Sodom and Gomorrah

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 446.

These are notoriously sinful cities in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. They are now possibly covered by the shallow waters south of Al-Lisan, a peninsula near the southern end of the Dead Sea in Israel. Sodom and Gomorrah constituted, along with the cities of Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Bela), the five biblical "cities of the plain", destroyed by "brimstone and fire" because of their wickedness.

Sodom and Gomorrah presumably were devastated about 1900 BC by an earthquake in the Dead Sea area of the Great Valley, an extensive rift extending from the Jordan River valley in Israel to the Zambezi River system in East Africa. Archaeological evidence indicates that the area was once fertile in the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1500 BC), with fresh water flowing into the Dead Sea in sufficient amounts to sustain agriculture.

When the catastrophic destruction occurred, the petroleum and gases existing in the area probably contributed to the imagery of "brimstone and fire that the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah out of heaven and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground" that accompanied the geological upheaval that destroyed the cities.

An inspiration to writers, artists, and psychologists, Sodom and Gomorrah and their legendary wickedness have been the subject of numerous dramas.