The Jordan depression is a unique feature of physical geography. Geologically a rift valley, it is the deepest depression on the earth s land surface Only a few miles from its source, the river is already nearly 200 m (c. 657 ft) below the Mediterranean, while at the N end of the Dead Sea it has plunged to 393 m (c. 1,280 ft) below sea-level. The name ‘Jordan’ (Hebrew yardēn) aptly means ‘the descender’. The river is the largest perennial stream in Palestine, and its length of some 120 km (c. 75