Dead Sea
DEAD SEA
See SEA.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Dead Sea
Lake about 47 miles long, 10 miles wide, on the southeastern border of Palestine, 16 miles east of Jerusalem , into which flow the River Jordan and other streams. Although 6,500,000 tons of fresh water pour into it every day, there is no outlet, the excess water being taken off by evaporation, and the water is so salt that no organic life can exist in it. In the Old Testament it is called “sea of the wilderness” (Jos. 1:3); “east sea” (Joel, 2; Zachariah 14); “salt sea” (Genesis 14); and “sea of the desert” (Deuteronomy 3).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Dead Sea
The name given to the lake that lies on the south-eastern border of Palestine. The Old Testament makes frequent reference to it under a variety of titles; once only, however, by its present one. The Vulgate’s rendering of Josue (iii, 16) reads, mare solitudinis (quod nunc vocatur Mortuum) translated in the D.V. “the sea of the wilderness (which now is called the Dead Sea)”. In the Septuagint the verse reads ten thalassan Araba, thalassan halos, which the A.V. gives thus: “towards the sea of the plain, even the salt sea” and the R.V., “the sea of the Arabah, even the salt sea”. In Joel (ii, 20) the prophet speaks of “the east sea”; and the apocryphal Fourth Book of Esdras (v, 7) speaks of the mare Sodomiticum — the Sodomitish Sea. Josephus, Pliny, and other profane writers, among other names, called it the Lake of Asphalt; Asphaltitis limne and Lacus Asphaltites. The present-day inhabitants of its vicinity call it Bahr Lut — the Sea of Lot.
The Dead Sea is the final link of the chain of rivers and lakes that lies in the valley of the Jordan. Taking its rise on the southern slopes of Mt. Hermon, the Jordan in its southern course first spreads out into Lake Merom, emerging from which it flows into the Lake of Tiberias, whence it descends into the Dead Sea. To convey a proper idea of the size and shape of the Dead Sea travellers often compare it to the Lake of Geneva. The resemblance between the two is striking in almost every particular. The great lake of the Holy Land is forty-seven miles long and about ten miles across at its widest part. Its area is approximately 360 square miles. The surface of the water is 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean, which is only a few miles to the west. This extraordinary feature alone singles out the Dead Sea from all other bodies of water. A low-lying peninsula about ten miles wide, called el-Lisan, “the tongue”, which runs out from the south-eastern shore to within three miles of the opposite shore, divides the sea into two unequal parts. The northern and larger part is very deep, reaching at one point a depth of 1310 feet. The southern bay is, on the contrary, very shallow, averaging hardly a depth of thirteen feet. In two places it is possible to cross from the peninsula to the opposite shore by means of two fords which are known to the Arabs.
The water in the Dead Sea is salt. Every day the Jordan and other affluents pour into it over six and one half million tons of fresh water. There is, however, no outlet to the ocean, and the sole agent whereby this increase is disposed of is evaporation. The power of the sun’s rays in this great pit is, however, so intense that save for a small fluctuation between the wet and dry seasons, the level of the sea does not change, despite the great volume that is added to it. In the water that remains after evaporation solid matters make up 26 per cent of the whole; 7 per cent being chloride of sodium (common salt), the rest being chiefly chlorides of magnesium, calcium, and derivatives of bromium. The chloride of magnesium gives the water a very loathsome taste; the chloride of calcium an oily appearance. The specific gravity of the water is 1.166. The presence of so much salt explains well the weird name of the sea, since save for a few microbes, no organic life can exist in it. Even fish from the ocean perish when put into it. The human body will not sink below the surface. Bathing, however, in the Dead Sea can hardly be styled a pleasure, as the water is very irritating to the skin and eyes. There is, it need hardly be said, no foundation for the statement sometimes made, that birds cannot fly across the water, as occasionally sea-birds can be seen resting on its surface. From time to time large quantities of bitumen rise to the surface from the bottom. Bitumen is also found along the shores and is referred to in Genesis (xiv, 10) where it speaks of the puteos multos bituminis — “many pits of slime”. This feature caused the ancients to speak of the sea as the “Lake of Asphalt”.
