Real Life Biblical Kings and Other Historic Bible Facts and Figures

1. The Real Life Sodom and Gomorrah

Tall el-Hammam and its surrounding region for miles around were abandoned for centuries after the catastrophe. The explosion vaporized and deposited so much Dead Sea salt water in the area, that it became impossible to grow crops. It took about six centuries for rainfall to wash out enough salt for the soil to recover to levels adequate for productive habitation. Tales of the ancient city’s destruction would have been handed down over the generations, and a version probably made it into the Old Testament as the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Similarities about cities near the Dead Sea destroyed by fire and rocks from the sky make it plausible – even likely – that the biblical narrative can be traced to the air burst that demolished Tell el-Hammam.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Catholic Answers – It Is Better to Be Herod’s Pig Than Son

Coniglio, Alessandro, et al. – Holy Land Archaeology on Either Side (2020)

Daily Beast – Have Archaeologists Found History’s Deadliest Dance Floor?

Daily Beast – The Giant Space Rock That Wiped Out Biblical Sodom

Encyclopedia Britannica – Mariamne, Wife of Herod

Encyclopedia Britannica – Sodom and Gomorrah

Gonick, Larry – The Cartoon History of the Universe: Volumes 1 – 7, From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great (1990)

History Collection – Decadent and Depraved Roman Emperors Who Shocked Their Subjects

Jewish Encyclopedia – Eleazar

Jewish Encyclopedia – Mariamne

Kitchen, Kenneth – Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt (1983)

Perowne, Stewart – The Life and Times of Herod the Great (1959)

Scientific Reports, 11, Article Number: 18632 (2021) – A Tunguska Sized Airburst Destroyed Tall el-Hammam, a Middle Bronze Age City in the Jordan Valley Near the Dead Sea

Scullard, Howard Hayes – The Elephant in the Greek and Roman World (1974)