Dead Sea

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The Dead Sea – known to the Hebrews of antiquity as the “Sea of Salt” and the Arabs as the “Sea of Death,” both appropriate – is a salt lake in the Levant, and the lowest land elevation (420 meters below sea level) on Earth. With a salinity of 34.2 percent, it is one of the saltiest bodies of water on the planet … hardly a garden spot. But it was one of history’s first health resorts, much favored by Herod the Great, and was thought to offer putative therapies for the likes of psoriasis, rhinosinusitis, cystic fibrosis, and osteoarthritis. Mining the shore region has supplied all sorts of trade opportunities, from asphalt for mummification to potash for fertilizer. Mankind has a knack for finding the silver lining in anything … even the Dead Sea.