The lowest point on land is the shoreline of the Dead Sea in Israel, which is 1,310 feet below sea level.
The southern shore of the Dead Sea has salt caves purported to be in the area where the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were once located.
The salt water of the Dead Sea has a higher concentration of minerals than other bodies of water and contains more than 25 minerals. The water has therapeutic value since ancient times. In addition, the air is pure and dry and has the richest oxygen content in the world.
It’s been claimed that Aristotle and Cleopatra, among others, went there to be cured. Even today, people go to the Dead Sea to relieve athritis, rheumatism, and other ailments.
The area around the Dead Sea has over 300 days of sun per year but rarely more than 2 inches of rain annually. Therefore, the water level of the Dead Sea drops almost 6 feet a year due to evaporation, which often creates a thick mist over the water.
The rocky cliffs that rise steeply 400 feet above the Dead Sea hold the remnanats of Massada, the impregnable fortress built by King Herod.