How can one read Genesis as some kind of mythical or metaphorical writings when we have real archeological evidences that are completely contrary to that notion…im going to add to this post as i get time, although these days my time is limited on these forums, so rather than debating poor counter arguments with naysayers, i will mainly focus on adding to the real historical evidences already presented.
For example
Biblical Town of Zoar where Lot went too after Sodom and the cave he fled roo after fearing Zoar might also be destroyed
Greek inscriptions invoking Lot himself, confirm the Christian identification of the site.
The complex includes several domestic quarters typical of and essential to monastic life. These include a common dining room or refectory with long benches, a pilgrims’ hostel, and a common burial chamber. The burial chamber, which was once a cistern, contained the remains of twenty-eight adult males, one adult female, and three infants, suggesting that it may have also served as an infirmary or hospital for monks and pilgrims visiting the region.
At the southern end of the site, near a wadi, is a large water reservoir. This reservoir, 6 meters deep and covered with arches, was probably filled by aqueducts that brought water from higher up in the wadi. In addition, water was available from a spring at the foot of the mountain, to meet the needs of the monastic community, and the pilgrims visiting the sacred site.
Archaeological excavations in the early 1990s unearthed a wealth of artifacts, including Early and Middle Bronze Age pottery. These finds suggest that the site has been considered sacred for millennia, possibly in connection with Lot’s biblical narrative. Explore Lot’s Cave: A biblical sanctuary uncovered
The cave in the referencing above aligns with the map also shown in the mosaic map and is exactly the same as the location specified in Genesis 19
18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords,[b] please! 19 Your[c] servant has found favor in your[d] eyes, and you[e] have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die. 20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of. 22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.[f])
23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Lot and His Daughters
30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar
What is even more interesting…there are literally millions and millions of sulfur balls found on the ground all around that area of the dead sea. Scientists already have concluded that its likely a geological event caused the sulfur to rise up from below and literally rain down on top of those cities in the plain (that are already known to have been clearly destroyed by fire…and yet smack in the very middle of these cities is the city of Zoar…it has no evidence of any burning or destruction by fire. Zoar has also been consistently inhabited throughout the ages since that time despite these other cities in the area around Sodom and Gomorah having clearly been destroyed.
Funny that also, the dead sea is full of tar which regularly floats to the surface from below…so clearly this is the likely cause of the catastrophe that destroyed those cities and the surrounding towns…God can and does have the ability to cause geological events to achieve his purposes…not random events, he directly caused this to happen as the Bible claims.
Its a little difficult to swallow the idea that Biblical history all the way back to Genesis 19 is accurate, and matches Genealogies and various Old Testament Historical timelines, and yet, what comes before that is not? (Moses wrote both…the idea he got part right and the beginning wrong is hardly a credible claim given the large wealth of evidence supporting the authenticity of the latter part of Genesis)