The Dead Sea is mentioned in the Old Testament mostly as a boundary. Its formation comes into discussion in the Book of Genesis (xiv, 3) where, speaking of the kings against whom Chodorlahomor fought, the text says: “All these came together into the woodland vale, which is now the salt sea”. According to the geologists who have explored the region, the formation of this depression of the earth’s surface does not date from any historical period, but from the later tertiary or early quaternary period. Their theory is that at some remote time the western part of this region, owing to some profound disturbance of the strata, sank far below the eastern part, thus causing the great dissimilarity of the strata of the two sides of the sea. Besides this, the beds of gypsum, marl, flint, and alluvium found at different heights all along the Jordan valley indicate at that one time the entire valley, from the Lake of Tiberias to the Dead Sea, was a lake. Just what were the conditions at the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha is only a matter of conjecture. But the words of the text, taken as they stand, prove that in the great catastrophe there was an inundation from the sea. The mooted question as to the sites of Sodom and Gomorrha does not properly enter into this article.
It is a very strange sight that this region presents to the eye, especially when seen from some height. On the eastern and western sides great mountains rise up in some places sheer from the water. To the north, the silvery line of the Jordan can be traced as far as the eye can reach. To the south, the hills of solid salt, called Jebel Usdum — Mt. Sodom — and, on a clear day, mountains close to the Red Sea may be seen. Now all is deserted and dead. No vegetation or sign of human occupation greets the traveller. In other days the scene was different. Vessels plied the surface of the sea and many people lived near its shores. The prophecies of Esechiel (xlvii) and of Zacharies (xiv, 8) give one subject of thought on the scene here when the life-giving streams pouring forth from the Temple will have transformed it anew.
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SMITH, Hist. Geog. of the Holy Land (London, 1895); BULL, Memoir on the Physical Geology and Geography of Arabia Petrœa, Palestine, etc. (London, 1886, Mount Seir, 1889); LYNCH, Narrative of the U. S. Expedition to . . . the Dead Sea (Washington, 1849); Official Report of the U. S. Expedition, etc. (Washington, 1852); DE LUYNES, Voyage d’ Exploration à la Mer Morte (1875 LARTET, Geologie, in Vol. III of the collection of Duc de Luynes; DE SAULCY, Voyage autour de la Mer Morte (1853); TRISTRAM, The Land of Israel (London, 1882); VIGOUROUX, Manuel Biblique (Paris, 1901), I, 678; Les Livres Saints et la critique rationaliste, 5th ed., IV, 311; GAUTIER in Ency. Biblica, I, col. 1042.
JOSEPH V. MOLLOY. Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Dead Sea
(mare mortuum, Justin, 36:3, 6; , Pausan. v. 7, 3; Galen. Simpl. Med. 4:20), a name applied since the second century to the Asphaltic Lake ( , as Josephus, iodorus Siculus, and Ptolemy, v. 16, 3, call it; or simply , War, 4:8, 2; more distinctly , Ant. 17:6, 5; Pliny’s Asphaltites lacus, or simply Asphaltites), from its supposed noxious properties. In the Bible it is called the SALT SEA ( , Gen 14:3; Num 34:12, etc.), the Sea of the Plain, or Arabah ( , Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49, etc.), or the Front (Eastern) Sea ( , Eze 47:18; comp. Eze 47:8; Joe 2:20; Zec 14:8). By the Arabs it is termed Bahr Lut, the Sea of Lot (Abulfeda, Tab. Syr. p. 156). It is the remarkable lake or internal sea formed by the filling up of the old basin of the Vale of Siddim (Gen 14:3), on the south-east border of Palestine (Num 34:3; Num 34:12; Deu 3:17; comp. Jos 12:3), especially in the same quarter of the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:2; Jos 15:5) into which the Jordan empties (in, 16), 300 stadia from Jerusalem (Joseph. Ant. 15:6, 2). Josephus (War, 4:8, 4) gives its length as 580 stadia, or about 38 miles; its breadth as 150 stadia, or about 15 miles; and its circumference as 6 days’ journey (see Setzeen in Zach’s Monatl. Corresp. 