A group of archaeologists at Trinity Southwestern University (New Mexico) announced the discovery of the ruins of the ancient biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by the will of the Almighty for their sins.
The head of the research project, Professor Steve Collins, said that this conclusion was made after serious research carried out over 10 years at the excavation site in Tell el-Hammam.
According to Collins, the ruins of an ancient Bronze Age complex found by archaeologists belong to a large city-state that was unknown to scientists before the start of the project he led.
"The archaeological team has discovered a real 'gold mine' of ancient monumental structures and artifacts," - quoted by Christian Today.
According to Collins, a comparison of the discovered ruins with the remains of other ancient cities located nearby allows us to speak about the maximum coincidence according to a number of criteria known about Sodom from the text of the Bible.
The land of five cities
According to the Old Testament, during the time of Abraham, Sodom was a flourishing and rich city, but since the inhabitants "were wicked and very sinful" (Genesis, chapter 13, verse 13), then "the Lord rained sulfur and fire from the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah. from heaven and overthrew these cities, and all this neighborhood, and all the inhabitants of these cities, and [all] the growth of the earth "(Genesis, chapter 19, verses 24-25).
The Bible tells of the death of not two, but four of the five cities located in the Dead Sea region at the end of the 18th century BC. The five city-states of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, Sevoim and Bela (Sigor) formed a coalition that was ruled by the union of four kings of Mesopotamia, who severely punished their vassals for non-payment of tribute.
The Torah says that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was that they starved their beggars, performed an unrighteous judgment and refused hospitality to travelers.
The prophet Ezekiel says about this: "This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister and her daughters: in pride, satiety and idleness, and she did not support the hands of the poor and the beggar ..." (Book of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 16, verse 49).
The Bible says that the wrath of the Lord was caused by the sins of the inhabitants of these cities. God announced to Abraham that Sodom would be destroyed, but after Abraham's prayer, the Lord promised not to destroy the cities if ten righteous ones were found in them. The righteous were not found, and after the rescue of the angels, the families of the righteous Lot and the family of the city were destroyed by fire from heaven.
The expression "sodom" ("sodom and gomorrah") today allegorically means a place of debauchery where the moral foundations of society are violated. In modern Russian colloquial language, noise and turmoil are also called sodom, the Rublev.ru portal reminds.
The search for the biblical "city of sin"
According to the Bible, the place where Sodom, Gomorrah and other three cities were once located looked like the Garden of Eden. This information aroused skepticism among scientists who knew about the lifeless lands adjacent to the Dead Sea, and that Mesopotamia and the Jordan Valley had no means of communication.
In the early 1920s, renowned archaeologist Nelson Gluck discovered traces of an ancient road linking Mesopotamia and the Dead Sea. Then a mention of this road was found in the texts of clay tablets from Mari.
For the first time, the assumption about the location of the biblical Sodom was made after the discovery of an ancient cemetery in the town of Bab ed-Dhra, consisting of half a million graves. This find, made by archaeologists in 1960 south of Bab edh-Dhra, led to the conclusion about the location of a city with a highly developed culture nearby.
Three million pottery shards of ancient dishes found in the area with the remains of wheat, rye, dates, plums, peaches, grapes, figs, pistachios, almonds, olives and other fruits made it possible to determine that in the Bronze Age there was a real Garden of Eden in these places.
Another proof that the discovered cities are the very ones that the Bible speaks of, researchers saw in a medieval mosaic discovered in 1896 during the construction of the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. George on the ruins of an old Byzantine church, located in the city of Madaba in Jordan.
The mosaic, known as the Map of Madaba, is a gigantic 93-square-meter map of the Holy Land lined with millions of colored stones. The fourth part of this mosaic has survived to this day, but, among other things, a certain city is depicted on it, under which there is a signature: "Bela, she is Sigor". The location of Bela on the map exactly coincides with Safi - one of the five dead cities discovered in the Dead Sea region.
The hypothesis that Sodom and Gomorrah existed not on the western (Israeli), but on the eastern (Jordanian) coast of the Dead Sea was put forward by American scientists in the 90s of the XX century.
According to the hypothesis accepted by most researchers, the biblical Sodom was located on the southwestern coast of the Dead Sea.
Research in recent decades
During 1965-1967 and 1973-1979, five expeditions were carried out, but Sodom was never discovered.
