DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0137
I 12
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
whilst the other had reddish water, " as they say, from the sacrifices; " but they give no
indication of its position. The Bourdeaux pilgrim says that the double pools were more
within the city than the two large pools at the side of the Temple, and that the water was
muddy and of a scarlet colour. This discoloration of the water no doubt arose from the
quantity of rich red loamy earth which was carried into the pool after heavy rain. The
actual position of the biblical Bethesda is uncertain ; Dr. Robinson has suggested that it is
identical with the Fountain of the Virgin, but the more general view is that the pool was to
the north of the Temple, either in the position modern tradition assigns to it or farther to
the west, where the souterrains connected with the Convent of the Sisters of Zion mark the
position of a double pool in the old ditch. Near the Cotton Gate of the Haram there is said
to have been a reservoir some years ago, and there was another close to the Jaffa Gate,
which was called the Pool or Bath of Bathsheba on the supposition that David dwelt in the
Tower of David opposite.
One of the aqueducts from Solomon's Pools is repaired occasionally and then delivers
water to the cisterns of the Haram esh Sherif, and supplies some of the beautiful fountains
in the city ; but the repairs rarely last for any length of time, and the aqueducts may be
considered as forming part of the ancient rather than of the modern system of water supply.
The ancient supply was partly derived from the same sources as the modern one, but the
inhabitants appear to have depended chiefly on water brought from a distance by aqueducts
and stored in pools and cisterns.
Of the springs, wells, pools, &c, mentioned in the Bible and Josephus, Enrogel may
almost certainly be identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, and the same spring is
probably Gihon in the valley (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14), as nackal, the word rendered valley, is
always employed for the Valley of the Kedron ; the water running from the Fountain may
also be identified with the waters of Shiloah (Isaiah viii. 6). So, too, the Fountain of Siloam
of Josephus and the Pool of Siloam of the New Testament may be placed at the modern Pool
of Siloam, which is fed from the Virgin's Fountain. There is, however, a passage in the
Mishna which describes Siloam as being in the midst of the city, and Dr. Lightfoot asserts
that there is a difference in the Hebrew between the Siloah of Nehemiah and the Shiloah of
Isaiah ; a distinction which seems, on one occasion at least, to be made by Josephus. The
Septuagint, too, whilst rendering the latter Siloam, translates the former as " the Pool of the
Sheep-skins." From this it may almost be inferred that there was another pool called Siloah
higher up the Tyropceon Valley, a position which would be more in accordance with the
conditions required by the description of the rebuilding and dedication of the walls under
Nehemiah. Gihon is mentioned in two other passages in the Bible : in 1 Kings i. 33, Solomon
is said to have been anointed at Gihon ; and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, Hezekiah is described as
having stopped the upper source of Gihon, and as having brought the waters straight down to
the west side of the city of David. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac and Arabic
versions, have Shiloha for Gihon in Kings, whilst in Chronicles they agree with the Hebrew
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
whilst the other had reddish water, " as they say, from the sacrifices; " but they give no
indication of its position. The Bourdeaux pilgrim says that the double pools were more
within the city than the two large pools at the side of the Temple, and that the water was
muddy and of a scarlet colour. This discoloration of the water no doubt arose from the
quantity of rich red loamy earth which was carried into the pool after heavy rain. The
actual position of the biblical Bethesda is uncertain ; Dr. Robinson has suggested that it is
identical with the Fountain of the Virgin, but the more general view is that the pool was to
the north of the Temple, either in the position modern tradition assigns to it or farther to
the west, where the souterrains connected with the Convent of the Sisters of Zion mark the
position of a double pool in the old ditch. Near the Cotton Gate of the Haram there is said
to have been a reservoir some years ago, and there was another close to the Jaffa Gate,
which was called the Pool or Bath of Bathsheba on the supposition that David dwelt in the
Tower of David opposite.
One of the aqueducts from Solomon's Pools is repaired occasionally and then delivers
water to the cisterns of the Haram esh Sherif, and supplies some of the beautiful fountains
in the city ; but the repairs rarely last for any length of time, and the aqueducts may be
considered as forming part of the ancient rather than of the modern system of water supply.
The ancient supply was partly derived from the same sources as the modern one, but the
inhabitants appear to have depended chiefly on water brought from a distance by aqueducts
and stored in pools and cisterns.
Of the springs, wells, pools, &c, mentioned in the Bible and Josephus, Enrogel may
almost certainly be identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, and the same spring is
probably Gihon in the valley (2 Chron. xxxiii. 14), as nackal, the word rendered valley, is
always employed for the Valley of the Kedron ; the water running from the Fountain may
also be identified with the waters of Shiloah (Isaiah viii. 6). So, too, the Fountain of Siloam
of Josephus and the Pool of Siloam of the New Testament may be placed at the modern Pool
of Siloam, which is fed from the Virgin's Fountain. There is, however, a passage in the
Mishna which describes Siloam as being in the midst of the city, and Dr. Lightfoot asserts
that there is a difference in the Hebrew between the Siloah of Nehemiah and the Shiloah of
Isaiah ; a distinction which seems, on one occasion at least, to be made by Josephus. The
Septuagint, too, whilst rendering the latter Siloam, translates the former as " the Pool of the
Sheep-skins." From this it may almost be inferred that there was another pool called Siloah
higher up the Tyropceon Valley, a position which would be more in accordance with the
conditions required by the description of the rebuilding and dedication of the walls under
Nehemiah. Gihon is mentioned in two other passages in the Bible : in 1 Kings i. 33, Solomon
is said to have been anointed at Gihon ; and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 30, Hezekiah is described as
having stopped the upper source of Gihon, and as having brought the waters straight down to
the west side of the city of David. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac and Arabic
versions, have Shiloha for Gihon in Kings, whilst in Chronicles they agree with the Hebrew