where and what is dead sea?

The name Dead Sea can be traced back at least to the Hellenisticepoch (323 to 30 BC). The Dead Sea figures in biblical accounts dating to the time of Abraham (progenitor of the Hebrews) and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (the two cities along the lake, according to the Hebrew bible, that were destroyed by fire from heaven because of their wickedness). The desolate wilderness beside the lake offered refuge to David (king of Israel) and later to Herod I the Great (king of Judaea) who at the time of the siege of Jerusalem by the Parthians in 40 BC barricaded himself in a fortress at Masada. Masada was the scene of a two-year siege that culminated in the mass suicide of its Jewish Zealot defenders and the occupation of the fortress by the Romans in AD 73. The Jewish sect that left the biblical manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls to
The Dead Sea lies between the hills of Judaea to the west and the Transjordanian plateaus to the east. The Jordan River flows from the north into the Dead Sea, which is 50 miles (80 km) longand attains a width of 11 miles (18 km). Its surface area is about 394 square miles (1,020 square km). The peninsula of Al-Lisān (Arabic: “The Tongue”) divides the lake on its eastern side into two unequal basins; the northern basin encompasses about three-fourths of the lake's total surface area and reaches a depth of 1,300 feet (400 metres); the southern basin is smaller and shallower (less than 10 feet [3 metres] on average). During biblical times and up to the 8th century AD, only the area aroundthe northern basin was inhabited, and the lake was about 115 feet (35 metres) below its level of the late 20th century. It rose toits highest level (1,275 feet [389 metres] below sea level) in 1896 but receded again after 1935.
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