Sodom is possibly found in Sumerian and Akkadian as either/both of Su-edin(-ki)/Subartu/'Sumasti /Su-rum? and/or Shu-edin-hum/S(h)iri-hum / Shu-rum-hum? /Siru-hum? /Edin-hum? / Rum-hum? We will briefly discuss our reasons for seeing this match below.
Sodom name match and Siddim name match.
The name Su-edin or Su-rum is similar to Sodom/Saedom. Since d and r interchange in Hebrew, and since u and o often interchange, one can see that Surum exactly matches Sodom. (Furthermore, if the Solymites of some sources or the Somorrha/Somorrhon of Josephus match Sodom then we see confirmation of d & r & l versions and interchanges?) The variant Suedin is also not too dissimilar to Sodom or Siddim since m and n sometimes interchange in/between some languages.
For the variant name Shu-edin-hum/S(h)iri-hum / Shu-rum-hum? /Siru-hum? one can also see how similar it is to both Sodom and Siddim again with the d and r interchange in Hebrew.
Edin is synonymous with Sadu in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Sadu is also similar to Sodom?
Eden match.
In Genesis it says the Sodom area was like the garden of the lord (Eden). Some also believe that the garden of Eden was in the Israel/Palestine area, or under the Dead Sea (which area Ezekiel says will on day be transformed into a fertile Eden-like place). We notice that the names Suedin "good Edin city/land" and Shuedinhum "garden Edin fruitful" have Edin and "garden" in them.
Plain match:
Sodom was among the "cities of the plain".
In the name Su-edin the word edin means "steppeland" or "plain".
Dead Sea match.
Sodom was in the Dead Sea area.
Suedin was near the Lower Sea. The Lower Sea is supposed to be the Indian Ocean, including the gulf of Aqaba. Though it could also/alternatively fit the Dead Sea. Sitchin similarly placed the waters of death mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh in the Dead Sea area.
Attacked match and Arioch match?
Sodom rebelled and was attacked by the 4 kings of the east including Arioch, and the 4 kings carried of their persons and possessions.
Suedin revolted and was attacked by Sargon/S(h)arru(m)(u)kin/Sarrugi/Lugalukin/Lugalgin(a) who carried of their possessions (refs Sargon's Chronicle, and Omens). Sarrugi/Sarrukin is maybe similar to Arioch.
Suedin/Subartu is also associated with Eannatum whose name might match Tidal (with an n & l interchange, and transposition, and exclusion of the -(u)m suffix).
Waddell supposed Suedin to also be associated with Etana/Etina/Gal, Urnina/Urnanshe/Uruash-khad, and Amadgal/Akurgal, whose names might link with Tidal, Chedorlaomer, and Amraphel? Though Waddell's scenario seems probably wrong.
Edin also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Gilgamesh is a candidate of ours for Kedorlaomer.
Sodom & Gomorrah match?
Sodom is associated with Gomorrah.
The Su or Suedin is also associated with the Gu or Guti/Gutium/Gutians or Guedin.
Possible location match.
Sodom was in Syria-Palestine and was west of Mesopotamia/Iraq.
Suedin/Subartu is supposed to have been in north-western Mesopotamia, and its name might be the origin of the name Syria.
Suedin was supposedly east of Sumeria/Akkad/Babyonia/Assyria, and east of Ansha(n) in Elam/Persia/Iran, but this might be disputable. Also, compass points reversed at one or more times in world history. In one version Suedin is "behind/back", and in Semitic the west is behind.
Suedin/Subartu is in the "north" in some later sources. But this could be a modern mistake, or an ancient confusion or relocation, or another namesake, or pre-directions/poles change.
Su- can also mean "south" in Indo-European.
Excluding Gertoux's very dubious Shutu match I haven't found or seen/heard of any other match for Sodom in Sumerian/Akkadian except for Sidamu in Eblaite records, or Sirim in the Urnina/Urnanshe plaque, or Sumadru/Sumaddi/Shuruppak in the Sumerian king list. The Eblaite one is very disputed.
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Regarding the claim that Tell el-Hammam matches Sodom, this is certainly wrong because:
Date is too late.
Middle Bronze Age and "1600s" bc is too late for Abraham who was ca 2000s in Massoretic (215 + 430 + 480 yrs before Solomon). Even more so too late when we consider that the conventional Egyptian/Palestinian/Mesopotamian dynasties/strata dates are too long/old by a few centuries and the true dates will be lower.
