Have you ever wondered which city is the lowest inhabited place on Earth?
If you have read about the town of La Rinconada in Peru, you would be impressed by the fact that people can live at an altitude of over 5,000 meters above sea level. However, have you ever wondered in contrast, what is the lowest city in the world?
The answer is Jericho, a city located in the northern part of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth’s surface, sitting at 400 meters below sea level. This area is a basin, a crack in the Earth’s crust.
The ancient city of Jericho.
Although not as low as the Dead Sea, Jericho also boasts an impressive depression of 250 meters below sea level, situated in the Wadi Qelt oasis in the Jordan Valley. Despite its unique location, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, with a history spanning 10,000 years.
Jericho located in the Wadi Qelt oasis in the Jordan Valley.
This is made possible by the abundant water sources and fertile land, described in the Old Testament as “the city of palm trees.” The city’s long history is perhaps only surpassed by Damascus in Syria, Luxor in Egypt, or Byblos in Lebanon. Jericho is nestled on the West Bank of the Jordan Valley and is also very close to Jerusalem (less than 30 km to the west).
Market area in Jericho taken in 1967.
At its lowest point, Jericho sits at an elevation of 260 meters below sea level. Nearby Ein Gedi, which is part of Israel and not a city but a kibbutz (a type of community in Israel), is even lower, at 280 meters below sea level.
Jericho City Hall, 1967.
Archaeologists have uncovered the remnants of over 20 successive settlements in Jericho, also known as Tell al-Sultan, as the city is widely recognized in the West Bank. The earliest remains date back to 9,000 BC – the earliest known construction of ceremonial architecture at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey (the oldest religious site on the planet) and about 500 years before the domestication of the first livestock in Africa.
Ancient ruins around the city area.
Moreover, Jericho is also considered the city with the oldest known protective walls in the world, and it is believed to have the oldest stone tower as well.
In Hebrew, the name Jericho can mean “fragrant” or “moon.” This is due to the similarity between the two words, as the Canaanite languages spoken by ancient Semitic inhabitants of Canaan and the Levant (areas that are today Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Sinai, Lebanon, and Syria) have the word for fragrant as “reaẖ” and moon as “Yareaẖ.”
There are several must-visit sites in this lowest city in the world if you have the opportunity to travel there. “The Monastery of the Temptation” or Krntl Monastery, is believed to be the place where Jesus rejected three temptations from Satan, overlooking Jericho from a cliff.
The Monastery of the Temptation is located on the mountainside, 350m high.
This famous monastery is situated on the slope of the Mount of Temptation, approximately 350 meters above sea level.
Just 3 km from Jericho is the Hisham Palace, a prominent complex in the desert, where the ruins of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham’s residence (724-743 AD) are revealed. The Umayyad dynasty was the second of the four major caliphates that flourished after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hisham Palace – a structure dating back 1300 years.
Last but not least, in the center of Jericho, there is the ancient Sycamore tree, believed to be the same tree that Zacchaeus climbed to get a better view when Jesus preached about 2,000 years ago. This story is mentioned in the Gospel of Luke.
