Chapter 6 Historical Seismology
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Earthquakes are natural destructive events that have, at times, disrupted past and present societies. The Eastern Mediterranean has been a seismically active region throughout recorded history. This contribution surveys the recent shift in thinking about the connection between natural hazards and social disasters. It examines the available sources for studying past earthquakes – historical-textual, archaeological, and natural – and the inherent issues with each. Earthquake catalogs, the most common reference work for past events, are likewise scrutinized. The chapter concludes with a suggestion of future potential case studies that could illuminate historical earthquakes in light of contemporary interdisciplinary research.