- The Dead Sea lies at 417 metres below sea level making it the lowest place on Earth.
- If we’re already speaking about record lows, the road that runs along the shores of the Dead Sea, Road 90, is also the lowest road in the world!
- The Dead Sea is actually a saltwater lake and not a sea
- The Dead Sea is called “Dead” due to the high salt content in the water that makes it impossible for fish or plants to live in it
- The Dead Sea is the second saltiest body of water in the world, with a thirty-three percent salt content
- Artistotle wrote about the Dead Sea in his writings
- Egyptians used to use the Dead Sea mud in their mummification process of their dead
- The salt found in the Dead Sea is extremely bitter- much too bitter to be edible
- Less than ten cm of rain falls each year in the Dead Sea region
- The Jordan River is the main water source that flows into the Dead Sea but no water flows out of the Dead Sea. (a popular interpretation of why the Dead Sea is called “Dead” is as follows: the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are the two great bodies of water in Israel but whereas the Sea of Galilee receives and gives out water, the Dead Sea only receives. One who only takes in life is a kind of living dead. Indeed, the Sea of Galilee is full of life whereas the Dead Sea is empty…).
- All of the minerals found in the Dead Sea are also found naturally in our bodies
- The high salt content in the water makes one buoyant. This means that there is no need to make a conscious effort to float in the Dead Sea; you’ll do so effortlessly!
- Al-Lisan is the name of the peninsula that sticks out into the southern end of the Sea. Al-Lisan is Arabic for “tongue”.
- Over time climatic changes have caused the water levels of the Dead Sea to oscillate. Therefore, geologists use the Dead Sea as a recorder of the climate of former periods of geologic time (otherwise known as paleoclimate) of the Middle East.
Nowadays, it is known world-wide of the therapeutic properties of the Dead Sea Products and the region. This should come as no surprise- the Talmud already recorded that a bathe in the Dead Sea does wonders for ones health!
