Return to Sodom & Gomorr

by Charles Pellegrino

Book Overview

Unlock doors to the lost worlds of the Bible -- from the Garden of Eden to the ruins of Babylon

Did a volcano part the Red Sea? Have scientists found Eve? Was the pharaoh of the Oppression a woman? Did the Jordan River really cease flowing the day Jericho fell?

A brilliant author, scientist, and adventurer who has been called the real Indiana Jones, Dr. Charles Pellegrino takes us on a remarkable journey from the Nile...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380726335
• ISBN13: 9780380726332
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wideangle View of the Ancient World

Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, recounts the volcanic eruption at the major Minoan port on what is now known as Santorini. The shear power of the blast, the wide distribution of the ash cloud and the tsunamis that followed, were of "mythic proportions" and engendered myths. According to another of my favorite books, When They Severed Earth from Sky (E.W. & P. Barber), myths are the result of oral histories being compacted and altered in predictable ways over millennia. In trying to decode the events described in them, it is important to adopt the viewpoint of the participants. Noah's flood, for instance, need not have covered the world known to us. As Pellegrino points out, the disaster probably covered the Fertile Crescent, the world as known to the original witnesses. There are accounts of the Thera eruption encoded in the Greek story of Atlantis and in Egyptian writings as well as in the Exodus story in the Bible. Unfortunately, there haven't been enough early Minoan writings uncovered to help in the deciphering of Linear A. It is hoped that as the extensive city on Santorini is excavated, more writings will be discovered. Linear B is related to early Greek, but they don't have a clue as yet what Linear A is related to. What impressed me most was that the Minoans, protected by the sea and engaged in widespread trade on it, did not seem to have to fight to have influence in the ancient world. They prospered and developed a superior culture in peace. They had art that inspired the Greeks and plumbing rivaling our own. (They had flush toilets and showers with hot and cold running water.) Unlike their successors, they apparently did not relegate women to an inferior position. Pellegrino makes the connection with their veneration of the bull and the older Catalhoyuk culture in nearby Turkey. Perhaps future excavations of the even older city, below that destroyed by the giant blast, will illuminate that possibility further. After the volcano destroyed much of their territory and undermined their economy, the Mycenaeans, the Indo-European ancestors of the Greeks, took control. Minoans scattered and some became the "sea people" of the Bible, the Philistines. Because they were the enemy of the protagonists in the Bible, the Philistines have had a bad press for many years. There are some excavations going on that paint a more realistic picture. That brings me to another point that struck me in the Pellegrino book. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed; therefore they must have been wicked. From the point of view of the witnesses, it had to be the wrath of God therefore they had to have sinned. Pellegrino suspects that natural gas deposits in that oil and gas rich region may have exploded causing the destruction as described in the Bible.

An erudite and entertaining synthesis of humanity's past

To merely say that this book is one of the best books I have ever read would be to seriously understate my opinion of this profound and important work. Pellegrino has a rare and uncanny ability to draw connections and to synthesize the disparate and widely scattered evidence of humanity's past. An admitted agnostic, he is wise enough to realize that no true scientist can be an athiest, but he also pulls no punches in his clear-minded assessment of biblical history. The fact that he is able to keep his sense of humor throughout only adds to the enjoyment of this book. One of the main reasons I believe this to be a profoundly important work is that Pellegrino presents a refreshingly honest, if not always optimistic, view of human nature. He harbors no illusions about our species' violent past, and thus provides us with the perspective and foresight we need if we wish to avoid the specter of extinction.

Lights, camera... dig!

Cecil B. DeMille's got a lot to answer for. Mention the Old Testament and chances are that most of us will visualise one of his screen epics - Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea, for example - and we'll laugh at the larger-than-life antics. Not Charles Pellegrino. He takes all the old Bible stories and asks what if they really happened? A modern-day adventurer - part detective, part scientist, part visionary - Pellegrino traces archaeological sites from the Nile to the Jordan and the Tigris-Euphrates rivers and presents compelling evidence from scientists, archaeologists and theologians that the oral histories of the Bible hold a surprising basis in fact. We journey with him from the ancient cities of Babylon and Ur, Nineveh and Jericho, to King Solomon's Temple in search of the Ark of the Covenant, and to Qumram for the secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You might expect archaeology to be as dry as, well, dust. But Pellegrino's enthusiasm is infectious. Far from being boring and inaccessible, this book is an unexpected delight. Impeccably researched, yet written with extraordinary clarity of language and as riveting as a good thriller, it'll probably make you go out and start digging for treasure in your own backyard. Eat your heart out Indiana Jones!

Captivating, informative, transporting.

With wit and humor Dr. Pellegrino and his companions today led me on the most stirring and provacative tour of my life. Places once disconnected in my mind's eye are now alive, and full of fascination for me: the straight, steady Nile River Valley and its sluggish culture; the now-you-see-them-now-you -don't peoples of the fertile plains of Mesopotamia; and the ancient ancestors, cousins over the centuries from Asia, Africa, and Europe, woven together in the Middle East. The Gulf War, its rising up and falling down, make sense to me now, historically if not humanly, as does the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the cyclic nature of life. Thank you, Charles, for a most interesting and illuminating day.

CLEAR, OBJECTIVE, AND UNBIASED; a must for history lovers.

Dr. Pellegrino welded my eyes, and mind, to his fascinating archaeological journey thorough the Holy Land. I enjoyed reading a book where the author doesn't use religious bias. His knowledge of the Bible is extremely extensive, which combines with his archaeological expertise to produce a book that gives the reader a better understanding, in clearer terms, of the fascinating stories of the Bible. Read this book with an open mind, and read it again once you are done with it. For those who are non-practicing Christians (like me), this book is an excellent companion guide to the Holy Scriptures. Once your mind is saturated in its informative content, you'll want to recomend it to the rest of your friends and family, and just about anyone else you meet from that day on. --Andrés Goyanes--