TERRIBLE VOLCANIC DISASTERS OF THE PAST.
BY TRUMBULL WHITE.
=Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Other Cities
of the Plain--The Bible Account a Graphic Description of
the Event--Ancient Writers Tell of Earthquakes and
Volcanoes of Antiquity--Discovery of Buried Cities of
which no Records Remain--Formation of the Dead Sea--The
Valley of the Jordan and Its Physical Characteristics.=
In the history of earthquakes, nothing is more remarkable than the
extreme fewness of those recorded before the beginning of the
Christian era, in comparison with those that have been registered
since that time. This may be partly accounted for by the fact that
before the birth of Christ, there was but a small portion of the
habitable surface of the globe known to those who were capable of
handing down a record of natural events. The vast increase in the
number of earthquakes in recent times is, therefore, undoubtedly due
to the enlargement of our knowledge of the earth's surface, and to the
greater freedom of communication now subsisting among mankind.
Earthquakes might have been as frequent throughout the entire globe in
ancient times as now; but the writers of the Bible, and the historians
of Greece and Rome might have known nothing of their occurrence. Even
at the present time, an earthquake might happen in Central Africa, or
in Central Asia, of which we would never hear, and the recollection of
which might die out among the natives in a few generations. In
countries, too, which are thinly inhabited, and where there are no
large cities to be overthrown, even great earthquakes might happen
almost unheeded. The few inhabitants might be awe-struck at the time;
but should they sustain no personal harm, the violence of the
commotion and the intensity of their terror would soon fade from their
memories.
Dr. Daubeny, in his work on volcanoes, cites an example of this
complete oblivion, even when the event must have occurred not far from
the ancient center of civilization. The town of Lessa, between Rome
and Naples, and not far from Gaeta, stands on an eminence composed of
volcanic rocks. In digging the foundations for a house at this place
some years ago, there were discovered, many feet beneath the present
surface, a chamber with antique frescoes and the remains of an
amphitheater. Yet there is not only no existing account of the
destruction of a town on this site, but not even a tradition of any
volcanic eruption in the neighborhood.
The earthquake which destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is not only the
oldest on record, but one of the most remarkable. It was accompanied
by a volcanic eruption, it upheaved a district of several hundred
square leagues, and caused the subsidence of a tract of land not less
extensive, altering the whole water system and the levels of the soil.
The south of Palestine contained a splendid valley dotted with forests
and flourishing cities. This was the valley of Siddim, in which
reigned the confederate sovereigns of Sodom, Gomorrah, Adniah, Zeboiim
and Zoar. They had joined forces to resist the king of the Elamites,
and they had just lost the decisive battle of the campaign when the
catastrophe which destroyed the five cities and spread desolation in
the flourishing valley took place. As the sun arose, the ground
trembled and opened, red-hot stones and burning cinders, which fell
like a storm of fire upon the surrounding country, being emitted from
the yawning chasm.
In a few words, the Bible relates the dread event:
"And when the morning arose, the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise,
take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be
consumed in the iniquity of the city.
"And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the
hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him
without the city.
"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he
said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in
all the plain; escape to the mountain lest thou be consumed.
"And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord, behold now, thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy,
which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape
to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die. Behold now, this
city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape
thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.
"And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing
also, that I will not overthrow this city, for which thou hast spoken.
Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything until thou be
come thither.
"Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen
upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
"Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire
from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all
the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew
upon the ground.
"But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of
salt.
"And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he stood
before the Lord, and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward
all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the city
went up as the smoke of a furnace."
Nothing could be more succinct or terse than this description of the
catastrophe. This was a sudden volcanic eruption like that which
destroyed in one night the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. At the
time of the convulsion in Palestine while clouds of ashes were emitted
from the yawning abyss and fell in fiery showers upon the ground, a
vast tract of country, comprising the five cities and some land to the
south of them, was violently shaken and overturned.
Of the valleys watered by the Jordan, that of Siddim was the largest
and the most populous. All the southern part of this valley, with its
woods, its cultivated fields, and its broad river, was upheaved. While
upon the other side the plain subsided, and for a distance of a
hundred leagues was transformed into a vast cavern of unknown depth.
