was a seaport, it had to be on the shore and must have been north of or near the head of the Bay of Mazra’a. As Neev and Emery state: “As Zoar of the first century A.D. Schlegel’s suggestion that “Perhaps exactly the opposite is true-the Madaba Map depicts no Lisan because of high water levels” is made in abject ignorance of the facts. Today, at the present historic low-level, you can easily see Roman and Byzantine ruins along the eastern shoreline of the Dead Sea, right next to the water! Also, there was a Roman road going east/west over the Lisan (not possible when the south basin is filled). Zoar was then a deep-water port on the Bay of Mazra’a at the south end of the north basin. As Neev and Emery point out, at the time when the Madaba Map was made there was no shallow south basin, thus no Lisan Peninsula. Based on numerous data-sets dealing with ancient Dead Sea levels, it’s clear that during the Roman and Byzantine Period the level of the Dead Sea was even lower than today-about -440m. This is detailed quite nicely in Neev and Emery’s geological work The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah and Jericho 1 and numerous other geological resources. So, what’s actually represented on the Madaba Map? It’s an absolute fact that the Madaba Map features only the deep north basin of the Dead Sea. If one placed Zoar on the Arnon/Wadi Mujib, then, it could be labeled “Zared!” But even if it was “Zared,” the placement of the Zered River on any map is made based on one’s predisposition about Zoar, and not on any objective information about the Zered River’s location. However, the letters preserved on the map, although usually read “-ARED” are actually “-AREA.” There is no delta. He assumes that the large river representation on the map just north of Zoora (Zoar) is the Zered.
The locations on the map noted by Schlegel are among them.Īuthor Steven Collins in a field large with standing stones, stone circles and dolmens near Tall el-Hammam, a site he associates with Biblical Sodom. One of the first things I noticed was that some of the traditional ‘readings’ and ‘assignments’ of certain places on the map were obviously in error, and based on interpretations of the geography loaded with assumptions that are likely false. Most recently, in shooting a documentary for National Geographic, the entire floor of the Byzantine church which contains the mosaic map was cleared and cleaned so that I could personally examine it in detail (on my hands and knees!). I’ve studied this map in detail for many years.
His first protestation has to do with the sixth-century C.E. I will address his points vis-à-vis my location of Zoar in the order of his objections. Schlegel’s take on the location of Zoar is a classic case of “seeing what one wants to see” and “believing what one wants to believe” in spite of the facts.
#SODOM OF GYLT FREE#
Travel with us on our journey into the past in our free eBook Exploring Jordan. Other than Israel, no country has as many Biblical sites and associations as Jordan: Mount Nebo, from where Moses gazed at the Promised Land Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John baptized Jesus Lot’s Cave, where Lot and his daughters sought refuge after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and many more. The best location for Zoar is on the southeast side of the Dead Sea. From the Arnon mouth to Tall-Hammam, where he wants to place Sodom, is still over 40 miles. Moving Zoar to the mouth of the Arnon doesn’t improve Collins’s case for Sodom anyway. The Rift Valley and the Dead Sea are distinct regions which were not forbidden to Israel “as far as Zoar.” Collins fails to realize that the territory of Moab forbidden to Israel was in the heights above the Rift Valley. He cites Deuteronomy 2:4-5, 9, 34:1-3 and Joshua 13:8-28 as evidence that because Israel was not to displace Moab or Edom, Zoar can’t be as far south as the mouth of the Zered. Nor is the Lisan (Tongue) missing from the map because of “low water levels.” Perhaps exactly the opposite is true-the Madaba Map depicts no Lisan because of high water levels.Ĭollins’s attempt to move Zoar from near the mouth of the Zered to near the mouth of the Arnon is faulty as well (by the way, the Arnon River is depicted on the Madaba Map, further north). The Madaba Map is not depicting only the “northern half” of the Dead Sea, as Collins asserts. Zoar is located south of the mouth of the Zered River. The Zered River, which drains into the southeastern part of the Dead Sea is depicted and clearly labeled on the Madaba Map. Steve Collins’s interpretation of the location of Zoar * on the Madaba Map is faulty.
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