Sodom & Gomorrah

This topic/thread has two purposes: 1 - too identify/prove the actual sites of the 5 citys (Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim, Admah, Bela/Zoar) and Lot's cave; and 2 - to find mentions in historical records of the events that the cities were involved in in the biblical account.

The two main events that Sodom & Gomorrah are involved in in the Bible are: (1) the battle of 4 kings versus 5 kings in Genesis 14, where the kings of the 5 cities (Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboim, Admah, Bela/Zoar) fight against the 4 kings of Elam (Iran), Shinar (Mesopotamia), Ellasar and Goiim ("nations").
(2) The destuction of Sodom & Gomorrah by a rain of fire and brimstone/sulphur from heaven (&/or from below), in which Abraham's nephew Lot was first removed from Sodom by 2 visiting angels, and Lot's wife was turned to "a pillar of salt" when she looked back.

Starting with the site of Sodom, so far in all my searching around the Dead Sea area (where the fiery destruction is said to have taken place) i can only find one possible site for Sodom which is Khirbet as-Sudum / Kharbet Usdum and/or Jebel Usdum / Jabal(u) 'ssudum? / Har Sedom / "Mt Sodom" in the southwest area of the Dead Sea.

Sodom's name means "consuming/burning" / "fasten, fortify, strengthen" (or "secret/mystery"?) which might match the nature of the site?

Ancient cities of the time in the near east are often tells (artificial mounds/hills), and the pictures and descriptions look like the site might have been a city turned to "salt" and sulphur etc? See pictures here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Sodom (and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah.)

There is "bedded halite" at the site.

"Strabo identifies a limestone and salt hill at the south western tip of the Dead Sea, and Kharbet Usdum (Hebrew: Har Sedom or Arabic Jabal(u) 'ssudum) ruins nearby as the site of biblical Sodom."

"Many blocks of salt have been worn away by the rain and have crashed downhill. They have odd shapes and some of them stand on end, looking like statues. It is easy to image them suddenly coming to life."

"Excavations of the areas near Mount Sodom, Tel el-Hammam, and Bab edh-Dhra, led by Ron Wyatt, uncovered large sulfur chunks embedded within natural rock. ... this seemingly incriminating find, these sulfuric deposits are most likely the result of calcite and gypsum reacting with the local strata following a seismic event."

"One such idea is that the Dead Sea was devastated by an earthquake between 2100 and 1900 BCE. This might have unleashed showers of steaming tar. It is possible that the towns were destroyed by an earthquake, especially if they lay along a major fault such as the Jordan Rift Valley."

"Other possibilities include Numeira, al-Safi, Feifa, and Khanazir, which were also visited by Schaub and Rast. Each of the sites were near the Dead Sea and showed evidence of burning and traces of sulfur."

Regarding claims that some sites dates don't match according to geological/archaeological critics, the problem may be that often their dating methods are unreliable (as sometimes even proven).

In the map here http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx it looks like Jebel Usdum may be twin cities not just one? Josephus has a name Somorrha which may combine Sodom and Gomorrah? Other cities may be near Masada and near Safi/Feifa in the same map? Bab edh-Dhra might be Bela/Zoar?

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List of candidates for Sodom: Masada/Moasada (Strabo)? Suedin(hum)? Edin/Rom? Shemre? Solymites? Udum? Khirbet as-Sudum / Kharbet Usdum? Jebel Usdum / Jabal(u) 'ssudum? Mt/Har Sedom (bedded halite, sw)? Tell Aswad? Sidamu (Ebla)? Somorrha/Somorrhon (Josephus)? Sirim (Urnina)? Sag-ash-duk (Urnina)? south? Cadmus? Shamash-Edom? 666 (s adam)? Metzada? "Moab as Sodom" in bible?



Edited by Arthur-Robin - 05-Jan-2019 at 23:02