The Temple at En Gedi
En Gedi is one of the oases around the Dead Sea. Sodom and Gomorrah would have looked like this oasis. High on the cliff above En Gedi, archaeologists discovered a pagan temple already old at the time of Abraham and Lot. Sodom and Gomorrah probably weren't far from here. Perhaps the people of those sinful cities worshiped the gods of En Gedi. Perhaps they worshiped in this temple. The temple reminds us that the fertility of Sodom and Gomorrah involved more than what first met the eye. Behind that fertility was a pagan lifestyle.There was a main courtyard and a circular structure that were probably used for cultic purposes. The main building is the broad room shown in the picture. Along the lower edge, archaeologists found animal bones, ashes, and pottery fragments, suggesting the location of an altar. A clay statuette of a bull was also found here. Archaeologists concluded that this temple was likely the sanctuary for inhabitants of the region.