No name match.
Tell el-Hammam is not demonstrated to have name Sodom or Gomorrah associated with it in any sources?
Not never again inhabited:
The bible seems to say that Sodom and the other cities were never inhabited again (Genesis 19:25, Deut 29:23, 1 Ki 14:24? 1 Ki 22:46, Isa 1:9, Isa 13:20, Jer 49:18, Jer 50:40, Zeph 2:9), but Tell el Hammam was inhabited from the Chalcolithic to Middle Bronze Age, and from Iron Age II to Ummayad period.
Location has problems:
The bible implies that the whole plain was in danger (Genesis 19:17, 19:25, 19:28), so I fail to see why Jericho was not also wiped out.
It seems strange that there is no evidence of the fire and brimstone at Jericho if Sodom was at the northern end of the Dead Sea.
Misinterpretation, and uniformitarianism:
The whole Hammam theory is based on a misinterpretation of the verse that says Lot went towards the Jordan valley. But the verse says Lot went as far as Sodom. Also, the Jordan valley may have extended further down before the Dead Sea was filled up with water.
They are wrongly assuming the geography is the same now or was the same in later biblical times as it was in Abraham's time.
Not necessary destroyed by fire from sky:
I'm not so sure Hammam was destroyed by fire from the sky, and even if it was there were other similar instances in history like Elijah at Mt Carmel.
There is "no sulphur" at Hammam. The bible says it rained fire and brimstone/sulphur, not "cosmic blast" or "airburst" from meteorite. Jason Colavito says the claim that Hammam was destroyed by an airburst is "disputable".
There is no way Sodom was destroyed (Abraham's time) at the same time as Jericho's walls (Joshua's time) as theorists suggest.
Could Hammam be seen by Abraham from Hebron?
Sure, in Genesis 13 Abraham and Lot did look from Bethel & Ai over towards the cities of the plain. But Abraham later looked from Hebron/Mamre. If Abraham could see as far as Hammam from Hebron, then Abraham and Lot could see as far as the top/north half of the Dead Sea from Bethel/Ai. Besides Genesis 13 doesn't say they saw Sodom from Bethel, only that they saw the plain of the Jordan, and mentioning only Zoar, though it does mention the "cities of the plain".
There is a better match for the gateway of Sodom mentioned in Genesis: Imposing fortifications & gate(way) Bab ed Dra? West gate & new gateway n.e. side Bab edh Dhra ("gate of the arm")?
No one seems to consider the meanings of the names.
Sodom/Sedom "consuming, burning" / "scorch, burnt, volcanic, bituminous" / "fasten, fortify, strengthen" / "secret, mystery, hidden" (Hebrew).
Or
Su-edin(-ki)/Subartu/'Sumasti /Su-rum "good Edin (city/land)" (Sumerian/Akkadian).
Shu-edin-hum/S(h)iri-hum / Shu-rum-hum? /Siru-hum? /Edin-hum? / Rum-hum? "garden Edin fruitful" (Sumerian/Akkadian).
(Edin "steppe(land), plain".)
Gomorrah/Ghamorah/Amorah "heap" or "submersion, be deep, copious (water)" or "a pile of ruins" or "(corn) sheaf".
Ad(a)mah "fort" / "earthy".
Zeboiim/Zeboyim "deer (plural), goats, gazelles, roes" or "hyenas".
Bela "destroying, destruction".
Zoar/Segor "little, smallness" / "window/sky-light, enlightenment from above".
Lasha "cleft, fissure, break", "spring".
Emeq Siddim emeq "valley" of siddim "pitted vale" / "the plains, flats", or
'Salt Sea'.
Emeq Shaveh (Kiriathaim) emeq "valley" of shaveh "plain", or
Emeq ha-Melek "King's Dale/Valley".
'Kikkar ha Yarden/Jordan' from kikkar "circle, round (loaf of bread), circular disk for payment, tract/region, plain, valley, flat, low lying" and ha "the" and Yrdn "descender".
Kikkar "circle, round (loaf of bread), circular disk for payment, tract/region, the plain, valley, flat, low lying"
Eretz ha Kikkar from eretz "land/earth" (of) ha "the" kikkar "circle, round (loaf of bread), circular disk for payment, tract/region, plain, valley, flat, low lying".
