Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-01-07
THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
SOMETHING ABOUT IT'S LATER
HISTORY.


has II Again Reen Found "a Report
by Consul GiIiman-C urious Discovery
of a Fresee That the Turks Had
Marred-The Pool with Five Porches
The Pool Of Bethesda, in Jerusalem,
has always been an object OF interest 10
the people of Christendom on account
of the sacred narrative of miraculous
healing connected with it In the gos-
pei of St John, Bethesda is described as
a pool by the sheep market. having five
porches. The porches were occupied by
invalids swaiting the miraculous "troub-
ling of the waters
Some time during the early centuries
Of the Christian era all certainty as to
the exact location of the Pool of Be-
thesda was lost 1t was supposed by
some to have been completely over
whelmed in the destruction of Jerusa-
lem by the Roman emperor Titus i'll 20
4. ID. 1t is not strange that it should
have disappeared. since the Holy City
was twice destroyed, and the materials
which composed it were afterward used
in new constructions
Nevertheless, certain Christian pill
gfims who visited Jerusalem in the
fourth century found the fountain Of
Bethesda still in existence. and left am
account of it which suited the location
and brief description given in the gospel
Of St John.
This description and location, how
ever, did not fit the Birket Israel. the
pool or pond in Jerusalem which in
modern times has been commonly re-
garded as the site of Bethesda. Many
learned men have maintained that the
Birket Israel could not be Bethesda. but
the pool alluded to in the new testa-
ment was
A report recently made to his Govern
ment by the United States consul at
Jerusalem. Mr. Henry Gilman, seems
to render it certain that the site of
Bethesda has been found at last.
Recently some Algerine monks. in
making an excavation under the ruins
Of the Crusader Church of St Anne, in
the Holy City discovered. beneath the
eemains Of three successive structures, a
rock hewn pool containing water. Pur-
suing their excavations further, they
uncovered the remains of two tiers Of
i've arched porches. the lower tier being
in the pool.
Still later, the monks came upon
another pool containing water, to the
Westward of that first discovered. the
whole agreeing with the descriptions OF
Bethesda given by the fathers OF the
Church and the early Christian pilgrims.
The number of the porches also agrees
With that mentioned in ST. John.
Steps cut in the rock led down to the
water, and an ancient Christian church,
ruins surmounts the whole The re
mains Of the upper tier of porches ex
end above the pool at right angles from
the north wall of the crypt beneath the
.hurcl.
On clearing away the debris that
choked the fifth porch all these dis
coveries eliminated in revealing the re
mains Of painting or fresco upon the
plaster of the wall in the rear repre-
;enting an angel as if descending into
md troubling the water. Tie water Is
depicted by conventional zigzag aud
wavy lines of an olive green, shaded
with black, more suggestive of Egypt
AN hiercglyphics than of modern art,
and surrounding the figure on every
side
The ri int hand of the angel was
shown as uplifted, but this had been
carefully destroyed. probably by the
Moslems The face had also been in-
tentionally battered, so as completely
to obliterate it The glory or nimbus
about the head remained but little in
jured
On the side of the same arch--the nall
extending at right angles with the other
are the remains of another figure, also
in fresco, much defaced, and supposed
to represent the Saviour. Above the
head, evidently intentionally mutilated
IS a portion of the nimbus, and in tie
lower outer corner of the painting part
Of a blue robe After little exp pstre
to the light the colors in both thess,
frescos faded greatly.
Consul Gilman thus summarizes the
discoveries: First comes the rubbish
covering the ruins, and built upon by
the more or less modern Turkish houses:
next beneath is the small church, witt
apse; under this the crypt. with five
porches containing the frescos; and
fourth and last. underneath all is the
pool itself, cut in the solid rock, and
with five arches of well preserved
masonry. This last, from the historical
and other evidence, ! have not the
slightest doubt is the veritabIe Pool OF
Bethesda.