Dr. Dylan Johnson

There are sets of texts which are known as city laments, and they're all composed in Sumerian, and they're not quite directly having gods destroy the cities. They are more or less describing great conflagrations of places like Uruk and Ur by human agents But within the text, its divine agency is completely intermingled.

So the goddess or the god departs their temple, and that enables the flood to sweep over, these destructions to happen. And of course, Jerusalem itself is the obvious other parallel for Sodom and Gomorrah of divine judgment. So the destruction of any city, I think, would at least in some respects in the ancient Near Eastern mindset, be a result of divine causation.

So the goddess or the god departs their temple, and that enables the flood to sweep over, these destructions to happen. And of course, Jerusalem itself is the obvious other parallel for Sodom and Gomorrah of divine judgment. So the destruction of any city, I think, would at least in some respects in the ancient Near Eastern mindset, be a result of divine causation.

So the goddess or the god departs their temple, and that enables the flood to sweep over, these destructions to happen. And of course, Jerusalem itself is the obvious other parallel for Sodom and Gomorrah of divine judgment. So the destruction of any city, I think, would at least in some respects in the ancient Near Eastern mindset, be a result of divine causation.

Things don't happen unless the gods will them. So I'm not so sure I'd have trouble finding parallels. I think I'd probably find too many parallels. And it's just degrees of similarity. It is ironic that the Atlantic's

Things don't happen unless the gods will them. So I'm not so sure I'd have trouble finding parallels. I think I'd probably find too many parallels. And it's just degrees of similarity. It is ironic that the Atlantic's

Things don't happen unless the gods will them. So I'm not so sure I'd have trouble finding parallels. I think I'd probably find too many parallels. And it's just degrees of similarity. It is ironic that the Atlantic's

narrative is perhaps the most similar, at least as a typology of divine destruction of a city and its complete annihilation and disappearance forever, because usually these cities are then rebuilt. And I don't know what to make of that. I sometimes think just human cultures have a tendency to converge in that way.

narrative is perhaps the most similar, at least as a typology of divine destruction of a city and its complete annihilation and disappearance forever, because usually these cities are then rebuilt. And I don't know what to make of that. I sometimes think just human cultures have a tendency to converge in that way.

narrative is perhaps the most similar, at least as a typology of divine destruction of a city and its complete annihilation and disappearance forever, because usually these cities are then rebuilt. And I don't know what to make of that. I sometimes think just human cultures have a tendency to converge in that way.

Right. And I think that's actually exactly in some of the Ezekiel texts is that he's not fixating on specific sins, much less a specific sexual sin of Sodom, but he's labeling them as excessive and decadent and exactly the same parameters. Because again, he's trying to justify and explain these calamities. Why do these things happen?

Right. And I think that's actually exactly in some of the Ezekiel texts is that he's not fixating on specific sins, much less a specific sexual sin of Sodom, but he's labeling them as excessive and decadent and exactly the same parameters. Because again, he's trying to justify and explain these calamities. Why do these things happen?

Right. And I think that's actually exactly in some of the Ezekiel texts is that he's not fixating on specific sins, much less a specific sexual sin of Sodom, but he's labeling them as excessive and decadent and exactly the same parameters. Because again, he's trying to justify and explain these calamities. Why do these things happen?

Because otherwise, the world's a very scary place and randomness is not a good thing, right? You want cause and effect rather than four strange Eastern empires coming and capriciously destroying your cities and you have no control over.

Because otherwise, the world's a very scary place and randomness is not a good thing, right? You want cause and effect rather than four strange Eastern empires coming and capriciously destroying your cities and you have no control over.

Because otherwise, the world's a very scary place and randomness is not a good thing, right? You want cause and effect rather than four strange Eastern empires coming and capriciously destroying your cities and you have no control over.

So I think what we see across these cultures then is justification, but also maybe a bit of catharsis that if we just avoid those things, we won't be the Persians, we won't be the Greeks, we won't be the...

So I think what we see across these cultures then is justification, but also maybe a bit of catharsis that if we just avoid those things, we won't be the Persians, we won't be the Greeks, we won't be the...

So I think what we see across these cultures then is justification, but also maybe a bit of catharsis that if we just avoid those things, we won't be the Persians, we won't be the Greeks, we won't be the...

I think there's a certain level of familiarity with the terms, obviously. Sodomites and stuff like that. Sodomites and just a cultural awareness of it. So that already kind of sparks the interest. If you know about something or you think you know about something, you're going to have that interest. So they're well known. The next thing is they're lost. They're not to be found anymore.