In 2000, members of a British archaeological expedition led by Michael Sanders suggested that they were able to determine the most accurate coordinates of the ruins of Sodom at the bottom of the Dead Sea. The search was carried out in the northeastern water area. This completely refuted the biblical theory that Sodom was located at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The discovery of British scientists was based on photographs of the American aerospace agency NASA, which recorded anomalies at the bottom of the Dead Sea off the coast of Jordan.
In December 2010, the Russian company received permission from the Hashemite Kingdom to conduct exploration in the area identified as the alleged location of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was located in the vicinity of the ancient city of Bab edh-Dhra, where, according to a NASA photograph, the ruins of cities could be concentrated. After that, in 2012, a joint Russian-Jordanian archaeological expedition was organized. The Russian company was selected for the project due to the resistance of its deepwater equipment to the extremely salty water of the Dead Sea.
Scientists at different times put forward different versions of the reasons for the death of cities - from an earthquake to the fall of a large meteorite.
CITY OF SIN
"And the Lord rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord from heaven, and overthrew these cities, and all this neighborhood, and all the inhabitants of these cities ... And [Abraham] looked to Sodom and Gomorrah and to all the area around and saw: behold, smoke rises from the ground, like smoke from a furnace "
These lines from the Bible (Gen. 19) have haunted inquiring minds for several thousand years. Deeply believers, everything is clear: God destroyed the disgusting local sinners of non-traditional sexual orientation - "who committed the fornication and walked after another flesh" (Jude 1: 7). And where did he get the sulfur and fire - it doesn't matter. Spilled it somehow. "Is there anything difficult for the Lord?" (Gen. 18), - he himself said, however, on a different occasion.
And yet, many are wondering if the cities mentioned in the Bible really existed - Sodom and Gomorrah, inhabited by homosexuals?
Steven Collins, an archaeologist at Trinity Southwestern University in New Mexico, believes that at least there is no doubt about the existence of Sodom. The scientist is sure that he found this legendary city.
HERE LIKE ON THE MOON
The Bible roughly indicates the place and time of the Lord's reprisal against homosexuals. But it can be confidently asserted that it happened in the vicinity of the present-day Dead Sea, called the "Salt Lake" around the 3rd millennium BC. And after the righteous came here - Abraham with his nephew Lot. They came with their families. And they settled in a very fertile region, which was "watered with water, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt."
The biblical tradition is also confirmed by ancient historians, who seem to have personally visited the scene. Even after 3 thousand years.
- The Sodomite region adjacent to the lake was once a blessed country in its fertility and was decorated with many cities, but now it is completely burned out, - writes Josephus Flavius, famous for his testimonies of the existence of Jesus Christ. - They say that for the wickedness of its inhabitants, it was destroyed by lightning. Even to this day, some remnants of the heavenly fire and traces of the five cities can be seen; ash appears in the very fruits; in appearance and color, they seem to be real fruits, but as soon as you crush them with your hand, they turn into dust and ash.
Flavius is echoed by Tacitus, also remembering the "scorched earth".
Now, after another 2 thousand years, the former likeness of the garden of the Lord still resembles a lifeless lunar landscape.
YES THIS IS HE - SODOM
Archaeologists did not have a consensus about where exactly Sodom was located. Periodically, since the 1920s, they have unearthed hopeful ruins, scorched by fires. Found ruins even at the bottom of the Dead Sea, examining it on submarines. But are they the same ?. Indeed, together with the cities that became symbols of debauchery, the Lord thoroughly burned two more - Adma and Sevoim.
Stephen Collins dug in the Tal el-Hamman area, similar in appearance to the terrain described in the Bible. He dug up walls 10 meters high and 5 meters thick, inside them are the ruins of numerous buildings. That is, I discovered a very large and solid city, which, in fact, was Sodom during its heyday.
Dishes, weapons, tools, jewelry and other artifacts found by archaeologists confirmed that the townspeople - sodomites - actively traded. And they did not live in poverty.
Strabo, the author of the famous ancient "Geography", also wrote about Sodom, as a great lost city:
- In favor of the fact that this land is saturated with fire ... show steep burnt rocks and in many places crevasses and ash-like soil, rivers that spread a stench, and everywhere in the vicinity of the ruins of human dwellings. Therefore, one has to believe the legends, very widespread among local residents, that there were once thirteen inhabited cities here, of which the main city - Sodom - had about 60 stadia in a circle ...
Established: The ruins of the city excavated by Collins date back to around 35th century BC. Life in it lasted for about 700 years, and then suddenly stopped.
But if Sodom really existed, how and from what did he die? Surprisingly, this puzzle was solved 7 years ago.
