Dead SeaKONSTANTIN M. KLEIN

The Dead Sea is a salt lake in the Jordan Rift

valley. It has a salinity of more than 33 percent,

which prevents animals living in it, hence

its modern Hebrew and Arabic names (Hebr.

Yam ha-Melah: , “Sea of Salt,” and Arab. Bah:ral-Mayyit, “Dead Sea”). In addition to these

names, the Hebrew Bible refers to it as

“The Eastern Sea” (Yam ha-Mizrah: ı), and in

Arabic, especially in premodern times, it is

called “The Sea of Lot” (Bah:r Lut), alluding tothe devastation of its five preeminent cities,

Sodom, Gomorra, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar

(see Gen 19:24–5; Deut 29:23). To the Greeks,

the lake was known as Limen asphaltitis,

“The Asphaltite Sea,” named after its most

important resource, bitumen.

GEOGRAPHY

TheDead Sea is situatedmore than 420mbelow

sea level, and its shores form the lowest area on

dry land worldwide; the lake itself is ca. 380 m

deep and about eight times more salty than the

Mediterranean. The water of the Dead Sea dif-

fers significantly from that of the oceans. It

contains high amounts of magnesium chloride,

calcium chloride, and sodium chloride, though

the exact composition varies throughout the

year. The lake is 65 km long and 17 km wide.

Its main tributary is the JORDAN RIVER, while

additional sources of water derive from winter

rains flowing through dry riverbeds from the

nearby Judaean Hills. Due to its salinity, nei-

ther fish nor plants can live in the Dead Sea,

as was observed by several ancient authors

(cf. Arist. Mete. 2.359a; Jos. BJ 4.8.4). Be that

as it may, in ancient times the area where the

Jordan River leads into the lake was densely

cultivated with palms and fig trees. The Dead

Sea provided the inhabitants of the cities and

villages around it with several natural products,

from potash for fertilizing the fields to bitumen

for various forms of usage, among them as

burning material for the incense in the temple

in Jerusalem (see TEMPLE, JEWISH, IN JERUSALEM) or

as balm for mummification (see MUMMIES

AND MUMMIFICATION). At irregular intervals, the

Figure 1 North shore of the Dead Sea in 1858. © The Francis Frith Collection/Scala, Florence.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 1936–1937.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah11065

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sea discharges chunks of asphalt (bitumen),

which were collected by boat or on the shore

(cf. Diod. Sic. 19.98.2–99.3; Strabo 16.42–3).

HISTORY

Human settlements around the Dead Sea date

back to earliest times. In the narratives of the

Hebrew Bible, the caves of En Gedi are men-

tioned as the hiding place of KingDavid. Several

biblical prophets predict that the lake will once

again become normal and thus supportive to

marine life (cf. Ezek 47:8–9; Zech 14:8). During

the Second Temple Period several Jewish groups

settled in the area, among them the ESSENES of

QUMRAN, while the NABATAEANS engaged in the

bitumen trade to Egypt (cf. Diod. Sic. 2.48.6–8;

19.99.3). Several palaces were built on the

lake’s western shore by HEROD THE GREAT.

One of them, Masada, was used by Jewish

Zealots (seeMASADA;ZEALOTS (JEWISH)) as a strong-

hold against the Roman army in the JewishWar.

The remote hills around the Dead Sea offered

ideal conditions for Late Antique desert asceti-

cism and were soon to be populated by monks

and hermits. Famous monasteries, such as the

Great Lavra of Sabas, date back to these times.

SEE ALSO: Dead Sea Scrolls; Sabas, Great Lavra of.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Enzel, Y., Agnon, A., and Stein, M., eds. (2006)

New frontiers in Dead Sea paleoenvironmental

research. Boulder, CO.

Hammond, P. (1959) “The Nabataean bitumen

industry at the Dead Sea.” The Biblical

Archaeologist 22: 40–8.

Niemi, T., Ben-Abraham, Z., and Gat, J., eds. (1997)

The Dead Sea: the lake and its setting. New York.

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