Several earthquake catalogues and historical sources describe the Ardabil earthquake of 893 as a destructive earthquake that struck the city of Ardabil (in present day Iran), on 23 March 893. The magnitude was unknown but the death toll was reported to be very large. The USGS in their 'list of Earthquakes with 50,000 or More Deaths' give an estimate that 150,000 were killed, which would make it the ninth deadliest earthquake in history. However, although the Ardabil area is prone to numerous earthquakes and was struck by a major earthquake in 1997, the 893 event is considered to be a 'fake earthquake' based on misreadings of the original Armenian sources for the 893 Dvin earthquake, due to confusion caused by the Arabic name for Dvin, 'Dabil'.[3][4][5]