Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to analyse what forces from natural events do to structures in natural and built environments, and to name an external force and describe its effects. The museum offers chronicle accounts of a flood and an earthquake that damaged towns and their structures, and the rebuilding of one mosque afterward. The forces themselves, and how people limit such damage, are for your class to study. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- D1.1 analyse the effects of forces from natural phenomena on structures in natural and built environments
- D2.2 identify external forces acting on a structure, and describe their effects on the structure
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
What does a force from nature do to a structure?
Take one structure named in the accounts. Say which part gave way and what kind of push or shake could have caused it.
What would you compare before and after?
List what you would look at in a town before and after an earthquake in order to compare the damage fairly.
Go deeper
The chronicle Shadharat al-Dhahab records the earthquake of 425 AH. Ramla was shaken, and about half of it was destroyed. Part of the wall of Jerusalem fell, and the minaret of the mosque of Ascalon collapsed 2. A second record says that the earthquake of 1033 devastated Jerusalem, and that the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir had al-Aqsa rebuilt between 1034 and 1036 3. The new mosque was smaller than its predecessor, with seven aisles instead of fifteen 3.
Think about it
The museum's record does not say why the new mosque was smaller, with seven aisles instead of fifteen. What reason could you suggest for building smaller after an earthquake, and why would it make sense?
Into the museum
- The earthquake of 425 AH: what fell in Ramla, Jerusalem and Ascalon, and how the sea drew back.
- The rebuilding of al-Aqsa: what the Fatimid caliph's builders made after the earthquake.
- The Damascus flood of 683 AH: a night flood that broke the locks and the bridge of a gate.
Try this
Read about the Damascus flood of 683 AH and the earthquake of 425 AH. List the structures they name and what happened to each.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does The great Damascus flood, Sha'ban 683 have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A night flood in Damascus. In Sha'ban 683 AH, the chronicle says, a huge flood came at night in Damascus. Houses were destroyed and the rivers were blocked. The water broke the locks of the Faradis Gate, entered as far as the Muqaddamiyya college, and broke the bridge of the Faradis Gate. On which of these structures did the water act, and how?
In your own words: what does Earthquake at Ramla and the sea's recession, 425 have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
What fell in the earthquake of 425. In 425 AH, the chronicle says, Ramla was shaken and about half of it was destroyed. Villages sank into the ground, part of the wall of Jerusalem fell, and the minaret of the mosque of Ascalon collapsed. The same entry says the sea receded about three leagues and then returned. Which of these structures would you expect to suffer most, and why?
I can now