What really happened to the damned cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Tristan Hughes and Dr. Dylan Johnson delve into the infamous biblical story to discover the context and supposed locations of these cities near the Dead Sea, and explore whether there is any historical basis to their destruction.They discuss the theological implications and examines archaeological surveys that sought to uncover the truth behind this fascinating ancient narrative.Presented by Tristan Hughes. Edited and produced by Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here
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Suddenly the Lord rained fire and brimstone on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them and the whole valley along with all the people there and everything that grew on the land. Early the next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood in the presence of the Lord.
He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole valley and saw smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a huge furnace.
Those were excerpts from Genesis 19 in the Old Testament, describing one of the most famous stories from the Hebrew Bible, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by God for their sinfulness. Today the names Sodom and Gomorrah, particularly Sodom, are well known and infamous, and when we did a recent poll asking which biblical story we should cover next, Well, Sodom and Gomorrah won convincingly.
We're going to explore the stories about these two cities that survive in the book of Genesis. We'll delve into the context, their supposed location near the Dead Sea, and whether there is any historical basis to the biblical of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. Our guest today is Dr. Dylan Johnson from Cardiff University.
A historian of the ancient Near East and biblical scholar, Dylan has been on the podcast before to talk through the stories of Moses and the Exodus and that of the Ark of the Covenant. Dylan is a wonderful speaker and this was a really interesting chat about Sodom and Gomorrah. Enjoy. Enjoy. Dylan, it is a pleasure to have you back on the podcast today. It's great to be back.
And we did the Ark of the Covenant last time, and we did Moses as well. So you are one of our go-to experts for the book of Exodus, the book of Genesis, and exploring the stories of these well-known objects and figures from the Old Testament. And Sodom and Gomorrah, it feels like another well-known story from that part of the Bible.
Yeah, some people know a version of the story. I think in the podcast, we can kind of go through the fact that there's actually multiple, but most people know the names Sodom and Gomorrah, that's for sure.
So what is the big question, first of all? What is the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah?
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