Roman period

Zoara is mentioned in the 1st century CE by Josephus^[6] and in the 2nd by Ptolemy (Geography V, xvi, 4).

Byzantine period

In the 4th century it is again mentioned by Eusebius in his Onomasticon, and in the 5th by Saint Jerome in his annotated version of the work.^[7][8]

Egeria the pilgrim tells of a bishop of Zoara that accompanied her in the area, in the early 380s. Antoninus of Piacenza, in the 6th century, describes its monks and extols its palm trees.^[4][9]

Zoara is mentioned in Tractate Pesachim of the Babylonian Talmud (3rd-6th century) as a place where date palms grew.^[10] In Tractate Yevamot, the city is mentioned in regards to a woman's testimony, when a traveling Levite died at an inn, and the woman innkeeper had him buried.^[11]

The Notitia Dignitatum, 72, probably reflecting the reality of the late 4th century, places at Zoara, as a garrison, the resident equites sagitarii indigenae (native unit of cavalry archers); Stephen of Byzantium (fl. 6th century; De urbibus, s.v. Addana) speaks also of its fort, which is mentioned in a Byzantine edit of the 5th century (Revue biblique, 1909, 99); near the city was a sanctuary to Saint Lot mentioned by Hierocles (6th century; Synecdemus) and George of Cyprus (early 7th century).^[12][13]

In the sixth-century Madaba Map, it is represented in the midst of a grove of palm trees under the names of Balac or Segor.^[14]

Zoar on the Madaba map

Early Muslim period

Istakhri and Ibn Haukal, two Arab geographers of the 10th century, highly praise the sweetness of Zughar's dates, but are less impressed by the quality of the indigo produced there.^[4]

Crusader period

During the Crusader period it took the name of Palmer or Paumier. William of Tyre (XXII, 30) and Fulcher of Chartres (Hist. hierosol., V) have left descriptions of it.^[4]

The Syriac Chronicles of Michael the Syrian (12th century) and of Bar Hebraeus (13th century) contain some obscure traditions regarding the founding of some of the "cities of the plain". According to these accounts, during the lifetime of Nahor (Abraham's grandfather), a certain Canaanite named Armonius had two sons named Sodom and Gomorrah, for whom he named two newly built towns, naming a third (Zoara) after their mother.

Mamluk period

According to the 14th-century travelogue The Travels Of Sir John Mandeville:

"Zoar, by the prayer of Lot, was saved and kept a great while, for it was set upon a hill; and yet sheweth thereof some part above the water, and men may see the walls when it is fair weather and clear."^[15]

It is not known when the city disappeared.^[13]

Bishopric

Zoara was part of the late Roman province of Palaestina Tertia. It became a bishopric and is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.^[16]

Le Quien gives the names of three of its bishops;^[17]

• Musonius, present at the Second Council of Ephesus (449) and the Council of Chalcedon (451);
• Isidore, mentioned in 518 when Isidore signed the synodal letter of Patriarch John of Jerusalem against Severus of Antioch.
• John, in 536 signed the acts of the synod of Jerusalem convoked by Patriarch Peter against Antime of Constantinople and saw the bishops of the Three Palestines together. In the same year, in May, John also took part in the synod of Constantinople by Patriarch Mena to condemn Antimo.
• An anonymous bishop is mentioned in the Itinera hierosolymitana of the end of the fourth century (Vailhé).

Catholic titular see

The Roman Catholic Church still recognizes the diocese of Zoara (in Latin: Dioecesis Zoarensis) as a suppressed and titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, in Jordan, though the seat is vacant since August 25, 2001. Known Catholic bishops include:

• Francesco Maria Cutroneo (March 15, 1773 – November 1780)^[18]
• José Nicolau de Azevedo Coutinho Gentil (July 18, 1783 – 1807)
• Jean-Henri Baldus, (March 2, 1844 – September 29, 1869)^[19]
• Claude-Thierry Obré (December 14, 1877 – December 14, 1881)^[20]
• Pedro José Sánchez Carrascosa y Carrión (March 30, 1882 – 1896)
• Patrick Vincent Dwyer (January 30, 1897 – July 9, 1909)
• René-Marie-Joseph Perros, (September 17, 1909 – November 27, 1952)^[21]
• Antonio Capdevilla Ferrando (March 24, 1953 – August 12, 1962)^[22]
• Wacław Skomorucha (November 21, 1962 – August 25, 2001)

Locating Zoara: sources

Prior to the major archaeological excavations in the 1980s and 1990s that took place in Zoara, scholars proposed that several sites in the area of Khirbet Sheikh 'Isa and al-Naq' offered further evidence of Zoara's location and history. Further information regarding Zoara in different historical epochs were obtained through the descriptions of Arabian geographers, suggesting that Zoara served as an important station in the Aqaba-to-Jericho trade route, and through Eusebius' statement that the Dead Sea was situated between Zoar and Jericho. Researchers who have studied ancient texts portray Zoara as a town erected in the middle of a flourishing oasis, watered by rivers flowing down from the high Moab Mountains in the east. The sweet dates that grew abundantly on the palm trees surrounding Zoara are also mentioned in some historical texts.^[23]

Surveys and digs (1986-1996)

Several excavation surveys have been conducted in this area in the years 1986-1996.