Jewish mythology commanded Lot to gather his family and leave. As they made their escape, one angel commanded Lot to "look not behind thee" (singular "thee"). However, as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with brimstone and fire from the Lord, Lot's wife looked back at the city, and she became a pillar of salt. In Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with impenitent sin, and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of divine retribution. The Genesis flood narrative has similarities to ancient flood stories told worldwide. One of the closest parallels is the Mesopotamian myth of a world flood, recorded
Mount Sodom Mount Sodom Mount Sodom (, "Har Sedom") or Jebel Usdum (, "Jabal(u) 'ssudūm") is a hill along the southwestern part of the Dead Sea in Israel, part of the Judean Desert Nature Reserve. Mount Sodom began its rise hundreds of thousands of years ago and continues to grow taller at a rate of a year. Movements of the African rift system, along with the pressure generated by the slow accumulation of earth and rock, pressed down on the layers of salt, creating Mount Sodom. It is about 80 percent salt, high, capped by a layer of limestone, clay and conglomerate