18:440; the estimates of Pliny, v. 15, and Diod. Sic. 19:98, are erroneous). It is long and necked or sickle-form at the southern end, with a peninsula at the eastern side. SEE BAY. The east and west shores are steep with naked limestone, SEE ENGEDI, but the southern shore ends in a marsh. On the south-west is a range of salt hills, and on the southeast a considerable plain. SEE SALT, VALLEY OF. The water, which lies far below the level of the Mediterranean, is clear, but uncommonly salt and bitter, and of great density (Joseph. War, 4:8, 4; Jul. Afric. in Canisii Lection. Antiq. 2:1; Pliny, v. 15). It contains no living creature, neither fish, shells, nor seaplants, and when fishes from the Jordan get into it they die and float upon the surface (Diod. Sic. 2:48; 19:98; Jerome on Eze 47:9; Cotovic. Itin. p. 312). The shore is covered with a dark offensive mud, upon which a strong saline incrustation forms, and is occasionally interspersed with lumps of bitumen, broken off from the cliffs or disgorged from the bottom (Burckhardt, 2:664). A pretty thick fog has been observed, especially in the morning, by travelers (Shaw, p. 297; Volney, 1:240), as enveloping the lake (comp. Wild. 10:7; Philo, Opp. 21:143); but, situated as it is in a deep caldron-like spot, the air is usually excessively sultry, and so filled with saline effluvia as to banish vegetation (Philo, Opp. 2:21); and although it is not so detrimental to animal life (Tacit. Hist. v. 6) as has sometimes been represented (Maundrell, p. 116), a solemn stillness reigns around, unbroken by wind, wave, or animated cry.’ The marks of volcanic agency are strewn about (Felsecker, Palst. 2:353), which, with the warm springs on the shore, SEE CALLIRRHOE, the asphaltic vapors and floating substances (Strabo 16:764), give evidence of the plutonic catastrophe (comp. Gen 14:10) which covered the guilty cities of this plain (Genesis 19); and it is popularly believed that these ruins may still be discerned beneath its waters (Joseph. War, 4:8, 4), though now sunk below their former level (Reland, Paloest. p. 254 sq.). SEE SIDDIM. It was anciently believed that the immense volume of water poured in by the Jordan found an outlet by subterranean canals into the Mediterranean (Diod. Sic. 19:98); but it is now ascertained that this is impossible, and that evaporation is sufficient to account for the maintenance of the usual height in the lake (Bachiene, I, 1:121). See generally Fabri, Evagat. 2:155 sq.; Oedmann, Samml. 3, 125; Hamelsveld, 1:447; Busching, Erdbeschr. V, 1:322 sq.; Waihner, De Mari Asphalt. (Helmst. 1712); Michaelis in his Comment. 1758-62 oblat. (Brem. 1774), p. 61 sq.; Mannert, Geogr. VI, 1:332; Ritter, Erdkunde, 16:331 sq.; Schwarz, Palest. p. 41; Thomson, Land and Book, 2:449; Kelly’s Syria, p. 393; J. Kempe, De indole Maris Mortui (Holm. 1751). SEE SEA.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Dead Sea
the name given by Greek writers of the second century to that inland sea called in Scripture the “salt sea” (Gen. 14:3; Num. 34:12), the “sea of the plain” (Deut. 3:17), the “east sea” (Ezek. 47:18; Joel 2:20), and simply “the sea” (Ezek. 47:8). The Arabs call it Bahr Lut, i.e., the Sea of Lot. It lies about 16 miles in a straight line to the east of Jerusalem. Its surfaceis 1,292 feet below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. It covers an area of about 300 square miles. Its depth varies from 1,310 to 11 feet. From various phenomena that have been observed, its bottom appears to be still subsiding. It is about 53 miles long, and of an average breadth of 10 miles. It has no outlet, the great heat of that region causing such rapid evaporation that its average depth, notwithstanding the rivers that run into it (See JORDAN), is maintained with little variation. The Jordan alone discharges into it no less than six million tons of water every twenty-four hours.
