SIDDIM, VALLEY of (Heb. 'ēmeq Šiddim). - A valley full of bitumen pits (Gen. 14:10), where Chodorlahomor with his allies defeated the king of Sodom (v.) and his confederates (ibid. 14:8-10).
The ancient gloss (14:3), is now the Salt Sea—or Dead Sea—has influenced the Greek translation ἡ φῶσις ἡ ἀλυνή (14:3), ἡ κοιλὰς ἡ ἀλυνή (14:10), “the salt valley”; whereas St. Jerome, dependent on Talmudic writings, translated vallis silvestris, taking i. as the plural of šādheh (“field”). The etymology remains unknown. The gloss is intended to indicate that in historical times the plain was covered by the waters of the Dead Sea, of which it became a part. This could have occurred only in the southern part, south of the Lisán peninsula, which is a pond with 5–6 metres of water. The depression would have been produced following a conflagration, perhaps due to an earthquake, traces of which exist along the shores, which would have caused the combustion of underground gases (petroleum, bitumen, sulphur), and was subsequently invaded by the waters of the Dead Sea (v. LEONTOPOLI). Donato Baldi