SEGOR (Hebr. Ṣā'ar; Gr. Σήγωρ). — An ancient city of Palestine, south of the Dead Sea (Gen. 13:10; Deut. 34:3), initially called Bala (Bela': Gen. 14:2–8).
It was the smallest of the Pentapolis ([v.] ibid. 19:20) and was spared destruction through Lot’s intercession, as he obtained permission to take refuge there after leaving Sodom (v.) for the mountain (ibid. 19:21–25). Jeremiah (48:34) and Isaiah (15:5) describe S. in relation to the other cities south of the Arnon, placing it near the Dead Sea and at the foot of the Mountain of Moab.
In Roman and Byzantine writers it is known by the name Zoora and Zogora and is situated at Gör eş-Şâfijjeh, on the extreme tip of the Dead Sea. Conquered by Alexander Jannaeus, it was later ceded to the Nabataeans (Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Ind., XIII, 15, 4; XIV, 1, 4). The Romans stationed a military garrison there; a Christian community with a bishop flourished there, as did a Jewish colony. The mosaic map of Madaba depicts the fortified city amid palm groves near the Dead Sea; higher up in the mountain, it depicts the church dedicated to commemorating the refuge of the righteous Lot. In the time of the Crusaders it was called Paumiers, on account of the abundance of palm groves. Among the various identifications proposed for Roman and Byzantine Zoora, Şejh 'Îsâ on the Şejl el-Qurâhî is today the prevailing one, where important remains of Christian buildings exist. In Gör eş-Şâfijjeh, submerged beneath the waters of the Dead Sea, tombs dating from the second millennium B.C. were noted; there the ancient biblical city of S. must lie buried.