Where were Sodom and Gomorrah?

Answer 1

Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements south of the Dead Sea, believed on the Jordan side. It is thought that residents there were mining salt from the nearby Mount Sodom, which was one of the most valuable commodities in those times - and from which we derive the words 'salary' 'soldier' and others.

Apparently destroyed by earthquakes, endemic to the area. Given the hostile environment where few would want to live, as well as probable lack of pastimes or female partners, it had a reputation for homosexuality - hence the word 'sodomy'. Naturally after it was destroyed, religious attributions implied their sexual behaviour caused their destruction.

In response to what has been posted below, nobody claimed that the salt was a result of earthquakes. Being situated at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, the resulting evaporation of sea water is the cause for the salt. Since salt enabled the society to progress from hunter/gatherer, enabling the user to preserve meat instead of daily hunting, and permitted humans to begin developing agriculture, and later - iPhones, it is understandable why it was such a valuable commodity.

Even today the surrounding area is relatively fruitful, thanks to underground springs, and surrounding settlements take advantage of it. But it is still located in an extreme desert, as it was a few thousand years ago. The reason for the earthquakes is because the area is situated on the Israel/Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordanian side relatively moving northward at a rate of 2-2.5mm per year. There has been an estimated 100km movement since it first started at least 50 million years ago.

Answer:From the Ebla Tablets, as well as from pollen-layer analyses, it is clear that the Sodom area was once fruitful. Earthquakes would not explain the arrival of so much salt.

When the Torah (Genesis ch.19) describes how God brought down a massive amount of chemical-salts meteorites, it is reminding us that such "natural, rational" events are indeed supervised and directed by God. In this particular case, the Torah also reveals a reason: the overweening pride and the wickedness of the local Canaanites. Despite their being aware of Abraham's teachings (he was active at the time), they followed their own very different pattern of behavior; and God decided to give us an object-lesson.

Answer 2

There are at least a few archaeologists who believe that they have found evidence.

ANS: Sodom and Gomorrah were settlements south of the Dead Sea, believed on the Jordan side. It is thought that residents there were mining salt from the nearby Mount Sodom, which was one of the most valuable commodities in those times - and from which we derive the words 'salary' 'soldier' and others.

Apparently destroyed by earthquakes, endemic to the area. Given the hostile environment where few would want to live, as well as probable lack of pastimes or female partners, it had a reputation for homosexuality - hence the word 'sodomy'. Naturally after it was destroyed, religious attributions implied their sexual behaviour caused their destruction.

Being situated at the lowest place on earth, the Dead Sea, the resulting evaporation of sea water is the cause for the salt. Since salt enabled the society to progress from hunter/gatherer, enabling the user to preserve meat instead of daily hunting, and permitted humans to begin developing agriculture, and later - iPhones, it is understandable why it was such a valuable commodity.

Even today the surrounding area is relatively fruitful, thanks to underground springs, and surrounding settlements take advantage of it. But it is still located in an extreme desert, as it was a few thousand years ago. The reason for the earthquakes is because the area is situated on the Israel/Jordan Rift Valley, with the Jordanian side relatively moving northward at a rate of 2-2.5mm per year. There has been an estimated 100km movement since it first started at least 50 million years ago.

ANS:From the Ebla Tablets, as well as from pollen-layer analyses, it is clear that the Sodom area was once fruitful.

When the Torah (Genesis ch.19) describes how God brought down a massive amount of chemical-salts meteorites, it is reminding us that such "natural, rational" events are indeed supervised and directed by God. In this particular case, the Torah also reveals a reason: the overweening pride and the wickedness of the local Canaanites. Despite their being aware of Abraham's teachings (he was active at the time), they followed their own very different pattern of behavior; and God decided to give us an object-lesson.

Answer 3

They were near to where the Dead Sea is now (Genesis ch.14 and 19). More than one set of ancient ruins seem to fit the bill, as seen in the Related Links: Link 1

Link 2

Answer 4

Archaeologists and historians have found no evidence that Sodom and Gomorrah ever existed and even the biblical story seems mythical. Most who accept the biblical story as based on fact, believe that the two legendary cities were probably somewhere in the barren landscape to the east of the Dead Sea.

Steven Collins, a professor of Archaeology at the (unaccredited) Trinity Southwest University has discovered a city in the southern Jordan valley, that he claims to match The Bible’s Sodom, but this claim is based on minimal pottery evidence and the fact that the city was abandoned at the end of the Bronze Age. Other Levantine cities appear to have been abandoned towards the end of the Bronze Age, so this is of no evidential value. Other cities may be proposed in the future, but the real answer is that there was no biblical Sodom or Gomorrah.

Answer 5

West coast of what is now the dead sea, towards the south.

Answer 6

The remains of Sodom and Gomorrah are on the continent of Asia.