Placing & Dating the Earthquake Recorded in Acts 16

 

Location: The prison of Thyatira in Macedonia

 

Cf. verses 12, 14, 23-24, and 40 below:

 

 

Date: Near midnight in the fall of 40 CE.

 

Per the deductions arrived at from studying Acts it seems that the fall of 40 CE is the most likely time for this event.

 

 

Is this the same earthquake referenced by Seneca?

 

Seneca said:

 

"The comet which appeared in the consulship of Paterculus and Vopiscus did what was predicted by Aristotle and Theophrastus: for there were very violent and continuous storms everywhere, and in Achaia and Macedonia cities were destroyed by earthquake." Quaestiones Naturales (63), book 7, pp. 262–3, 270–1, 286–9. Cf. Cometography, Vol. 1, Kronk, Gary W.

 

“Velleius Paterculus Gaius (abt. 19 B.C. – after 30 A.D.) was a Roman historian who served in the army in Germany and later became quæstor and prætor. His main work is a "Historia Romana" which was published and commented on by Beatus Rhenanus (1522) and Justus Lipsius (Leiden, Netherlands 1591).

”Ort82.2, 83.2, 91.7, 196.18, 199.38, 200.38, 203.9, 207.5, 207.12, 208.5, 208.12.”  Ortelius Bibliography  (http://orteliusmaps.com/ortbib/Ortbibsourcesv.htm)

Marcel and Deborah van den Broecke
Cartographica Neerlandica
Soestdijkseweg 101
3721 AA Bilthoven
The Netherlands

Email

info@orteliusmaps.com

Fax

+31-30-2203326

Telephone

+31-30-2202396

 

http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:kMHHiCh-E6QJ:jollyroger.com/library1/Volume4:TheHistoryofTheDeclineebook.html+Paterculus+Vopiscus+Pingr%C3%A9&hl=sv&gl=se&ct=clnk&cd=2&lr=lang_ar|lang_en|lang_sv

and http://jollyroger.com/library1/Volume4:TheHistoryofTheDeclineebook.html :

[Footnote 65: Flavius Vopiscus in Aurelian. c. 45, in Hist.

< p style='margin-left:130.4pt'>August. p. 224. See Salmasius ad Hist. Aug. p. 392, and Plinian.

Exercitat. in Solinum, p. 694, 695.  The Anecdotes of Procopius

(c. 25) state a partial and imperfect rate of the price of silk

in the time of Justinian.]

[Footnote 7: Gens Germana feritate ferocior, says Velleius

Paterculus of the Lombards, (ii. 106.) Langobardos paucitas

nobilitat.  Plurimis ac valentissimis nationibus cincti non per

obsequium, sed praeliis et perilitando, tuti sunt, (Tacit. de

Moribus German. c. 40.) See likewise Strabo, (l. viii. p. 446.)

The best geographers place them beyond the Elbe, in the bishopric

of Magdeburgh and the middle march of Brandenburgh; and their

situation will agree with the patriotic remark of the count de

Hertzberg, that most of the Barbarian conquerors issued from the

same countries which still produce the armies of Prussia.

 
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:KLSecl0IXiEJ:biblestudy.churches.net//CCEL/G/GIBBON/DECLINE/DECLINE4.TXT+Paterculus+Vopiscus+Pingr%C3%A9&hl=sv&gl=se&ct=clnk&cd=4&lr=lang_ar|lang_en|lang_sv and http://biblestudy.churches.net//CCEL/G/GIBBON/DECLINE/DECLINE4.TXT 
[Footnote 45: I leave Scaliger (Animadvers. in Euseb. p. 59) and Salmasius (Exercitat. Plinian. p. 51, 52) to quarrel about the origin of Cumae, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy, (Strab. l. v. p. 372, Velleius Paterculus, l. i. c. 4,) already vacant in Juvenal's time, (Satir. iii.,) and now in ruins.]

 

 

 

 

”Seneca Natural Questions [Book 7.sect. 28.3] "The comet which appeared in the consulship of Paterculus and Vopiscus did what waspredicted by Aristotle and Theophrastus: for there were very violent and continuous storms everywhere, and in Achaia and Macedonia cities were destroyed by earthquake."  http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:C2dvgjbZlgwJ:samizdat.mines.edu/liner/earthquake.ps.Z+Paterculus+Vopiscus+&hl=sv&gl=se&ct=clnk&cd=15&lr=lang_ar|lang_en|lang_sv and http://samizdat.mines.edu/liner/earthquake.ps.Z.

 

 

 

There was a comet seen in China between March 13 and April 30, 39 CE. Accordingly, if this is the comet and the earthquake referenced by Seneca, there were about 18 months between the comet and the earthquake.

 

Act 16:12  And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.

Act 16:13  And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.

Act 16:14  And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 

 

Act 16:23  And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely:

Act 16:24  Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

Act 16:25  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.

Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 

 

Act 16:40  And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.