An etiology explains the city’s subsequent name of Zoar, ‘small’ according to Gen. 14.6, it former name was ‘Bela’. This due perhaps during Abraham’s time, King Bela ruled Zoar.
Zoar was one of the ‘five cities of the Plain’ southeast of the Dead Sea to which prophet of Lut fled to from Sodom and Gomorrah. The other cities are Admah, and Zeboiin.
Zoar escaped the fate of the other cities of the valley and provided a temporary refuge for Lut and his daughter.
The Talmud refers to ‘Zoar the city of palms’. In the Roman and Byzantine periods a town called Zoara flourished south of the Dead Sea.
Zoar continues to be attested in records until the Middle Ages.
Ancient city of Zoar