The waters of the Dead Sea contain 24.6 per cent. of mineral salts, about seven times as much as in ordinary sea-water; thus they are unusually buoyant. Chloride of magnesium is most abundant; next to that chloride of sodium (common salt). But terraces of alluvial deposits in the deep valley of the Jordan show that formerly one great lake extended from the Waters of Merom to the foot of the watershed in the Arabah. The waters were then about 1,400 feet above the present level of the Dead Sea, or slightly above that of the Mediterranean, and at that time were much less salt.
Nothing living can exist in this sea. “The fish carried down by the Jordan at once die, nor can even mussels or corals live in it; but it is a fable that no bird can fly over it, or that there are no living creatures on its banks. Dr. Tristram found on the shores three kinds of kingfishers, gulls, ducks, and grebes, which he says live on the fish which enter the sea in shoals, and presently die. He collected one hundred and eighteen species of birds, some new to science, on the shores, or swimming or flying over the waters. The cane-brakes which fringe it at some parts are the homes of about forty species of mammalia, several of them animals unknown in England; and innumerable tropical or semi-tropical plants perfume the atmosphere wherever fresh water can reach. The climate is perfect and most delicious, and indeed there is perhaps no place in the world where a sanatorium could be established with so much prospect of benefit as at Ain Jidi (Engedi).”, Geikie’s Hours, etc.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Dead Sea
The name in the Old Testament is never this, but “the Salt Sea” , “sea of the plain.” (See SALT SEA.)
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
DEAD SEA
One of Palestines most unusual geological features is the Dead Sea. It is part of a deep north-south valley that extends along the Jordan River as far as the Gulf of Aqabah (north-eastern arm of the Red Sea) to the south. The Dead Sea, which is the lowest part of this valley, has a water level approximately 400 metres below sea level. It is about seventy-five kilometres long and fifteen kilometres wide. People in ancient times gave it the names Salt Sea and Dead Sea because it was extremely salty and, so far as they could see, nothing could live in it (Num 34:12; Jos 3:16; cf. Eze 47:8-9). (See also PALESTINE, sub-heading Jordan Valley and Dead Sea.)
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Dead Sea
DEAD SEA.An inland lake 47 miles long and from 2 to 9 miles in breadth, which receives the waters of the Jordan. Its level is 1293 ft. below that of the Mediterranean, being the lowest body of water on the surface of the earth. It has no outlet, and the water received by it is all carried off by evaporation. In consequence, the waters of the Lake are impregnated with mineral substances to a remarkable degree; they yield 25 per cent. of salt, whereas the ocean yields but 4 to 6 per cent.
The modern name is of late origin (first used apparently by Pausanias) and refers to the total absence of life in its waters. It has no Scripture warrant; Hebrew writers speak of it as the Salt Sea (Gen 14:8, Num 34:3, Jos 15:5 etc.), the sea of the Arabah (Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49), the east or eastern sea (Eze 47:18, Joe 2:20). In Arabic it is known as Bahr Lut, the sea of Lot, a name which, however, is more probably due to the direct influence of the history as related in the Koran than to a survival of local tradition. Somewhere near the sea were Sodom and Gomorrah, but whether north or south of it is not settled; the one certain fact about their sites is that the popular belief that they are covered by the waters of the Lake is quite inadmissible.
The Dead Sea owes its origin to a fault or fracture produced in the surface of the region by the earth-movements whereby the land was here raised above the sea-level. This fault took place towards the end of the Eocene period; it extends along the whole Jordan valley from the Gulf of Akabah to Hermon; and it may be taken as fairly certain that the general appearance of the Lake has not radically altered during the whole time that the human race has existed in the world.
