Dead Sea towns around the lake. These towns had drinking water from the Ein Feshcha springs and other sweetwater springs in the vicinity. Intimately connected with the Judean wilderness to its northwest and west, the Dead Sea was a place of escape and refuge. The remoteness of the region attracted Greek Orthodox monks since the Byzantine era. Their monasteries, such as Saint George in Wadi Kelt and Mar Saba in the Judaean Desert, are places of pilgrimage. In the 19th century the River Jordan and the Dead Sea were explored by boat primarily by Christopher Costigan in 1835, Thomas Howard Molyneux in
Matsesta River when the Roman military commander and historian Arrian described the coast of the Black Sea and the river Matsesta in a letter to the emperor Hadrian. Matsesta River The Matsesta (, ) is a river in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, that flows into the Black Sea. The river rises in the southern ranges of the Alek mountains at an elevation of above sea level and flows through the Khostinsky City District of the city of Sochi and into the Black Sea. The river is long, and the highest point in the river's basin is above sea level. The river has numerous