THE WRATH OF THE LORD
No, this is not an earthquake
The not too religious Strabo was the first to suggest that the nest of debauchery was destroyed not by God, but by the riot of the bowels. He wrote that "from earthquakes, eruptions of fire and hot asphalt and sulphurous waters ... fire engulfed the rocks."
In 2001, the hypothesis of the ancient historian was allegedly confirmed by the British geologist and archaeologist Dr. Gray Harris. He pointed out that in the Dead Sea area there are deposits of asphalt, tar and underground pockets filled with methane. Like, the earthquake provoked the release of both. From which, in fact, the all-devouring fire arose.
It seems logical. If not for one big problem. The Bible, which, as we found out, can be trusted, says that "fire from the Lord" was from heaven. That is, from above, not from below.
Another witness to the biblical catastrophe
At the end of March 2008, rocket engine specialist Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell, who lecture on astronautics at the University of Bristol (UK), published a book in which they unambiguously linked the death of Sodom and Gomorrah to the sky. Specifically, with an asteroid that fell from there. Moreover, scientists argue that they did not come up with this themselves. And they deciphered the cuneiform script on an ancient clay tablet. This artifact, known as the Planisphere, is housed in the British Museum under the number K8538.
The tablet was found by archaeologist Henry Layard in the middle of the 19th century in the ruins of the library of the royal palace in Nineveh - the ancient capital of the Assyrian state. Since then, numerous researchers have struggled unsuccessfully to decipher it.
Having finally found the right key, Hempsell and Bond came to the conclusion: cuneiform recorded the testimony of a person who witnessed perhaps the largest catastrophe in the history of the Earth. Although the "Planisphere" itself is not his doing - it is just an exact copy of the detailed observations of a certain Sumerian astronomer.
SCARY MORNING JUNE 29
Scientists have read about the "approaching ball of fire", which "rushes rapidly" across the firmament. Found a description of its trajectory and how the constellations were located.
The decrypted data was processed by a computer program that allows you to recreate pictures of the starry sky thousands of years ago. And it turned out: the asteroid fell in the predawn hours on June 29, 3123 BC.
“The diameter of the celestial body ranged from 800 meters to one and a half kilometers,” Hempsell says. - The main blow fell on the Tyrol region of the present Austrian Alps. Then the following happened: either the red-hot debris of the exploding asteroid rushed along the way, burning and destroying everything in its path up to the "land of Jordan". Or a mushroom cloud arose, as from a nuclear explosion, which, curving up, re-entered the atmosphere in the Dead Sea region. Cloud temperatures are over 400 degrees. It was enough to incinerate the biblical cities located there. Including Sodom and Gomorrah.
Fireball with a diameter of 5 kilometers
In the Alps, in the Tyrolean town of Köfels, there is indeed a very strange landscape that has long puzzled geologists: as if something had blown up a mountain.
- An asteroid and demolished, - British researchers assure. “But he didn’t leave a crater. Because it hit the Earth at a very sharp angle - about 6 degrees. Almost tangentially. And it exploded in the air, forming a fireball with a diameter of almost 5 kilometers. He, like a cumulative projectile, scattered a five-kilometer mountain into dust. And devastated on its way about a million square kilometers.
- By the way, - says Hempsell, - the catastrophic events associated with the fall of the asteroid are noted not only in the Bible, but also in many ancient myths. For example, in the most known - about Phaethon, who did not cope with the fiery chariot of his dad Helios and fell from the sky.
Or maybe aliens detonated an atomic bomb?
Ufologists, of course, are also looking for those responsible for the biblical massacre. And they suspect that the mysterious men, called angels, who visited both Abraham and Lot before the catastrophe, were in fact aliens. Since they had supernatural powers: they appeared as if from nowhere, deprived the inhabitants of Sodom of sight. And they knew for sure that the city would be destroyed - they literally brought Lot and his family out of it.
Ufologists in their own way understand the words from the Bible - "The sun rose over the earth." Like, it didn't dawn, but a flash from a nuclear explosion appeared. And on the clay tablet - "Planisphere" - they see not an asteroid, but a spaceship.
But how to understand the strange act of Lot, who first took refuge in the surviving city of Sigor, and then went to live in a cave with his two daughters? His wife, as you know, turned into a pillar of salt - did not obey the "aliens" who were forbidden to look back at the explosion.
The Bible says: "... for he was afraid to live in Seagora." And again: "... God ... sent Lot out of the environment of destruction."
