Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-06-19
Important Discoveries Made in
the City Of Jerusalem.
Intelligent Labors of the
Monks Rewarded. m
A ROCK HEwN POOL BENEATH
THREE SUCCESSIVE sTRUC-
TIRES. -
TURES.
1t Agrees With the Descriptions of
the Bethesda by Ancient Writer'S.

| WASHINGTON, June lO.-Henry Gill
man, Of Detroit, United States consul
to jerusalem, in report received by the
State Department, gives an interesting
account of the discovery of the ancient
| pool of Bethesda. He says: OF the
more remarkable discoveries in the an
cient city during the year that of the
Bethesda Is of paramount interest and
importance. As is well known the bir-
ket Israel has in the past been consid-
cred as the site of the Bethesda, but
the excavations of the Algerine monks
under the ruins in the rear of the Cru
sader Church of st. Anne have gradu-
ally transferred opinion in favor of the
latter locality. This was strengthened
by the discovery of a rock-hewn pool
containing water beneath three success
sive structures. Subsequent excava-
tions revealed the remains of two tiers
of five arched porches, the lower tier
being in the pool. The intelligent la
bors of the monks who are in charge
of the property have been further re-
warded by the recent recovery of an
other pool containing a good supply of
water to the westward of that first dis
covered, the entire agreeing with the
descriptions of the Bethesda as given
by the fathers of the church and Christ
ian pilgrims and writers as early as the
fourth century. The correspondence
in number of the five porches to those
mentioned in the Gospel of st. John
will not escape notice. Steps cut in
the rock lead down into the water. An
ancient Christian church in ruins sur
mounts the entire. The remains of the
upper tier of porches extend above the
pool at right angles from the north wall
of the crypt beneath the church in
which the apse at the east end, though
dilapidated, is still distinctly defined.
On clearing away the debris that
choked the fifth porch westward of the
apse all the discoveries eliminated in
revealing the remains of a painting or
fresco upon the plaster of the wall in
the rear. The fresco represents an
angel as if descending into and troub-
ling the water, which latter is depicted
by conventional zig-zag and wavy lines
of an olive green shaded with black,
more suggestive of Egyptian hierogly-
phics than of modern art, and sur
rounding the figure on every side. The
| right hand of the angel was shown as
uplifted, but this has been carefully de-
stroyed, probably by Moslems after
their habits in the early days of their
power. So also the face of the angel
which has been battered so as to be
completely obliterated. The glory of
nimbus above the head, painted an Or
ange yellow, still remains but little in
jured. The edge ofthe pool appears to
be indicated by broad red line inclos-
ing the painting and having an occas-
ional rectangular projection into the
water, perhaps representing steps on
the pieces for the porches. On the
east of this fifth barreled arch, the
walls extending at right angles, are the
remains of another figure, also in fres-
co, much defaced and supposed to rep
resent the Savior. Above the head,
evidently Intentionally mutilated, is a
portion of the nimbus, and in the low
er outer corner of the painting part of
q blue robe. 1t is to be regretted that
these frescoes, the colors of which were
quite bright when first uncovered,
have since greatly faded, SO that the
blue is now dull, ashy gray. The
reds and yellows, however, though low
cred in tone, preserve their hues some
what better. To summarize, these dis
coveries are as follows: First comes
the rubbish covering the ruins and
built upon by the more or less modern
Turkish houses; next beneath is the
small church with apse; under this the
crypt with five porches containing the
frescoes, and fourth and last under
meath all is the pool itself, cut in the
solid rock, and with five arches of we'll
preserved masonry. This last, from
the historical and other evidence, I
have not the slightest doubt is the ver-
liable Pool of Bethesda.
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