Round the border of the Lake are numerous small springs, some bursting actually under its waters, others forming lagoons of comparatively brackish water (as at Ain Feshkhah on the western side). In these lagoons various specimens of small fish are to be found; but in the main body of the water itself life of any kind is impossible.
Recent observations tend to show that the surface of the Lake is slowly rising. An island that was a conspicuous feature at the N. end disappeared under the surface in 1892, and has never been seen since.
R. A. S. Macalister.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Dead Sea
Dead Sea [SEA]
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Dead Sea
See SALT SEA.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Dead Sea
Lies southeast of Jerusalem.
Called Salt Sea
Gen 14:3; Num 34:12
Called Sea of the Plain
Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49; Jos 3:16
Called East Sea
Joe 2:20
Called Former Sea
Zec 14:8
Prophecy concerning
Eze 47:7-10; Eze 47:18
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Dead Sea
Dead Sea. See Salt Sea.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
DEAD SEA
also called Salt Sea
Gen 14:3; Num 34:3; Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49; Jos 3:16; Jos 15:5; Joe 2:20; Zec 14:8
Fuente: Thompson Chain-Reference Bible
Dead Sea
This was anciently called the Sea of the Plain, Deu 3:17; Deu 4:49, from its situation in the great hollow or plain of the Jordan; the Salt Sea, Deu 3:17; Jos 15:5, from the extreme saltness of its waters; and the East Sea, Eze 47:18; Joe 2:20, from its situation relative to Judea, and in contradistinction to the West Sea, or Mediterranean. It is likewise called by Josephus, and by the Greek and Latin writers generally, Lacus Asphaltites, from the bitumen found in it and the Dead Sea, its more frequent modern appellation, from a tradition, commonly though erroneously received, that no living creature could exist in its saline and sulphureous waters. It is at present known in Syria by the names of Almotanah and Bahar Loth: and occupies what may be considered as the southern extremity of the vale of Jordan; forming, in that direction, the western boundary to the Holy Land. The Dead Sea is about seventy miles in length, and twenty in breadth at its broadest part; having, like the Caspian, no visible communication with the ocean. Its depth seems to be altogether unknown; nor does it appear that a boat has ever navigated its surface. Toward its southern extremity, however, in a contracted part of the lake, is a ford, about six miles over, made use of by the Arabs: in the middle of which they report the water to be warm; indicating the presence of warm springs beneath. In general, toward the shore, it is shallow; and rises and falls with the seasons, and the quantity of water carried into it by seven streams, which fall into this their common receptacle, the chief of which is the Jordan.
The water now covering these ruins occupies what was formerly the vale of Siddim; a rich and fruitful valley, in which stood the five cities, called the cities of the plain, namely, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela or Zoar: the four first of which were destroyed, while the latter, being a little city, was preserved at the intercession of Lot; to which he fled for refuge from the impending catastrophe, and where he remained in safety during its accomplishment.
The specific gravity of the waters of the Dead Sea is supposed to have been much exaggerated by the ancient writers, but their statements are now proved to be by no means very wide of the truth. Pliny says, that no living bodies would sink in it; and Strabo, that persons who went into it were borne up to their middle. Van Egmont and Heyman state, that, on swimming to some distance from the shore, they found themselves, to their great surprise, lifted up by the water. When I had swam to some distance, says the latter, I endeavoured to sink to the bottom, but could not; for the water kept me continually up, and would certainly have thrown me upon my face, had I not put forth all the strength I was master of, to keep myself in a perpendicular posture; so that I walked in the sea as if I had trod on firm ground, without having occasion to make any of the motions necessary in treading fresh water; and when I was swimming, I
was obliged to keep my legs the greatest part of the time out of the water. My fellow traveller was agreeably surprised to find that he could swim here, having never learned. But this proceeded from the gravity of the water, as this certainly does from the extraordinary quantity of salt in it.