According to ufologists, the cause was deadly radiation. Naturally, its traces have disappeared over the course of more than five thousand years. But here and there a melted rock comes across, vaguely similar to the one found on the ruins of the ancient Indian city of Mohenjo-Daro. According to legend, it was destroyed "by a powerful single projectile, charged with all the power of the Universe. A sparkling column of smoke and fire burst out like ten thousand suns ... The dead people were impossible to recognize, and the survivors did not live long: their hair, teeth and nails fell out." Sounds like Hiroshima, doesn't it?
Another question is why the aliens bombed Sodom and Gomorrah? Is it because of the local gays? The clearly non-symmetrical "answer" casts doubt on the extraterrestrial version.
TOTAL
In my personal opinion, a hypothesis that unites all available at once looks much more reasonable and humane. Yes, there were aliens - they looked after the earthlings. They knew that an asteroid would fall. And they saved the Lot they liked with something. There was also a terrible blow in the Alps. An earthquake happened from him. Or something like that, which entailed the emissions of combustible materials - methane, tar and, most importantly, native sulfur - which, as the historian Pliny wrote, were rich in the vicinity of the Dead Sea: "... consisted of such a combustible substance that it could even be ignited with a smut ..."
Or is it worth unquestioningly to believe the Bible?
Debriefing
Perverts - from young to old
The Bible (Genesis) does not directly accuse the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah of homosexuality. But from the narration it is quite possible to draw such an unequivocal conclusion. At least with regard to the Sodomites.
The very men, angels of human appearance, who saved Lot, had spent the night with him the night before. And then "... they have not yet gone to sleep, like city dwellers, Sodomlyans, from young to old, all the people ... surrounded the house." They demanded that the aliens be brought to them, saying "we will get to know them."
By "know" the perverts did not mean acquaintance at all. The meaning of this word is revealed by Lot, offering the townspeople a replacement: "... Here I have two daughters who did not know her husband; I'd better bring them out to you, do with him what you want, just don't do anything to this people ..."
However, the Sodomites were pleased to know all the same the aliens. Which leaves no doubt about their inclinations: only inveterate homosexuals will indignantly refuse women.
In short, the men were saved from rape by "struck with blindness" the attackers who were about to break down the door. Because of this, they did not find her: "they were exhausted, looking for an entrance."
Conclusion: the people of Sodom were really not averse to going "for another flesh." Q.E.D.
It is strange, however: the Lord fatally punished homosexuals, and another perversion - incest, which now looks much more vile in the eyes of the public, did not even condemn. After all, as is known from the same Genesis (19: 31-38), Lot's daughters, after the catastrophe, settled with him in a cave, gave dad to drink. They took turns having sex with him - drunk - and became pregnant one after another.
However, other men were inaccessible to their daughters - God destroyed them. Was this an excuse? Or was incest not considered a sin at all in those days? Mystery…
Archaeologists, of course, cannot prove that the Bible is completely true, but they often make discoveries that help to better understand or interpret some biblical events. Many artifacts found by scientists really confirm the events described in the Book of Books.
1. Great Flood
In the scientific community, there is an opinion that the source of the story of the Biblical Flood, most likely, was the destructive flood in Mesopotamia. If this is true, then the scale of such a flood was simply exaggerated in the imagination of the authors of this story. During excavations in 1928-1929 in southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered a 3 meter layer of silt dating from 4000 to 3500 BC. in the ancient city of Ur.
Woolley interpreted this as evidence of a biblical flood. Similar evidence has been found in many other places in the region, but dates back to different years. Floods in Mesopotamia were frequent. While there is no archaeological evidence for planetary-scale flooding, there is evidence of catastrophic flooding (or several) in Mesopotamia.
2. Genealogy of Abraham
The story of Abraham begins with how he and his family lived in the Mesopotamian city of Ur, from where he moved to Canaan. In the second half of Genesis, there is a fairly detailed account of the family tree of Abraham and dozens of names are mentioned. Modern historians believe that Abraham must have lived somewhere between 2000 and 1500 BC. During excavations in Mari, an ancient city on the Euphrates (territory of modern Syria), the ruins of an imposing royal palace and thousands of tablets that were once part of the royal archives were discovered.
After examining the tablets from the archives of Mari, which dates from 2300 - 1760 BC, it was discovered that names were used in this area, found in the genealogy of Abraham. This find does not support the validity of Abraham's family tree, but it does suggest that the story cannot be entirely fictional.
