Earthquakes have been occurring since the formation of the Earth, billions of years ago. They have been a part of humankind's experience since prehistoric times, but the science of seismology is relatively new. To understand how it developed over the years, think about what ancient people knew about and associated with earthquakes.
Ancient people had little idea of the connection between earthquakes and faults. Since faults produce valleys, hills, mountain passes, and other attractive or defensible places to build, many ancient cities, including Jericho and its famous walls, were built close to, even directly atop, the surface traces of major active faults. Despite the fact that fault rupture would periodically tear through the nearby countryside or even a city's perimeter, this was probably considered to be the result, not the cause, of the catastrophic shaking of a major earthquake. That's understandable, since the motion of an earthquake can cause ground cracking that is not related to fault rupture. In addition, earthquakes were typically attributed to supernatural causes, since there was no scientific understanding of earth processes. The geological insight needed to link faults and earthquakes has only come about in the past few hundred years.
Ancient people certainly had no clue that huge slabs of the Earth's lithosphere move around the globe, separating from, sliding past, or colliding into each other like inflatable rafts in a crowded swimming pool, creating earthquakes as they constantly jostle into new positions. Along with vinyl rafts and backyard swimming pools, the theory of plate tectonics is a product of the 20th Century.
What ancient people did know about earthquakes was that they were brief periods when the ground shook violently, without warning. They knew that this shaking could cause landslides, collapse structures, and frighten, injure, or even kill people. In short, earthquakes (as the word we use states) were defined by ground motion.