Among his best known works are: _Demiurgos_ (3 vols., 1852-1854), a "Mysterium," in which he attempted to deal with the problems of human existence, but the work found little favour; _Nibelunge_, an epic poem in alliterative verse, in two parts, (1) _Sigfnedsage_ (1867-1868; 13th ed. 1889) and (2) _Hildebrants Heimkehr_ (1874; 10th ed. 1892)--in the first part he is regarded as having been remarkably successful; a tragedy, _Die Wittwe des Agis_ (1858); the comedies, _Die Liebesleugner_ (1855) and _Durchs Ohr_ (1870; 6th ed. 1885); and the novels _Die Sebalds_ (1885) and _Zwei Wiegen_ (1887). Jordan also published numerous translations, notably _Homers Odyssee_ (1876; 2nd ed. 1889) and _Homers Ilias_ (1881; 2nd ed. 1894); _Die Edda_ (1889). He was also distinguished as a reciter, and on a visit to the United States in 1871 read extracts from his works before large audiences. JORDAN (the down-comer; Arab. _esh-Sheri'a_, the watering-place), the only river of Palestine and one of the most remarkable in the world. It flows from north to south in a deep trough-like valley, the Aulon of the Greeks and Ghor of the Arabs, which is usually believed to follow the line of a fault or fracture of the earth's crust. Most geologists hold that the valley is part of an old sea-bed, traces of which remain in numerous shingle-banks and beach-levels. This, they say, once extended to the Red Sea and even over N.E. Africa. Shrinkage caused the pelagic limestone bottom to be upheaved in two ridges, between which occurred a long fracture, which can now be traced from Coelesyria down the Wadi Araba to the Gulf of Akaba. The Jordan valley in its lower part keeps about the old level of the sea-bottom and is therefore a remnant of the Miocene world. This theory, however, is not universally accepted, some authorities preferring to assume a succession of more strictly local elevations and depressions, connected with the recent volcanic activity of the Jaulan and Lija districts on the east bank, which brought the contours finally to their actual form. In any case the number of distinct sea-beaches seems to imply a succession of convulsive changes, more recent than the great Miocene upheaval, which are responsible for the shrinkage of the water into the three isolated pans now found. For more than two-thirds of its course the Jordan lies below the level of the sea. It has never been navigable, no important town has ever been built on its banks, and it runs into an inland sea which has no port and is destitute of aquatic life. Throughout history it has exerted a separatist influence, roughly dividing the settled from the nomadic populations; and the crossing of Jordan, one way or the other, was always an event in the history of Israel. In Hebrew times its valley was regarded as a "wilderness" and, except in the Roman era, seems always to have been as sparsely inhabited as now. From its sources to the Dead Sea