Pool of Siloam

Pool of Siloam ()One alternative English name for the pool is "pool of Shelah" according to http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt35b03.htm#15. is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David (believed to be the original site of Jerusalem) now outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, which were carried there by two aqueducts - the Middle Bronze Age Channel (a 20ft deep direct cutting that was covered with rock slabs, and dates from the Middle Bronze Age ~1800BC), and Hezekiah's Tunnel (a curving tunnel within the bedrock, dating from the reign of King Hezekiah ~700BC)
==History==
The pool is mentioned or alluded to several times in the Bible. Isaiah mentions the pool's waters, while ff. references the construction of Hezekiah's tunnel. For Christians, the pool has additional significance as it is mentioned in the Gospel of John, as the location to which Jesus sent a man who had been blind from birth, as part of the act of healing him.
A substantial remodeling of the pool was constructed in the 5th century, under Byzantine direction, and is said to have been built at the behest of the Empress Aelia Eudocia. This pool, having been somewhat abandoned and left to ruin, partly survives to the present day; surrounded by a high wall of stones on all sides (except for an arched entrance to Hezekiah's tunnel - which was only rediscovered in the 19th century), the pool is quite small, and has a modestly sized mosque next to (and partly over) it.
==The lower pool==
Ancient records report that during the Second Temple period, there was also a lower pool further down the hill than the original one. In the Autumn of 2004, workers making excavations for the Ir David Foundation, for a sewer near the present-day pool uncovered stone steps, and almost immediately Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (prominent archaeologists) were on the scene; it very quickly became obvious to them that these steps were likely to have been part of the Second Temple period pool. Excavation swiftly commenced and confirmed the initial supposition; the find was formally announced on August 9, 2005 and received substantial international media attention. The pool is less than 70 yards from the edge of the Byzantine reconstruction of the upper pool. Archaeologists identify traces of 'miracle' pool. Siloam Pool was where Jesus was said to cure blind, AP, Dec. 23, 2004 
This lower pool is not perfectly rectangular, but a soft trapezoid. There are three sets of five steps, two leading to a platform, before the bottom is reached, and it has been suggested that the steps were designed to accommodate various water levels. The pool is stone lined, but underneath there is evidence of an earlier version which was merely plastered (to help it retain water). Coins found within this plaster date from the time of Alexander Jannaeus (104—76 BC), while a separate collection of coins, dating from the time of the Great Revolt (AD 66—70), were also found.
A channel leads from the earlier pool (the upper pool) to feed this later pool. How much of the pool and its surrounding structures were a result of monumental construction by Herod the Great is not yet understood (as of September 2006); nor is the relationship of this pool to the earlier one (i.e., why it was built when the earlier pool already existed). A portion of this pool remains unexcavated, as the land above it is owned by a nearby Greek Orthodox church and is occupied by an orchard known as the King's Garden (compare ).
As a freshwater reservoir, it would have been a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city. The Gospel of John suggests that it was probably used as a mikvah (ritual bath), although mikvah are usually much smaller in size; if the pool were a mikvah, it would be the largest ever found, by a substantial marginJames H. Charlesworth, quoted in Los Angeles Times, article: Biblical Pool Uncovered in Jerusalem, 9th August 2005. It is thought that the current structure was originally the Shrine of the Four Nymphs (Tetranymphon), a nymphaeum built by Hadrian during the construction of Aelia Capitolina in 135Dave Winter, Israel handbook, (1999) p 180André Grabar, Martyrium, (1946), volume 1, page 193E. Wiegand, The Theodosian Monastery, (1929), volume 11, page 50-72, and mentioned in Byzantine works such as the 7th century Chronicon Paschale; other nymphaeum built by Hadrian, such as that at Sagalassos, have a very similar appearancefor example, see this view.
== See also ==
* Tower of Siloam
== References==
==External links==
* Image and text of the Siloam inscription
* Hershel Shanks, "The Siloam Pool Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man", Biblical Archaeology Review:31:5 (September-October 2005), pp. 16-23. Click here for an abridged article in html or the full article in pdf format
*Pictures of the recently rediscovered Pool of Siloam from holylandphotos.org
* The Drudge Report's article from the day the news was formally released can be found in the Drudge Report Archives here
Category:New Testament places
Category:Hebrew Bible places
Category:Siloam
Category:Jesus and history
Category:Ancient sites in Jerusalem
Category:Classical sites in Jerusalem