How Did the Dead Sea Get Its Name?
Once called the "Salt Sea" in the Old Testament, the Dead Sea is actually a lake located about 15 miles east of Jerusalem in Israel and Jordan. It is fed by the Jordan River and many small streams. No streams flow out of it, but the water is constantly evaporating in the arid climate.
This inland body of water was originally named the "Sea of Zoar" after a nearby town, and it also has been called the "Sea of Arava" and the "Eastern Sea." Some other less flattering names such as the "Stinking Sea" refer to the high mineral content and the absence of fish or other living creatures. Since Biblical times, it also has been known as the "Sea of Sodom" and the "Sea of Lot." The Crusaders called it the "Devil's Sea."
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Geography
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The Dead Sea is a place of extremes. Its shore is the lowest dry point on earth, and its waters are 1,000 feet deep in places. The waters of the Dead Sea hold as much salt as water can contain, nearly 10 times saltier than the ocean and twice as salty as Utah's Great Salt Lake. Minerals are constantly precipitating out of the water, accumulating on the lake bottom. Mineral salts crystalize on every surface and rock along the shore, giving them a distinctive white coating.
History
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The Dead Sea area is rich in history, including what many archaeologists believe to be the sites of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
On an isolated sheer cliff above the western bank of the Dead Sea, a cable car now carries tourists up to the steep path to where the historic fortress, Masada, has been excavated. Built by Herod the Great, Masada is the site of the Roman siege where 1,000 Jews held off 10,000 Roman soldiers from A.D. 70 to 73. The siege ended when the Romans engineered an earth ramp up to the fortress, and each Jewish man killed his family and then himself rather than surrender. Masada is now a major archaeological site.
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The Dead Sea Scrolls
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Another archaeological site is Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. The arid climate in the northwestern Dead Sea area made the preservation of the scrolls possible for 2,000 years until their discovery in 1947 by two young Bedouin shepherds who happened to go looking for a stray goat in a remote cave in the Judean Desert.
Medical Uses of Dead Sea Salts
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The mineral-rich waters of the Dead Sea have been prescribed since ancient times and are still recommended by some doctors for skin ailments. Historical figures who used or recommended the waters for medicinal purposes include King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, Aristotle and Cleopatra. Dead Sea salts are now exported as therapeutic blends used by those with psoriasis, arthritis and muscle pain.
Dead Sea Salts
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In modern times, minerals from the Dead Sea are in such demand that 1,600 people at the Dead Sea Works company work around the clock to extract minerals, the most important of which is Potash, used in making fertilizer.
For health- and beauty-seeking travelers, Dead Sea saltwater baths, mud and other spa treatments are available in resort hotels on both the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the Dead Sea. These efforts are taking a toll on the lake, and many fear it will be drained dry by 2050.
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References
- Photo Credit brett.wagner: Flickr
