The human history of the Dead Sea goes all the way back to remote antiquity. Just north of the Dead Sea is Jericho, the oldest continually occupied town in the world. Somewhere, perhaps on the Dead Sea's southeast shore, are the cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis which were destroyed in the times of Abraham.

The Greeks knew the Dead Sea as "Lake Asphaltites", due to the naturally surfacing asphalt. Aristotle wrote about the remarkable waters. During the Egyptian conquest it is said that Queen Cleopatra obtained exclusive rights to build cosmetic and pharmaceutical factories in the area. Later, the Nabateans discovered the value of bitumen extracted from the Dead Sea needed by the Egyptians for embalming their mummies.


The Dead Sea eastern coast in Jordan is one of the most spectacular natural and spiritual landscapes in the whole world. A series of new roads, hotels and archaeological discoveries are converging to make this region, the lowest spot on earth at 410 meters below sea level, as enticing to international visitors today as it was to kings, emperors, traders and prophets in antiquity.

The leading attraction at the Dead Sea is the hot, soothing super-salty seawater, which is four times saltier than normal seawater. It is rich in chloride salts of magnesium, sodium, potassium, bromine and several others. This unusually salty, buoyant and mineral-rich water has attracted visitors since ancient times, all of whom have floated effortlessly on their backs while soaking up the water’s healthy minerals along with the gently defused rays of the Jordanian sun.

The Dead Sea’s total attraction is due to its unique combination of several factors: the chemical composition of its water, the filtered sunrays and oxygen-rich air, the mineral-rich black mud along the shoreline, and the adjacent fresh water and thermal mineral springs.