In ad 115 Antioch (Antakya) was destroyed, as today, by a huge earthquake, described dramatically by a historian 100 years later. In ad 178, Smyrna (modern Izmir, west Turkey) suffered the same fate. The next day one of its sons, Aelius Aristides, wrote to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius:
‘Smyrna, the jewel of Asia that beautifies your empire, lies low, wiped out by fire and earthquake. In the name of the gods, reach out your hand to the limit of your capacity. Smyrna, the greatest of today’s Greek cities – thanks to the gods, you emperors past and present and the senate – has now suffered the greatest disaster in living memory. Yet for all that, destiny has preserved for us one lifeline of salvation: you. You saw the city, you know what has been lost. Remember what you said when you came here and gazed upon it, remember your words when you entered, how you felt, what you did…
‘It is now a dust-heap.
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