DEAD SEA (Arab. BaKr Lii(,' or 'Sea of Lot'). — This remarkable inland lake lies in the deepest part of the depression of the earth's surface which stretches from the Gulf of Akabah north- wards into the Jordan Valley (see Arabah). The name ' Dead Sea ' is not found in the Bible, and appears first to have been used in Gr. {B(i\a<r<ra riKpd) by Pausanias and Galen, and in Lat. by Justin. In OT it is known as the Salt Sea (Gn \i', Dt 3") and as the Sea of the Arabah (Jos 3"). Both these names are appropriate and expressive of its physical conditions. With reference to its geograpu. situa- tion, it is called the East Sea (Ezk 47", Jl 2*). The name 'Asphaltites' given to it by Josephus {Ant. I. ii. ) is derived from the deposits of bitumen which are found in some of the valleys entering the W. shore ; and, lastly, the name Dead Sea (Mare mortuum) is used to indicate the absence of animal life in its waters. This is owing, not so much to the high salinity of the waters, as to the large pro- portion of bromide of magnesium which they con- tain. In the streams, often of a liigli temperature, which enter the lake to the S. of the promontory of El-Lls&n, some living forms are exceedingly abundant, especially '.hose of small fishes of the genua Cijprinodon. The name ' Bahr Lflt,' by which the Dead Sea is known amongst the Arabs, is a remarkable instance of the persistence of ira<litionary names amongst these E. tribes, if, as is believed by not a few, it comes down to us through a period of nearly 4000 years, and has been preserved by the descendants of the patriarch Lot, who took possession of the tcrritorj' of Moab and Ammon on the borders of tlio Arabian desert overlooking the Dead Sea l)asin, and who naturally associated this inland lake with the name of their progenitor who hfui lived on its shores {(Jn 13").
Physical Features. — The Dead Sea lies nearly N.-S. along a line corre^sponding to tliat of the Jordan Valley ; its length is 47 miles, and its greatest breaflth about 10 inile.s. It receives the waters of the Jordan from the N. ; those of El- Hessi, El-Jeib, and El-Fikreh from the S. j those of the Kerak, Amon (Mojib), Zerka Ma'in from the
E., and the Kidron (En-Nar) and several lessei streams from the W. ; and as the Dea»i Sea, like all salt lakes, has no outlet, the consequence is that the waters which enter it pass off in the form of vapour into the atmosphere. The quantity of water poured into the Dead Sea basin must be very great, especially during the months of April and fliay, when the Jordan is swollen by the melting of the snow in the Lebanon range ; out such is the dryness of the air and the heat of the sun's rays in the Ghor that this increased supply fails per- manently to raise the level of the surface, which seems only to rLse and fall within the limits of 10 to 15 ft., between the months of October and Maj-, as estimated by Dr. Robinson from the position of the driftwood along the shote.
El-Lisdn. — The Dead Sea is di\-ided Into two unequal portions by a remarkable promontory known as ' El-Lisln (the tongue), which projects outwards from the E. shore for a distance of half the breadth of the lake. This proniontorj- seems to be referred to in the passage describing the boundary of the lot of the tribe of Judah (Jos 15", marg. 'tongue'). El - Lis.ln is composed, according to Lartet, of white calcareous marl with beds of salt and gypsum. It breaks off in a dill facing the W., 300 ft. high and 9 miles lon|j, terminating northwards at Point Costigan, and is connected \vith the Moabite coast by a narrow neck of marshy land. The terraced form, as well as the composition, of EI-LisAn show that it was once part of the bed of the lake when its waters rose several hundred feet higher than at present ; and it corre sponds in character and composition to the terraced ndge of Khashm Usdura now to be described.
Kha.ihm Usdum (or Salt-mountain). — This re- markable ridge follows the W. shore of the lake from Umiti Zoglial southwards to the banks of Wady el - Fikreh at the S. margin of the Gh5r, a distance of 7 miles. Its upper surface is about 600 ft. above the lake, and seen from a distance appears flat ; but it is deeply furrowed and seamed by streamlets, which have penetrated into the mass below. The upper part of Khashm Usdum is formed of strata of white saliferous and gj'pseous marl, the lower of solid salt-rock ; ami these materials are laid open to view in the nearly vertical cliff along which the ridge breaks off on the E. side. There can be no doubt that this terrace, like that of El-Li.sftn, and others to be found at intervals on both sides of the lake, were parts of the bed of the lake itself when its waters stood at a much higher level than at present. It is separated from the base of the limestone tableland by a valley of broken ground, strewn with blocks of rock, about half a mile in width, and eroded by torrential action.