'iyr/eer/arey ha Kikkar from iyr/eer/arei "cities" ha "of/the" kikkar "circle, round (loaf of bread), circular disk for payment, tract/region, plain, valley, flat, low lying"
Dubious relevance of Kikkar:
I can not see any "round/circular" valley/plain of the Jordan anywhere between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. There is a small slightly circular area around Hammam and Jericho but it is too small to be the plain/valley of the Jordan or to match the cities of the plain/valley. So if kikkar "plain/valley" is circular then it must be in the Dead Sea, and/or else it is not "circular/round".
"Such a large site not mentioned in bible must be Sodom":
As for Bronze Age Hammam being a larger area than Bronze Age Jericho and Jerusalem/Jebus/Salem, and comparable to Hazor, and not being mentioned in the bible "and so it can only be Sodom", either it is mentioned later in the bible (maybe as Abel-Shittim or Beth-Haram/Beth-Haran), or maybe it is not mentioned (perhaps because it may fall between Joseph and Joshua). Jericho was not mentioned until Joshua's time. To say it must be Sodom because it is not mentioned in the bible doesn't even make sense, because Hammam's occupation didn't end with the "airblast" that supposedly matches Sodom's destruction. It was also occupied later, and yet it still is not mentioned. The Hebrews were in the area before they crossed the Jordan and encountered Jericho, yet the text doesn't say "at/near Sodom". And since the "1600s" MBA date is a couple/few centuries too late it was occupied after Abraham's time anyway.
Based on tenuous bible development theories:
Despite people trashing the reliability of the bible on the basis of the Documentary Hypothesis and composition in Babylonian/Persian times, there is no proof that the biblical account is unreliable, and even the Documentary and late composition theory has some conflicting evidences to the contrary.
So for all the above reasons surveyed we can be totally certain that Hammam is not Sodom. Sodom is more likely to be either in the Lishan "tongue" or Bab edh Dhra area, or under the larger northern half of the sea, or south-east coast (Numeira area), or the Sedom/Usdum area. Compare the position of Tiahuanaco (Atlantis city) in relation to lake Titicaca (which is inverse to position of Eridu to Persian gulf).
(The plain of the 5 cities might be analogous to the Plain of Atlantis and the plain of Tiahuanaco. Though the biblical one is "circular/round" and low, while the Atlantis/Tiahuanaco one is rectangular and high.)
Sodom and Gomorrah might be like twin cities. Atlantis/Tiahuanaco is sometimes represented as a twin city/cities like a figure 8. In the map here http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2008/04/The-Discovery-of-the-Sin-Cities-of-Sodom-and-Gomorrah.aspx it looks like Jebel Usdum may be twin cities not just one? Josephus has a name Somorrha which may combine Sodom and Gomorrah?
Sodom's sin was not so much homosexuality, but because of "lies/lying, they were arrogant, pride, haughty, unconcerned, didn’t care about the poor/needy", and "addiction to highway robberies", and "did not hide their sin but paraded their sin" (Isa 3:9, Ezek 16:49, Rev 11:8).
Btw Sitchin says "pillar of salt" can be read "vapourised". So looking for a human shaped pillar is no use.
For further details not included here see my posts on Sodom or posts including Sodom
https://iwillnotbeassimilated.blogspot.com/2021/09/sodom-found-in-mesopotamian-records.html
https://www.academia.edu/50489867/Chedorlaomer_as_Gilgamesh_or_Uruashkhad
https://2rbetterthan1.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/finding-sodom-gomorrah/
https://biblehistory.createaforum.com/29/finding-chedorlaomer-amraphel/
References:
Alan Alford Gods of the New Millenium
Atlantipedia
Bible
Sean Bambrough
http://www.biblearchaeology.org
Collins
Jason Colavito
Epic of Gilgamesh
Eblaite texts
Enmerkar & Aratta
Gertoux
Dr David E Graves smyrnean.blogspot.com
B Hrozny
F Josephus
Werne Keller Bible as History
Walter Mattfeld www.bibleorigins.net
Madaba Map
Omens
TV Oommen
Roger M Pearlman (papers on academia.edu site)
Z Ragozin 'Chaldea'
David M Rohl
Rast
Sumerian King List
Sargon's Chronicle
AH Sayce
Z Sitchin
Strabo
Schaub
Shea
Jim Stinehart (Ancient Bible History group posts)
Tacitus?
Urnina/Urnanshe Plaque
LA Waddell Makers of Civilization
Wikipedia
Ron Wyatt.
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