V. THE SALT or DEAD SEA is the largest lake in Palestine, and in many respects the most re markable in the world. It has received a variety of names from writers both ancient and modern ; and as they are descriptive, they demand a brief examination in an article like the present.
1. The Sall Sea is the most common Scripture appellation (r-ipri n4; '5-ciXao-aa ac7,v, or ItX6s, also 9ciXac.sra (IXtuojs ; Mare salis). It is evi dently a descriptive name, probably intended to indicate both the saltness of its water and the character of the plain and hills along its southern margin (Reland, Pal. 240). It occurs in the earliest books of the Bible, but is not found later than the time of Joshua (Gen. xiv. 3 ; Num. xxxiv. 3 ; Deut. 17 ; Josh. iii. 16 ; xv. 2, 5).
2. The Sea of the Plain, or more properly, of the Arabah t4 ; 51ENacro-a 'Apai3a ; Mare SOlitiidiniS), is also a descriptive title, showing its geographical position in the centre of the great valley of the Arabah. It is first employed in com bination with the preceding, as if Moses had heard it on his approach to Palestine (Deut. 17) and possibly it may have afterwards supplanted' the older name (Dent. iv. 49 ; 2 KingS XiV. 25).
3. The East Sea is the only dther name employed in Scripture N:)*-Ipri n!rri ; 9ciXaccrav Tip rp.5s avaroNas ; Mare Orientale). It is used by Ezekiel (xlvii. 18), Joel (ii. zo), and Zechariah (xiv. 8, where the A. V. has the former sea,' although the Hebrew is the same), to distinguish it from the Mediterranean, which was called the western' (innwi, literally latter,' though when opposed to pip it means western).
4. The Sea of Sodom is found in the Talmud (Reland, pp. 237, 243), no doubt because common tradition represented the city of Sodom as having been engulphed by it.
5. Josephus uses the name Asphaltic Lake—Ai;urn 'Aag5aXri,rts (Bell. ytul. lo. i7)—which was adopted by Galen and other ancient writers, appa rently because bitumen or asphaltum was often found iloating on its surface or lying along its shores (Reland, p. 241).
6. Deaa' Sea. The origin of this name is given by Jerome (ad Ezek. xlvii.), In quo nihil terat esse vitale ;' and in this respect modern re search has to a large extent confirmed ancient tradition, proving that the name is appropriate.
The modern inhabitants apply two names to the lake ; the one El-Baheiret el-Myetah, Dead Sea,' suggested by its character ; the other Ba heiret Lfit, Sea of Lot,' suggested by its history.
Physical Features.—The Dead Sea is situated in the lowest part of that great valley which stretches in a direct line due south from the base of Hermon to the head of the gulf of Akabah. The valley is a chasm or fissure in the earth's crust, being for nearly zoo miles below the level of the ocean. The Dead Sea is the reservoir into which all its waters flow, and from which there is, and can be, no escape except by evaporation.
The general formation of the valley has already been described [PALEsTINE]. It is shut in on the east and west by parallel ranges of mountains, having steep, rugged, and bare sides, furrowed by wild ravines. The eastern range is somewhat higher than the western. In the parallel of Jericho the ranges expand slightly, and the valley there attains its greatest breadth—about twelve miles ; but they contract again at the northern end of the Dead Sea, and continue in parallel lines through out its entire length. The cliffs which hem in the valley are here steeper, higher, and wilder than elsewhere, and the scenery is more bleak and desolate. The sea occupies the whole width of the valley, in many places washing the sides of the cliffs. Being slightly rounded at each end, its form is an elongated oval.
The contour of the Dead Sea, as delineated in most maps, is regular, the shore lines having few indentations, and the curves at the north and sout., being uniform. Recent researches—especially those of Lynch, Robinson, and Tristram—have shown that this regularity of outline is incorrect. The western shore especially has long promontories and deep bays, and the curves at the north and south are very far from being so gracefully rounded as most chartographers have delineated them. It will serve at once to show the topography of the sea, and the physical features of the plains, cliffs, and mountain-ranges which encircle it, if we pass round the shores in rapid survey. It will also tend to throw some light on the origin of the lake, and on the wondrous events of its long history.