The search for the famous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which the Bible tells about, has long occupied the minds of archaeologists. According to the Biblical texts, the cities were destroyed for the high measure of the sins of their inhabitants by fire and brimstone from heaven. Whole generations of scientists have tried to find disappeared cities by carefully studying ancient literary sources and comparing the ancient names of the places in question with the names of modern ones. To understand the scale of the catastrophe that occurred at that time, it is enough to cite the words of the Bible: "And the Lord rained sulfur and fire from the Lord from the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah from heaven, and overthrew these cities, and all this neighborhood …".
Sodom and Gomorrah, subjected to retaliation, are also described in the Qur'an: "And at sunrise a roar enveloped them, and we turned their villages upside down and poured stones on them …"
The mentioned cities were in a convenient geographical position, the nature around was rich, and the land was fertile, many caravan routes passed through these places. However, the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were extremely proud of their prosperity and went to extreme evil in their lives: robbing caravans and travelers was a natural occupation for them, they gladly condemned the beggar who fell to them to starvation, condemning him to humiliation and ridicule. … With all this, they unrestrainedly indulged in unnatural lusts, entering into wild relations not only with each other, but also representing in this respect a danger to any traveler who happened to be with them.
In addition to these cities, Adma and Sevoim were also destroyed, which were nearby and in their way of life were very similar to Sodom and Gomorrah. Only the fifth city, Sigor, was pardoned by the Lord for the sake of the righteous man Lot, who settled there with his daughters, fleeing the disaster.
Attempts to search for cities were linked to the indication of ancient sources on the abundant amount of asphalt located next to them. So the Bible indicates a large number of "pitch pits" (asphalt lakes) in the Siddim Valley, where four kings fought against five. This circumstance immediately attracted the attention of researchers to the Dead Sea, where the presence of asphalt was noted by ancient authors. It is interesting that the Dead Sea, which is a lifeless body of water 65 by 15 km in size, is distinguished by an extremely high concentration of salt, asphalt and sulfur in its waters. Local Arab legends speak of the ruins of ancient cities at the bottom of the Dead Sea. Thus, the attention of researchers on the way to the search for disappeared cities was riveted on this very place.
