# Location of Sodom **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455 "2002-12-18T00:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/1 "2002-12-18T00:50:22Z")
Today, whilst bored in a waiting room, I picked up a book of children’s bible stories. Eventually, after peering through copious amounts of sanitized versions of various Biblical tales, I came upon the story of Lot and Sodom. The chapter concluded with stating something to the effect of, “Today, the scorched ruins of Sodom can still be seen at the bottom of the Red Sea.” Huh? I’ve never heard this before. I was under the impression Sodom’s location was unknown. And scorched remains? Are they lying to these kids, or am I misinformed? ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/2 "2002-12-18T00:54:54Z")
[http://www.sinsal.com/lot/lot0.htm](http://www.sinsal.com/lot/lot0.htm) This claims they are both near the _Dead_ Sea. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/3 "2002-12-18T00:56:59Z")
Sounds like a great big lie to me. I think the BBC (or another UK network TV company) made a series of documentries called ‘Ancient Apocalypse’ which looked at the destruction of Sodom and Goraah (spelling?). Though if IRRC correctly they did find some evidence of the Red sea rising, most of the program was conjecture not really backed up with any evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/4 "2002-12-18T01:01:27Z")
Actually, after more googling, many sites say it is near the Dead Sea region. I haven’t seen any mention the Red Sea, though. [http://pangea.stanford.edu/GP50/alisoni.pdf](http://pangea.stanford.edu/GP50/alisoni.pdf) [http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000329c.htm](http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000329c.htm) Among others. I still doubt this can be called Sodom or Gommorah. How would they know? There must’ve been thousands of ancient cities in that area over a course of a few thousand years. It could be anything down there. ---
**Author:** ![HighSoci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@HighSoci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HighSoci)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/5 "2002-12-18T01:04:50Z")
Well that would explain the Dead Sea and why it is so salty. LOL In case no one caught that… Lot’s wife… pillar of salt…Dead Sea… ok… it wasn’t that funny ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/6 "2002-12-18T01:06:49Z")
Heh. One of the sites actually is convinced that a large pillar in the shape of a woman near the Dead Sea must be Lot’s wife. (I doubt it ist, since it’s made of rock and not salt and everything). ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/7 "2002-12-18T01:07:24Z")
I’ll say this: most legends have their basis in fact, but from what I’ve heard the only real evidence for this story is in the bible itself. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/8 "2002-12-18T02:54:46Z")
No one knows where Sodom or Gomorrah are. There is a place along the shores of the Dead Sea that is traditionally _called_ S’dom, but there isn’t any super evidence that proves this. There are archaeological ruins all around the Dead Sea, which shouldn’t surprise anyone - Jericho, the oldest city in the world, is also right next to the Dead Sea. Human civilization has been in this area for 10,000 years, and there is a lot of evidence of it. There are, however, no visible ruins in the Dead Sea. I am not a chemist, but I doubt anything could last that long in Dead Sea water. Swimming in the Dead Sea is _painful_. That isn’t regular water there. There _are_ submerged sites visible in the Mediterranean. Caesarea, which was one of the two major cities of ancient Judea, is now partially under water. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/9 "2002-12-18T06:47:38Z")
Isn’t Sodom where the sun don’t shine? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/10 "2002-12-18T10:58:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kyla \* > \*\*No one knows where Sodom or Gomorrah are. There is a place along the shores of the Dead Sea that is traditionally _called_ S’dom, but there isn’t any super evidence that proves this. \*\* Been there. Good hiking area, and the salt formations are beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/11 "2002-12-18T13:13:17Z")
I found [this](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/apocalypse_gomorrah2.shtml). Still no Red Sea. I’ve never heard that one. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/12 "2002-12-18T19:03:50Z")
Try this this out. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/apocalypse\_gomorrah1.shtml](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/apocalypse_gomorrah1.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/13 "2002-12-18T19:31:57Z")
Betcha anything that the “Red Sea” was somebody’s mistake for “Dead Sea” – presumably that of the Bible stories for children writer. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/14 "2002-12-18T19:35:05Z")
You can lead a horse to Sodom but you can’t make him. Wait… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/15 "2002-12-18T19:37:30Z")
aaahh, **Daoloth** is just huntin’ up a New Years date. Same as last year. 😛😃 ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/16 "2002-12-19T00:06:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daoloth \* > “Today, the scorched ruins of Sodom can still be seen at the bottom of the Red Sea.” **Splanky** ’s second link is the closest to what I thought of on reading this: a year or so back, Channel 4 here ran a documentary about a fellow called Michael Sanders who was looking for Sodom on the bed of the Dead Sea. By virtually any measure, this was one of the worst factual programmes I’ve ever seen screened on British television. His basic argument amounted to the fact that he’d come across a 17th century map of the Holy Land in which Sodom was depicted disappearing into the middle of the Dead Sea. Without seemingly pausing to ask why an early modern mapmaker far removed from the location in question might be privy to _any_ special knowledge of the matter, he assumed that this was valid evidence for the city being beneath the lake. He than faffed around with inconclusive satellite images (see his web page above) and identified “anomalies” in the Sea. The final step was to hire a submarine to examine these and declare that they were “strange” formations and worthy of further research. The fact that the Isreali military were conducting exercises in the area - never! - also seemed to convince him that there was some coverup going on. To the skeptical viewer with no preconceptions about what the bottom of the Dead Sea might look like, this all seemed, well, inconclusive. Perhaps not quite as bad as Ron Wyatt, but that ain’t saying much. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/17 "2002-12-19T01:07:26Z")
I’ve read (sorry, can’t dig it up) that many of the biblical stories, including this one, are better understood as occurring in Ur or thereabouts. There’s an older flood story in _Gilgamesh,_ for example, and better archeological/geological evidence that flooding occured in that region. Since that’s where Abraham was from, it would make sense that some of these accounts are transposed from their point of origin to the place where the oral history was written and redacted. ---
**Author:** ![dbimage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@dbimage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbimage)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/18 "2002-12-19T20:41:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*You can lead a horse to Sodom but you can’t make him. > > Wait… \*\* 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbe5ce/32.png) [@X\_Slayer\_ALE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X_Slayer_ALE)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/19 "2002-12-19T20:59:17Z")
If sodomy came from the sinful city of Sodom, how come you cant **Gomorrize** someone…?? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455/20 "2002-12-19T21:04:03Z")
You can. You stick a shell on his back and make flames shoot out the arm holes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/location-of-sodom/143455.md?page=2)