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground"), 2 Samuel 22:8 ("Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because He was wroth") and Jeremiah 10:10 ("But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide His indignation"), which all describe the fury in the wrath of God. Some grave events in the region include: 526 AD in Antioch, 551 in Beirut, 749 in the Levant, 847 in Damascus, 856 in Qumis, 893 in Armenia and in Iran the same year, 1042 in Syria, 1138 in Aleppo, 1157 in Syria, 1170 in Aleppo, 1202 in Syria, 1268 in Cilicia, and 1509 in Istanbul, 1667 in Shamakhi, 1727 in Tabriz, and 1780 in Iran.

Fig. 2. The interior of the earth according to the perception of Athanasius Kirchner in the year 1678 with subterranean lakes, rivers and pools of fire.

Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD) assumed movements in the air inside the Earth as reasons for earthquakes. More severe events in Italy took place in the second millennium AD, e.g. 1169 in Sicily, 1348 in Friuli, 1693 in Sicily, 1694 in Irpinia, 1783 in Calabria, and 1857 close to Naples. The latter event led the British scientist Robert Mallet to lay down the foundations of modern seismology and to begin with the compilation of an earthquake catalogue, which in the end listed 6800 events with location and effects, just a few years after the first earthquake statistics put together by K.E.A. Hoff in 1840 (Bolt et al., 1995). Other European events of that time include the 1356 Basel event and the earthquakes in Lisbon in 1531 and 1755. It was especially the 18th century that brought a large number of new scientific developments. Isaac Newton delivered a scientific theory for the explanation of seismic waves. Several earthquake events 1750 in London led to a number of papers presented to the Royal Society. The 1755 earthquake of Lisbon, which was perceived over large parts of Western Europe, triggered off further inquiries.

From other parts of the world the 1575 Valdivia and the 1868 Arica events in South America are among the most notable. The Geological Survey of India, founded in 1857, and later the U.S. Geological Survey (founded in the year 1879) began to list and assess earthquakes worldwide and thus contributed enormously to the knowledge about earthquakes. The desire to assess and list historical earthquakes within the framework of systematic and scientific progress has gathered its enormous momentum within the past 150 years foremost in countries around the Pacific Ring of Fire, especially the USA.
