Zoara
Bela, called Zoar or Tzoar in the Hebrew Bible, Segor in the Septuagint, and Zughar by medieval Arabs, was an ancient city located in the Dead Sea basin in the Transjordan.
Biblical Zoar is described in Genesis as one of the five "cities of the plain" – a pentapolis at the time of Abram/Abraham, situated in a highly fertile valley mentioned in the Book of Genesis, apparently stretching along the lower Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea plain. The biblical narrative shows the city being spared the "brimstone and fire" which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in order to provide a refuge for Lot and his daughters.
The town of Zoara, located at modern-day Ghor es-Safi in Jordan, is mentioned in the 1st–5th centuries CE by various geographers and historians. The Catholic Encyclopedia, writing about the time preceding the Crusades, called it "a flourishing oasis where the balsam, indigo, and date trees bloom luxuriantly". Arab authors of the 10th century mention its indigo production and praise its dates.
In the Bible
Zoar, meaning "small" or "insignificance" in Hebrew, was a city east of Jordan in the vale of Siddim, near the Dead Sea. Along with Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, Zoar was one of the 5 cities slated for destruction by God; but Zoar was spared at Lot's plea as his place of refuge.A Zoar is mentioned in in connection with the nation of Moab. This connection with Moab would be consistent with a location near the lower Dead Sea plain.
Historical city in extra-biblical sources
Roman period
Zoara is mentioned in the 1st century CE by Josephus and in the 2nd by Ptolemy.Byzantine period
In the 4th century it is again mentioned by Eusebius in his Onomasticon, and in the 5th by Saint Jerome in his annotated version of the work.Egeria the pilgrim tells of a bishop of Zoara that accompanied her in the area, in the early 380s. Antoninus of Piacenza, in the 6th century, describes its monks and extols its palm trees.
Zoara is mentioned in Tractate Pesachim of the Babylonian Talmud as a place where date palms grew. In Tractate Yevamot, the city is mentioned in regards to a woman's testimony, when a traveling Levite died at an inn, and the woman innkeeper had him buried.
The Notitia Dignitatum, 72, probably reflecting the reality of the late 4th century, places at Zoara, as a garrison, the resident equites sagitarii indigenae ; Stephen of Byzantium speaks also of its fort, which is mentioned in a Byzantine edit of the 5th century ; near the city was a sanctuary to Saint Lot mentioned by Hierocles and George of Cyprus.
In the sixth-century Madaba Map, it is represented in the midst of a grove of palm trees under the names of Balac or Segor.
Early Muslim period
and Ibn Haukal, two Arab geographers of the 10th century, highly praise the sweetness of Zughar's dates, but are less impressed by the quality of the indigo produced there.Crusader period
During the Crusader period it took the name of Palmer or Paumier. William of Tyre and Fulcher of Chartres have left descriptions of it.The Syriac Chronicles of Patriarch Michael the Syrian and of Bar Hebraeus contain some obscure traditions regarding the founding of some of the "cities of the plain". According to these accounts, during the lifetime of Nahor, a certain Armonius the Canaanite had two sons named Sodom and Gomorrah, for whom he named two newly built towns, naming a third, Zoar, after their mother.
Mamluk period
According to the 14th-century travelogue The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville:"Zoar, by the prayer of Lot, was saved and kept a great while, for it was set upon a hill; and yet sheweth thereof some part above the water, and men may see the walls when it is fair weather and clear."
It is not known when the city disappeared.
Christianity
Bishopric
Zoara was part of the late Roman province of Palaestina Tertia. It became a bishopric and is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.Le Quien gives the names of three of its bishops;
- Musonius, present at the Second Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon ;
- Isidore, mentioned in 518 when Isidore signed the synodal letter of Patriarch John of Jerusalem against Severus of Antioch.
- John, in 536 signed the acts of the synod of Jerusalem convoked by Patriarch Peter against Antime of Constantinople and saw the bishops of the Three Palestines together. In the same year, in May, John also took part in the synod of Constantinople by Patriarch Mena to condemn Antimo.
- An anonymous bishop is mentioned in the Itinera hierosolymitana of the end of the fourth century.
Catholic titular see
- Francesco Maria Cutroneo
- Jean-Henri Baldus,
- Claude-Thierry Obré
- Pedro José Sánchez Carrascosa y Carrión
- Patrick Vincent Dwyer
- René-Marie-Joseph Perros,
- Antonio Capdevilla Ferrando
Archaeology