Abstract |  The rocking response of a simply supported block on a frictional, cohessionless rigid plane under near – fault seismic excitation is revisited, with the aim of developing simple overturning criteria. To this end, 180 near-fault earthquake recordings, 5 block sizes and 5 slenderness angles are considered – leading to over 4500 cases, which cover a wide range of parameters of practical interest. Useful conclusions are drawn as to the overturning of rigid bodies.