Dead Sea
From ePedia, the electronic encyclopedia
The Dead Sea (Arabic البحر الميت, Hebrew ים המלח) is the lowest exposed point on the Earth's surface. It is on the border between the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan on the Jordan Rift Valley. This endorheic body of water is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.
The Dead Sea is 67 km long, up to 18 km wide and 799 m below sea level in depth at its deepest point. The surface of the Dead Sea is at an elevation of 394.6 m (1269 ft) below sea level (2005 figure).
The Dead Sea has attracted interest and visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was a place of refuge for King David, it was one of the world's first health resorts for Herod the Great, and it has been the supplier of products as diverse as balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.
In Hebrew the Dead Sea is called the Yam ha-Melah (help·info) - meaning "sea of salt", or Yam ha-Mavet - meaning "sea of death". In past times it was the "Eastern Sea" or the "Sea of Arava". In Arabic the Dead Sea is called Al Bahr al Mayyit (help·info) meaning "the Dead Sea", or less commonly Bahr Lūţ meaning "the Sea of Lot". Historically, another Arabic name was the "Sea of Zoar", after a nearby town. To the Greeks, the Dead Sea was "Lake Asphaltites".
The Dead Sea is 67 km long, up to 18 km wide and 799 m below sea level in depth at its deepest point. The surface of the Dead Sea is at an elevation of 394.6 m (1269 ft) below sea level (2005 figure).
The Dead Sea has attracted interest and visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was a place of refuge for King David, it was one of the world's first health resorts for Herod the Great, and it has been the supplier of products as diverse as balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.
In Hebrew the Dead Sea is called the Yam ha-Melah (help·info) - meaning "sea of salt", or Yam ha-Mavet - meaning "sea of death". In past times it was the "Eastern Sea" or the "Sea of Arava". In Arabic the Dead Sea is called Al Bahr al Mayyit (help·info) meaning "the Dead Sea", or less commonly Bahr Lūţ meaning "the Sea of Lot". Historically, another Arabic name was the "Sea of Zoar", after a nearby town. To the Greeks, the Dead Sea was "Lake Asphaltites".
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