What is the Dead Sea?
The Dead Sea
is the lowest point on Earth at 430.5 meters (1412 feet) below sea level. It is
a majestic and mysterious looking lake of light turquoise waters with salt
crystals jutting out of it, and golden-brown hills surrounding it.
Where is the Dead Sea?
It is
located in the Jordan Rift Valley, bordered by Israel to the East and Jordan to
the West. Its hyper-salty waters and mineral-rich mud are known for their many healthy benefits, and many tourists and locals alike visit the hotels
and spas on its beaches for mud treatments and salt baths.
Why is the Dead Sea so salty?
The Dead Sea
is famously known for being one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, and certainly the deepest
hyper-saline in the world, at a depth of 304 meters (997 feet). And the reason
for this high salinity? The Dead Sea is a terminus for the flow of
rain and surface water, which means water flows into it but doesn’t flow out:
its water has no escape, but is trapped to evaporate. Soaring summer
temperatures and year-round hot dry climatic conditions make it a perfect place to spend unforgettable holidays yet lead to significant losses of
water to evaporation. The water has been losing its H2O content for 65,000
years, with the minerals becoming more and more concentrated and salt prominent
among them.
How did the Dead Sea get its name?
In various
languages, the Dead Sea is referred to by different names, all reflective of
its characteristics. Let’s take a look at all its different names and
understand their origins.
The Salt Sea
The Dead
Sea’s earliest known name is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, where it is
referred to as “the Salt Sea”, from the Book of Genesis through to The Prophets
and later writings. This name was given to due to its unique character: its
significantly high salt content, which makes it a source for rock and sea
salts.
In the later
Roman Era, salt was a highly-valued, strictly controlled commodity, more so
than gold or silver. The Roman armies were paid in salt, rather than hard
currency, The Latin word for salt – “sal” – forms the basis of the word
‘salary’ from this same meaning. The Romans, beginning with Emperor Trajan,
constructed a series of fortresses to dominate every entry and exit ravine for
the movement of Dead Sea salt, guaranteeing the payments of tax by the traders.
This tax was also paid in salt, rather than coinage.
The Dead Sea
Earliest
translations of the name of the Dead Sea into non-indigenous
languages often use its original name of “The Salt Sea”, but already by the
Roman Era, visitors to Judea had begun to refer to the sea as the “Dead Sea”,
as they were mostly struck with how the waters were devoid of all life-forms,
whether plants or living creatures.
The Dead Sea origins in the past clarify the matter even better. In the days when the Jordan River flowed south from the Sea of Galilee with full force in the wet season, one could witness reeds and fish swept down with the river flow into the highly saline water of the Dead Sea. As neither fish nor algae can possibly survive in water which is nearly 10 times saltier than most oceans, it was a death-trap for them.
The Dead Sea origins in the past clarify the matter even better. In the days when the Jordan River flowed south from the Sea of Galilee with full force in the wet season, one could witness reeds and fish swept down with the river flow into the highly saline water of the Dead Sea. As neither fish nor algae can possibly survive in water which is nearly 10 times saltier than most oceans, it was a death-trap for them.
The Plains Sea
In the book
of Joshua in the Bible, the Dead Sea is mentioned by the name “the Sea of the
Plain”: “That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an
heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came
down toward the Sea of the Plain, even the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off:
and the people passed over right against Jericho” (Joshua 3:16).
Other names
the Dead Sea has been called by over the years are: the Primordial Sea, the
East Sea, the Sea of Lot, the Sea of the Arabah, the Sea of Sodom, the Stinking
Sea, the Sea of Asphalt and the Devil’s Sea
