The city of "Sodom", in the Bible, represents the love of self and the love of ruling or dominating others springing from the love of self. This is why it is depicted as such an evil place, and why it was utterly destroyed by God.

This is not, of course, the usual association people have with Sodom; it has long been connected to homosexuality because in Genesis 19 the men of the city tried to rape the male angels who were visiting Lot. But if you think about it, it makes sense. Experts regard rape as a crime of violence and domination more than a crime of sexual desire. The fact that Lot offered his daughters as an alternative indicates that he thought that the men of the city were not picky about who they dominated and violated. Their chief pleasure was in the domination. All stories about adultery in the Bible -- from the more mild up to and including the intended homosexual gang rape in Sodom -- are actually depictions of selfishness in various forms.

572. That they should kill the third part of men, signifies of depriving themselves of all understanding of truth, and thus of spiritual life. This is evident from the signification of "to kill," as being to deprive of spiritual life (See above, n. 547); and from the signification of "men," as being the understanding of truth (See also above, n. 546, 547); "the third part," in reference to truths, means all (See above, n. 506); so here "to kill the third part of men" signifies the deprivation of all understanding of truth. It means to deprive themselves, because those who become sensual through evils of life and falsities of doctrine deprive ¹ themselves, by reasonings from fallacies, of the understanding of truth, but not others, except such as are sensual. They thus deprive themselves of spiritual life, because man has spiritual life through his understanding, for he becomes a spiritual man in the measure in which his understanding is opened and permits itself to be enlightened by means of truths. But it is by means of truths from good that the understanding is opened, not by means of truths without good; for man thinks truth so far as he lives in the good of love and charity. Truth indeed is the form of good, and all good with man is of his will, and all truth is of his understanding; therefore the good of the will presents its form in the understanding, and the form itself is thought from the understanding which is from the will.

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