The Dead Sea--Where Sodom and Gomorrah are Supposed to Have Been Situated (2024)

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The Dead Sea--Where Sodom and Gomorrah are Supposed to Have Been Situated? ›

Over the last several years, a number of evangelical archaeologists and biblical scholars have concluded that the best candidate to date for biblical Sodom is to be found north-east of the Dead Sea at Tall el-Hammam.

Har Sedom (Arabic: Jabal Usdum), or Mount Sodom, at the southwestern end of the sea, reflects Sodom's name. The present-day industrial site of Sedom, Israel, on the Dead Sea shore, is located near the presumed site of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The sites, especially of Sodom and Gomorrah, are now supposed to be under the waters of the Dead Sea at the upper and northern end of it. This part of the sea is represented in the view given above.

There has been some doubt about the exact location of these 4 “lost cities”; many bible commentators placed them North of the Dead Sea, but archaeological excavation [1] evidence tends to support their position South East of the Dead Sea. My map illustrates that location with a red oval and arrow.

Underneath a zone of transition, the lowest level of the Dead Sea had waters of a consistent 22 °C (72 °F) temperature, salinity of over 34%, and complete saturation of sodium chloride (NaCl). Since the water near the bottom is saturated with NaCl, that salt precipitates out of solution onto the sea floor.

Where is the Dead Sea located? The Dead Sea is a landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia.

However, Bentor could not explain the fire by natural reasons, because there are no active volcanoes in the Dead Sea area and mud-volcanism remained an enigma in his time.

Dozens of giant craters spewing fresh water and brimming with bacteria have been found at the otherwise barren bottom of the Dead Sea, new research shows.

Lot's Wife, as we may call the surviving pillar of salt, was once part of a wall of one of these unroofed caves on top of Mt. Sedom. This was (and is) one of the largest salt caves in the region (and in the world). When the roof collapsed, it left the pillar we know as Lot's Wife, an isolated pillar of Sedom salt.

Where is Sodom & Gomorrah today? ›

Historicity. Sodom and Gomorrah are possibly located under or adjacent to the shallow waters south of Al-Lisān, a former peninsula in the central part of the Dead Sea in Israel that now fully separates the sea's northern and southern basins.

In Matthew 10:14–15 (cf. Luke 10:11–12) Jesus says: And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement, than for that city.

Almost all serious Bible scholars place it on the east side of the Jordan River, in the modern day Kingdom of Jordan. The Bible notes five “cities of the plain,” and Sodom & Gomorrah were two of these cities.

It is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water with a salinity level of 34%. This high salinity makes it nearly impossible for any aquatic life to survive in its waters. Due to these conditions, putting your head underwater in the Dead Sea can be dangerous.

The Dead Sea is referred to in the Bible as the “Salt Sea” and has also been called the Sea of Sodom, the Sea of Lot and the Stinking Sea because of the rotten egg odor created by the sulphur in the water. The sea does not play a major role in the Bible but is referred to in Chronicles II 20 and in Ezekiel.

Yes, you can swim in the Dead Sea, but the experience is quite different from swimming in other bodies of water. The extremely high salt concentration in the Dead Sea, about 10 times saltier than most oceans, makes it exceptionally buoyant.

Ages ago, a saltwater lagoon was connected to the Mediterranean Sea. The movement of the African and Arabian tectonic plates shifted the land between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean rose. Consequently, this cut-off the ocean water supply for the Dead Sea, thus leaving it landlocked.

Lot's wife (center) turned into a pillar of salt during Sodom's destruction (Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493). The story appears to be based in part on a folk legend explaining a geographic feature. A pillar of salt named "Lot's wife" is located near the Dead Sea at Mount Sodom in Jordan.

According to the biblical narrative, the Dead Sea region was once vibrant, filled with life, and watered. It was only after God rained down fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah did the area become a wasteland, and the sea became a hyper-saline salt lake.

Siddim is thought to be located on the southern end of the Dead Sea. It has been suggested by theologians that the destruction of the cities of the Jordan Plain by divine fire and brimstone may have caused Siddim to become a salt sea, what is now the Dead Sea.