Lot’s Cave

Lot’s Cave

A monastery, a Byzantine Basilica from the 7th century AD and the Cave of Lot are located on a steep slope south of the Dead Sea and near the village of Safi. The entry to the cave is just behind the basilica. Evidence of the location of Lot's Cave on this site in ancient times is a stone with the inscription "St. Lot" found during excavations. The basilica, which is also depicted on the map of Madaba, has three naves with three apses. The floor is decorated with mosaics. Access to the Cave of Lot is through a doorway at the rear of the left northern aisle. Located just beyond the Lisan Peninsula, Lot's Cave is where he and his daughters are thought to have lived after escaping the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; Lot's wife is said to have become a pillar of salt after looking back at the burning city. During the Byzantine era, the site of Lot's Cave was confirmed, sanctified, and a monastic compound was constructed in front of it. The site was not identified until 1986, although it was mentioned in several Byzantine sources. The room inside the cave, which measures 2 x 2.5 meters, has been paved with fine slabs of white marble. The findings inside the cave are an indication that it has a long-term history of occupation. The latest materials found date to the early ninth century, probably the cave's last use. The excavators found ceramic and glass oil lamps from the early Byzantine period, around the fourth to sixth centuries CE, under the floor of the cave, which dates to the Byzantine-Abbasid period. Beneath it were found late Hellenistic and Nabataean vessels from the first century BC to the first century AD.