Some background info on the world's lowest and saltiest lake:
The Dead Sea is in fact a lake with one main tributary - the river Jordan - and no effluent. The 67 kilometres by 18 km lake has its extreme salinity to thank for its name. Where the world's oceans contain 4 - 5% salt, the Dead Sea contains eight times that; no way that this amount of salt will sustain life.

The Dead Sea area has become a real health treatment spa for several reasons. The mineral content of the water, low content of pollens or other allergens in the air, reduced ultraviolet radiation and the slightly higher atmospheric pressure, each have their claimed specific health effects. As such, it must be one of the world's first first spa resorts. It is mentioned in relation to the biblical Herod the Great (74 - 4 BC), the Jewish Roman king. Just a thought, but Herod the Hooligan probably is a much better name for somebody who murdered many his own family, numerous jewish rabbis and ordered the killing of all boys under two years of age in the Bethlehem area, around the time of Jezus' birth (though contradicting sources prevented historians from really confirming the Massacre of the Innocents).