3. Maid of Abraham
In Genesis it is said that Abraham's wife Sarah could not have children. She agreed that Abraham took a second wife, who could give him a son - an Egyptian maid named Hagar. This practice is supported by many texts found by archaeologists. In the "Texts of Alalah" (18th century BC) and even the "Code of Hammurabi" it is said that this was a generally accepted custom.
The Nuzi tablets, which were found in ancient Hurrian excavations in modern Iraq, date from the second half of the 15th century BC. These texts mention that a barren wife could provide a slave to her husband to give birth to a son.
4. City of Sodom
Genesis describes the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sins of their inhabitants. A group of archaeologists believe they have discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Sodom, located in Tell el-Hammam, east of the Jordan River. The age of the excavated ruins is consistent with the early historical period of the Bible (3500 - 1540 BC). Its location is not the only reason why the ruins were considered the ancient city of Sodom. Archaeologists believe the city was suddenly abandoned by the end of the Middle Bronze Age, in line with the biblical picture of the destruction of Sodom.
5. The Silver Scrolls of Ketef Hinnom
The Ketef Hinnom archaeological site is a complex of a series of rock burial chambers located southwest of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the road to Bethlehem. In 1979, archaeologists made an important discovery at the site: they found two silver plates rolled up like scrolls. They were inscribed in Old Hebrew. These scrolls are believed to have been used as amulets and date from the 7th century BC. The texts on these amulets contain the oldest extant quotations from the Torah.
6. Inscriptions Deir Alla
During the Exodus, the Israelites passed through the Sinai Peninsula and reached the kingdoms of Edom and Moab. There is a chapter in Numbers that tells how the king of Moab, disturbed by the presence of the Israelites, asked a prophet named Balaam to curse the people of Israel. About 8 km from the Jordan River, a Bronze Age sanctuary named Deir Alla has been excavated. An ancient Aramaic inscription was found in the sanctuary, which actually contained the prophetic curse of Balaam. The inscription describes a divine vision, anticipated destruction and the punishment for it "malevolent gods".
7. Captivity of the Samaritans
Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. Assyrian records state that King Sargon II captured 27,290 prisoners and sent them into exile in various places under the control of the Assyrians, including Halah and Havor. This event is confirmed by the texts of the "Book of Kings", as well as some material evidence. In Mesopotamian excavations, archaeologists have found fragments of pottery, on the surface of which the names of the Israelites were written.
8. Assyrian invasion
In 701 BC, the Assyrian king Sennacherib invaded Judea. Many cities fell under the onslaught of his army, including Lachish, which is mentioned in the Book of Kings. After the siege, the city was captured by the Assyrians, and several archaeological finds are fully consistent with this event. At the site of Lachish, archaeologists have discovered arrowheads, siege structures, helmets, and a chain that the defenders used against the siege ram. And on the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh (northern Iraq), reliefs and sculptures were found depicting the capture of Lachish.
9. End of the Babylonian exile
When the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in 539 BC, he ordered the release of the Jews and members of other peoples who were in captivity. This historical episode is described in the Book of Ezra. There are also other historical documents that describe the policy of Cyrus the Great regarding allowing many of the inhabitants of Babylon to return to their homeland. One of the most famous of these documents is the Cyrus Cylinder - a small clay cylinder on which Cyrus ordered to knock out a list of his victories and merciful deeds in cuneiform.
10. Herod's palace
Traces of Herod the Great's ambitious building projects are found throughout Palestine. What was believed to be the remains of King Herod's palace was discovered during excavations in an abandoned building in the Old City of Jerusalem, near the Tower of David. The main significance of this find lies in the fact that it was in this place that the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate sentenced Jesus to death.
And in continuation of the topic, we decided to remember.
A group of archaeologists at Trinity Southwestern University (New Mexico) announced the discovery of the ruins of the ancient biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The head of the research project, Professor Steve Collins (Steve Collins) said that such a conclusion was made after serious research for 10 years at the excavation site of ruins in Tell el-Hammam.“The ruins of an ancient complex of the Bronze Age that we have found are the ruins of a large city-state, which was unknown to scientists before the start of our project,” the publication quotes S. Collins.
“The archaeological team has discovered a real 'gold mine' of ancient monumental structures and artifacts,” he said.
The professor believes that comparing these ruins with the remains of other ancient cities nearby allows us to talk about the maximum coincidence according to a number of criteria known about Sodom from the text of the Bible.
