Sodom and Gomorrah

Sodom and Gomorrah, two ancient cities, almost invariably spoken of in conjunction in the Bible, and forming with Admah, Zeboiim, and other towns the 'cities of the plain,' which, on account of the enormous wickedness of their inhabitants (the nature of which is indicated in the term Sodom), are said to have been overthrown—not submerged—by some terrible convulsion of nature. Modern writers on sacred topography are not agreed as to the site to be assigned to these cities. It used to be generally held that they stood on the southern shore of the Dead Sea, near the salt ridge of Usdom (a form of the word 'Sodom'). Conder believes, however, that he can fix the site of Zoar, at least, at the foot of the mountains of Moab, to the north-east of the Dead Sea (q.v.). The popular belief that the cities were miraculously overwhelmed by the waters of the Dead Sea, and that their remains may still be seen at the bottom, is an idle tale of superstitious travellers, uncountenanced either by fact or by the terms employed by Scripture to describe the catastrophe.