richard2

Hi,

A quick question. I have read that ruins of a city have been found at the bottom of the Dead Sea. Some think that it is Sodom or Gomorrah. But I have also read that the Dead Sea has been shown by geology to be millions of years old. If this is so, how did a "city" come to be at the bottom of the Dead Sea?

Thanks,

Richard

p.s. apologies if this is the wrong forum.

spin

The Dead Sea is interesting geologically, as it is relatively deep and is the result of the folding of two tectonic plates. It's been that way for a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g time, so the notion of cities of the plain being buried under the Dead Sea are simply ridiculous. The sea has been around longer than any civilisation. Still, thoughts of the Genesis tales have persisted for a long time and lingered in the imagination of many for just as long, so our fundamentalist idiot brothers want to find such things, and as we all know you usually find what you are looking for whether it's what yoy want or not. The ancient settlement of Qumran preserves the name Gomorrah, though no-one today would like to think that that was actually the site. And hopeful people have taken a minsub to the sea and found something off the edge. One wonders if it was a city sign giving the population as well. All one has to ask is the simple question "how do they know it's [Sodom]?" and any response not based on hard empirical evidence will only be stupidity; all the "musts" in the world are no substitute.


spin

lpetrich

Actually, the names in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah are symbolic, sort of like "Cruella DeVil":

Sodom - burnt, scorched
King Bera - ben ra - son of bad
Gomorrah - heap
King Birsha - ben rasha - son of mischief

So it's approximately

Burntville ruled by Mr. Wicked
Rubbleheap ruled by Mr. Mischief

Also, there are numerous abandoned cities in the Middle East. Some of them may have been abandoned when the early parts of the Bible were being composed (Dual Monarchy and later) -- and pointed to as those ill-fated cities.

StandupHookupGo

i seem to recall that there's a small town or village in the west bank, along the road to eilat from jerusalem, called S'dom. i assumed this was the same place as Sodom, or at least named after such a city if the latter were only mythical.
anyone familiar with this area?