The land of five cities
According to the Bible, at the time of Abraham Sodom was a flourishing and rich city, but since the inhabitants “were wicked and very sinful” (Gen. 13:13), “the Lord rained sulfur and fire from the Lord from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah, and He overthrew these cities, and all this region, and all the inhabitants of these cities, and [all] the growth of the earth ”(Genesis 19: 24-25).
The Bible tells of the death of not two, but four of the five cities located in the Dead Sea region at the end of the 18th century BC. The five city-states of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adma, Sevoim and Bela (Sigor) formed a coalition that was ruled by the union of four kings of Mesopotamia, who severely punished their vassals for non-payment of tribute.
The Torah says that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was that they starved their beggars, performed an unrighteous judgment and refused hospitality to travelers.
The prophet Ezekiel says about this: “This is what was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister and her daughters: in pride, satiety and idleness, and she did not support the hands of the poor and the beggar ...” (16:49).
The Bible says that the wrath of the Lord was caused by the sins of the inhabitants of these cities. God announced to Abraham that Sodom would be destroyed, after Abraham's prayer, the Lord promised not to destroy the cities if ten righteous ones were found in them. The righteous were not found, and after the rescue of the angels, the families of the righteous Lot and the family of the city were destroyed by fire from heaven.
The expression "sodom" ("sodom and gomorrah") today allegorically means a place of debauchery, where the moral foundations of society are violated. In modern Russian colloquial language, noise and turmoil are also called "sodom".
The search for the biblical "city of sin"
According to the Bible, the place where Sodom, Gomorrah and other three cities were once located looked like the Garden of Eden. This information aroused skepticism among scientists who knew about the lifeless lands adjacent to the Dead Sea, and that Mesopotamia and the Jordan Valley had no means of communication.
In the early 1920s, renowned archaeologist Nelson Gluck discovered traces of an ancient road linking Mesopotamia and the Dead Sea. Then, mention of this busy road was found in the texts of clay tablets from Mari.
For the first time, the assumption of the "legacy" of the biblical Sodom was made about a find in the place of Bab edh-Dhra. In 1960, south of Bab edh-Dhra, archaeologists found an ancient cemetery containing half a million graves. This finding made it possible to draw a conclusion about the location of a city with a highly developed culture nearby.
Found in the area 3 million clay shards of ancient dishes with the remains of wheat, rye, dates, plums, peaches, grapes, figs, pistachios, almonds, olives and other fruits made it possible to determine that in the Bronze Age in these places there was a real Garden of Eden.
Another proof that the discovered cities are the very ones that the Bible says, the researchers saw in the medieval mosaic discovered in 1896 during the construction on the ruins of the old Byzantine church of the Greek Orthodox monastery of St. George, located in the city of Madaba in Jordan.
Known as the "Madaba Map", the mosaic is a gigantic 93-square-meter map of the Holy Land made of millions of colored pebbles. 25% of this mosaic has survived to this day, but, among other things, a certain city is depicted on it, under which there is a signature: "Bela, she is Sigor." The location of Bela on the map exactly coincides with Safi - one of the five dead cities discovered in the Dead Sea region.
The hypothesis that Sodom and Gomorrah existed not on the western (Israeli), but on the eastern (Jordanian) coast of the Dead Sea was put forward by American scientists in the 90s of the XX century.
According to the hypothesis accepted by most scholars, the biblical Sodom was located on the southwestern coast of the Dead Sea.
Research in recent decades
During 1965-1967 and 1973-1979, five expeditions were carried out, as a result of which the location of Sodom was never determined.
In 2000, a British archaeological expedition was carried out under the leadership of the scientist Michael Sanders. Its participants believe that they were able to determine the most accurate coordinates of the ruins of Sodom at the bottom of the Dead Sea. The search was carried out in the northeastern waters, which completely refuted the Bible-based theory that Sodom was at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The discovery of British scientists was based on photographs of the American aerospace agency NASA, which recorded anomalies at the bottom of the Dead Sea off the coast of Jordan.
In December 2010, the Russian company received permission from the Hashemite Kingdom to conduct exploration in the area identified as the alleged location of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was located in the vicinity of the ancient city of Bab edh-Dhra, where, according to NASA photography, the ruins may have been concentrated. After that, in 2012, a joint Russian-Jordanian archaeological expedition was organized. The Russian company was selected for the project due to the resistance of its deepwater equipment to the extremely salty water of the Dead Sea.
About the reasons for the death of cities, scientists at different times put forward different versions of death - from an earthquake to the fall of a large meteorite.