Upon that day the waters of the Jordan, suddenly arrested by the
upheaval of the soil lower down the stream, must have flowed rapidly
back toward their source, again to flow not less impetuously along
their accustomed incline, and to fall into the abyss created by the
subsidence of the valley and the break-up of the bed of the stream.
When, after the disaster, the inhabitants of neighboring regions came
to visit the scene of it, they found the whole aspect of the district
altered. The valley of Siddim had ceased to exist, and an immense
sheet of water covered the space which it once occupied. Beyond this
vast reservoir, to the south, the Jordan, which formerly fertilized
the country as far as the Red Sea, had also disappeared. The whole
country was covered with lava, ashes and salt; all the cultivated
fields, the hamlets and villages, had been involved in the cataclysm.
The record of this great catastrophe is preserved not only by
Scripture, but by the living and spoken traditions of the East, all
the legends of Syria, as well as ancient historians like Tacitus and
Strabo, relating how Lake Asphaltite was formed during the terrible
shock and how opulent cities were swallowed up in the abyss or
destroyed by fire from out of the earth.
But even if popular traditions had been forgotten, and if the writings
of ancient authors had been lost, the very aspect of the country would
suffice to show that it had suffered from some terrible subterranean
convulsion. As it was upon the morrow of the catastrophe itself, so it
has remained with its calcined rocks, its blocks of salt, its masses
of black lava, its rough ravines, its sulphurous springs, its boiling
waters, its bituminous marshes, its riven mountains, and its vast Lake
Asphaltite, which is the Dead Sea.
This sea, the depth of which has never been sounded, evokes by its
origin and its mysterious aspect, the dolorous image of death.
Situated about 690 feet below the level of the ocean, in the
depression of the soil caused by the earthquake, its waters extend
over an area of a hundred square leagues to the foot of the salt
mountains and basaltic rocks which encircle it. One can detect no
trace of vegetation or animal life; not a sound is heard upon its
shores, impregnated with salt and bitumen; the birds avoid flying over
its dreary surface from which emanate deadly effluvia, and nothing can
exist in its bitter, salt, oily, and heavy waters. Not a breeze ever
stirs the surface of this silent sea, nothing moves therein save the
thick load of asphalt which now and again rises from the bottom to the
surface and floats lazily on to the desolate strand.
The Jordan has remained what it was in ancient times, the blessed
stream, the vivifying artery of Palestine. Taking their source in the
spotless snows and pure springs of Mount Hermon, its waters have
retained the azure hues of the sky and the clearness of crystal.
Before the catastrophe, the Jordan, after having traversed and
fertilized Palestine, found its way into the Gulf of Arabia, but now,
as upon the morrow of the shock which broke up its bed, its waters are
lost in the somber abyss of the Dead Sea.
The Bible mentions an earthquake in Palestine in the reign of Ahab,
and one in the reign of Uzziah, which rent the temple. The latter was
an event so great that the chroniclers of the time used it in dating
occurrences, and Amos speaks of what happened "two years before the
earthquake."
The same convulsions of nature are mentioned many other times in the
Bible, in connection with prophecy, revelation and the crucifixion.
Nearly all writings about earthquakes prior to the last century tended
to cultivate superstitious notions respecting them. Even Pliny,
Herodotus, Livy, and the other classic writers, were quite ignorant of
the true causes, and mythology entered into their speculations. In
later times the investigation has become a science. The Chinese were
pioneers in this direction, having appointed an Imperial Commission in
A.D. 136 to inquire into the subject. It is to be doubted, however, if
what they reported would be considered as of much scientific value
to-day.
By this time it is estimated that in the libraries of the world are
more than 2,000 works treating of earth-motions. The phenomena are
taken quite out of the realm of superstition. By means of delicate
instruments of various kinds, called seismometers, the direction of
earth-movements can be traced, and their force gauged, while by means
of a simple magnet with a metal piece attached to it, an earthquake
can be foretold. These instruments tell us that scarcely a day passes
without an earthquake in some portion of the globe. The internal
causes of these manifestations are ever active, whatever the causes
may be.