DEAD SEA. — Lake of Palestine at the end of the Jordan River, nestled between the steep mountains of Moab to the east and the Judean desert to the west, about 76 km long, 16 km wide, with an area of 945 sq km and a maximum depth of 791 m below sea level, making it the deepest continental depression known on earth. A small peninsula jutting out to the southeast, called al-Lisān, divides it into two distinct parts, the smaller of which is a salt pond covered by 6–8 m of water, extending into the Sebāh marshland.
Its main characteristic is the intense concentration of salts (20–26%), among which magnesium, sodium, and calcium chlorides predominate, brought in by numerous tributaries (the principal ones being the Jordan to the north and the Wādī al-Mūjib, the biblical Arnon, to the east) and by numerous thermal and sulfur springs (Hammām Zerqā Maʿīn, the ancient Callirrhoe [v.], to the east, and the rich ʿAyn Gidī, the biblical En-gedi, to the west), which pour in about 200 cubic meters per second. Although the Dead Sea has no outlet, the water level remains constant due to intense evaporation, with variations depending on atmospheric and seasonal conditions. In recent times, however, the level has risen, since the small Ruqm al-Baḥr peninsula is no longer visible in the north, and the path that once led to Gebel Usdum, the salt mountain on the southern shore, up to 150–175 m high, on the western bank has disappeared. The intense salinity (specific gravity ranging from 1.021 to 1.256) ensures that the waters are devoid of lacustrine fauna; fish brought in by currents die as soon as they enter the water.
In the Bible it is called Yām hā-ʿĂrābâh (Vulgate: “sea of the desert”) because of its geographical position in the deep depression of the Ghor (Deut. 3:17; Josh. 3:16; 12:3; 2 Kgs. 14:25); Yām ha-Qadmonî (“eastern sea”) in contrast to the Mediterranean Sea (Ezek. 47:18); or “former sea” (Joel 2:20; Zech. 14:8), in antithesis to the “hinder sea” or Mediterranean, according to the Hebrew manner of orientation. More frequently it is called Yām ha-melaḥ (Vulg.: “sea of salt”) or “most bitter sea” in contrast to the fresh waters of the Jordan (Num. 34:3; Josh. 15:2; 18:19). In Gen. 14:3 this name follows the transformation of the Vale of Siddim into a bitter lake.
Among Hellenistic authors (Posidonius of Apamea, Diodorus Siculus, Flavius Josephus [Ant. Jud. I, 9; IV, 5, 1; Bell. Jud. XVII, 6]), it is called the Asphalt Lake because of the extensive floating patches of asphalt coming from the bituminous layers on the bottom. From the 2nd century onward the name Dead Sea prevails (Pausanias, 175), which St. Jerome adopted when glossing “sea of salt” in Josh. 3:16. In the Talmud and among modern Jews it is called the “Sea of Sodom,” in reference to the catastrophe of the Pentapolis, whose memory is preserved in the name Gebel Usdum (Gen. 14). The Arabs call it Bahr Lūt, “Lot’s Lake.” In the Madaba mosaic map a sanctuary to the just Lot is depicted south of the Dead Sea.
In 1930 systematic exploitation of the lake’s resources, especially potash salts, began under the Palestine Potash Ltd., with installations on the western shore of the Dead Sea. These were partially destroyed, north of ʿAyn Gidī, during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948; the others have remained inactive due to the lack of a road and agreement between the Israeli government and the company.