Mr. Joliffe says, he found it very little more buoyant than other seas, but he did not go out of his depth. The descent of the beach, he says, is so gently gradual, that I must have waded above a hundred yards to get completely out of my depth, and the impatience of the Arabians would not allow of time sufficient for this. Captain Mangles says: The water is as bitter and as buoyant as the people have reported. Those of our party who could not swim, floated on its surface like corks. On dipping the head in, the eyes smarted dreadfully. With regard to the agents employed in this catastrophe, there might seem reason to suppose that volcanic phenomena had some share in producing it; but Chateaubriand’s remark is deserving of attention. I cannot, he says, coincide in opinion with those who suppose the Dead Sea to be the crater of a volcano. I have seen Vesuvius, Solfatara, Monte Nuovo in the lake of Fusino, the peak of the Azores, the Mamalif opposite to Carthage, the extinguished volcanoes of Auvergne; and remarked in all of them the same characters; that is to say, mountains excavated in the form of a tunnel, lava, and ashes, which exhibited incontestable proofs of the agency of fire. After noticing the very different shape and position of the Dead Sea, he adds: Bitumen, warm springs, and phosphoric stones are found, it is true, in the mountains of Arabia; but then, the presence of hot springs, sulphur, and asphaltos is not sufficient to attest the anterior existence of a volcano. The learned Frenchman inclines to adopt the idea of Professors Michaelis and Busching, that Sodom and Gomorrah were built upon a mine of bitumen; that lightning kindled the combustible mass, and that the cities sunk in the subterraneous conflagration. M. Malte Brun ingeniously suggests, that the cities might themselves have been built of bituminous stones, and thus have been set in flames by the fire of heaven. We learn from the Mosaic account, that the vale of Siddim, which is now occupied by the Dead Sea, was full of slime pits, or pits of bitumen. Pococke says: It is observed, that the bitumen floats on the water, and comes ashore after windy weather; the Arabs gather it up, and it serves as pitch for all uses, goes into the composition of medicines, and is thought to have been a very great ingredient in the bitumen used in embalming the bodies in Egypt: it has been much used for cerecloths, and has an ill smell when burnt. It is probable that there are subterraneous fires, that throw up this bitumen at the bottom of the sea, where it may form itself into a mass, which may be broken by the motion of the water occasioned by high winds; and it is very remarkable, that the stone called the stone of Moses, found about two or three leagues from the sea, which burns like a coal, and turns only to a white stone, and not to ashes, has the same smell, when burnt, as this pitch; so that it is probable, a stratum of the stone under the Dead Sea is one part of the matter that feeds the subterraneous fires, and that this bitumen boils up out of it. To give force to this last conjecture, however, it would be requisite to ascertain, whether bitumen is capable of being detached from this stone, in a liquid state, by the action of fire. The stone in question is the black fetid limestone, used at Jerusalem in the manufacture of rosaries and amulets, and worn as a charm against the plague. The effluvia which it emits on friction, is owing to a strong impregnation of sulphuretted hydrogen. If the buildings were constructed of materials of this description, with quarries of which the neighbouring mountains abound, they would be easily susceptible of ignition by lightning. The Scriptural account, however, is explicit, that the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from heaven; which we may safely interpret as implying a shower of inflamed sulphur, or nitre. At the same time it is evident, that the whole plain underwent a simultaneous convulsion, which seems referable to the consequences of a bituminous explosion. In perfect accordance with this view of the catastrophe, we find the very materials, as it were, of this awful visitation still at hand in the neighbouring hills; from which they might have been poured down by the agency of thunder storms, directed by the hand of offended Heaven. Captains Irby and Mangles collected, on the southern coast, lumps of nitre and fine sulphur, from the size of a nutmeg up to that of a small hen’s egg, which, it was evident from their situation, had been brought down by the rain: their great deposit must be sought for, they say, in the cliff. These cliffs then were probably swept by the lightnings, and their flaming masses poured in a deluge of fire upon the plain.