Dead Sea tour

Dead Sea Wellnes & Spa

The most spectacular site, is the Dead Sea, which at 400 meters below sea level is the lowest body of water on earth. Surrounded by arid hills, as devoid of life as the sea itself, the Dead Sea glistens under a burning sun with barely a ripple disturbing its surface. The rocks that meet its lapping edges become covered with a snow-like thick gleaming deposit of white salt. It is this extremely high concentration of salt that gives the Dead Sea waters their renowned therapeutic qualities and their buoyancy. Because the salt content is eight times that of most world’s oceans, you can float in the Dead Sea without even trying. Swimming in the Dead Sea is a truly unique experience not to be missed.

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 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. Salt Sea - Dead Sea 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.

Dead Sea tour

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.