. "2. The Rise of Earthquake Science." Living on an Active Earth: Perspectives on Earthquake Science. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.
The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
FIGURE 2.1 The fallen columns in Susita (Hypos) east of the Sea of Galilee from a magnitude ~7.5 earthquake on the Dead Sea transform fault in A.D. 749. SOURCE: A. Nur, And the walls came tumbling down, New Scientist, 6, 45-48, 1991. Copyright A. Nur.
Some sought secular explanations for earthquakes and their apocalyptic consequences (Box 2.1, Figure 2.2). For example, in 31 B.C. a strong earthquake devastated Judea, and the historian Josephus recorded a speech by King Herod given to raise the morale of his army in its aftermath (2): “Do not disturb yourselves at the quaking of inanimate creatures, nor do you imagine that this earthquake is a sign of another calam-
