SODOM AND GOMORRAH. - Names of the first two cities of the Pentapolis (v.) destroyed by divine justice for the lust and unnatural vices of their inhabitants (Gen. 13:13; 18:16-19:29). The Hebrew names of the cities are Sèdhōm (Septuagint Σόδομα) and ʿAmōrāh (Gk. Γομώρα).
The catastrophe, already presented by Moses (Deut. 29:22) as an image of the punishments that would strike the enemies of God, is often evoked in biblical tradition either with the name of S. alone (Ezek. 16:49; Matt. 11:23-24; Luke 10:12) or associated with G. (Amos 4:11; Isa. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 23:14; 49:18; 50:40; Matt. 10:15; Rom. 9:26; Jude 7; II Pet. 2:6: an example for those who would live wickedly in the future).
The scanty topographical indications of the biblical text do not allow us to ascertain whether S. and G. were situated north or south of the Dead Sea, as the expression "district (kikhār) of the Jordan" (Gen. 13:12) would imply. At the separation of Abraham from Lot in Bethel (ibid. 13:13), the latter chose as his residence "the district of the Jordan, which was all irrigated — before the Lord destroyed S. and G. — like the garden of God, like the land of Egypt" (ibid. 13:10-14); but from Bethel one cannot see the southern part of the Dead Sea, and therefore S., Lot's residence, would seem to have to be located in the northern part, an opinion put forward by modern writers. All the other episodes, such as the battle of Chedorlaomer in the valley of Siddim (v.), Abraham's prayer from the heights of Hebron (Gen. 18:16) that Lot be spared from the destruction, the sight of the smoke rising from the city "upon which sulfur and fire rained from heaven" (ibid. 19:24), fit better with the southern part. Tradition has always indicated S. and G. as south of the peninsula of el-Lisàn in the Dead Sea. To this part, more than to the north, belongs the aspect of desolation described by the prophets. The name of Gebel Usdum, a hill of salt on the right of the Dead Sea, perpetuates the name of the city of S., just as 'Ajn Gamah, 65 km. farther south, may recall the site of the city of G. Concerning the contribution to the southern theory made by the discovery of the cemetery and sanctuary of Báb ed Drá' east of el-Lisàn, v. PENTAPOLI.