Editing Pool of Siloam (section)

==History==
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During the [[Second Temple period]], the Pool of Siloam was centrally located in the Jerusalem suburb of [[Acra (fortress)|Acra]] ({{Langx|he|חקרא}}), also known as the Lower City.<ref>[[Josephus]], ''[[The Jewish War]]'' 6.6.3 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Awhiston+chapter%3D6%3Awhiston+section%3D3 6.351]; 6.7.2. ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148%3Abook%3D6%3Awhiston+chapter%3D7%3Awhiston+section%3D2 6.363])</ref>
Today, the Pool of Siloam is the lowest place in altitude within the historical city of Jerusalem, with an elevation of about {{convert|625|m|ft|}} above sea level.<ref name= "AItzhaki1980">{{cite book |editor=Rubenstein, Chaim |author=Arie Itzhaki |title=Israel Guide – Jerusalem|volume=10 |publisher=Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence |location=Jerusalem|year=1980|page=165 |language=he|oclc=745203905 }}</ref> The ascent from it unto the [[Temple Mount]] meant a [[Grade (slope)|gradient]] of {{convert|115|m|ft|}} in altitude at a linear distance of about {{convert|634|m}}, with a mean elevation in the Temple Mount of {{convert|740|m|ft|}} above sea level.<ref name= "AItzhaki1980"/> According to the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], [[Hagigah]], the Pool of Siloam was the starting point for pilgrims who made the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and where they ascended by foot to the inner court of the Temple Mount to bring an [[Sacrificial animal#Abrahamic traditions|offertory]] to the Temple Court.<ref>[[Moses Margolies]]' commentary ''Pnei Moshe'' on [[Jerusalem Talmud]] (''[[Hagigah]]'' 1:1 [https://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/r/r2b01.htm 3a–b]), s.v. {{Script/Hebrew|נישמעינה מן הדא}}, being an explanation of [[Mishnah]] (''Hagigah'' 1:1), "Anyone that cannot...go up from Jerusalem to the Temple Mount."</ref> The Pool of Siloam (perhaps referring to the Lower Pool) was used by pilgrims for [[ritual purification]] before visiting the Temple enclosure.<ref>{{cite book|last=Galor|author-link=Katharina Galor|first=Katharina|title=Finding Jerusalem: Archaeology between Science and Ideology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8lj0DwAAQBAJ|date=2017|publisher=University of California Press|page=124 |isbn=978-0-520-96807-3}}, Chapter 7: ''The City of David / Silwan''</ref>

===Hezekiah===
The Pool of Siloam was built during the reign of [[Hezekiah]] (715–687/6 BCE) to leave besieging armies without access to the spring's waters. The newly constructed [[Siloam tunnel]] fed the pool. An older Canaanite tunnel had been vulnerable to attackers, so, under threat from the Assyrian king [[Sennacherib]], Hezekiah sealed the old outlet of the Gihon Spring and built the new underground Siloam tunnel in place of the older tunnel ([[Books of Chronicles]], {{Bibleverse||2 Chronicles|32:2–4|HE}}).{{Primary source inline|date=October 2024}}

During this period the Pool of Siloam was sometimes known as the '''Lower Pool''' according to Isaiah 22:9, as opposed to the more ancient Upper Pool mentioned in [[2 Kings 18]]:17 and [[Isaiah 7:3]]<ref name="CODrevisit"/> formerly fed by the older Canaanite tunnel.

===Second Temple period===
[[File:1730 Street Map or Plan of Jerusalem - Geographicus - Jerusalem-uk-1730.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|1730 map showing Jerusalem in Jesus' time, with the Pool of Siloam ("Siloe") outside the city wall at the lower right]]
[[File:City of davidDSCN4616.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Artist's reconstruction of the pool in the Second Temple period]]
The pool was reconstructed no earlier than the reign of [[Alexander Jannaeus]] (103–76 BCE), although it is not clear whether this pool was in the same location as the earlier pool built by Hezekiah – if so, all traces of the earlier construction have been destroyed. The pool remained in use during the time of [[Jesus]]. According to the [[John 9]], Jesus sent [[healing the man blind from birth|a man blind from birth]] to the pool to complete his healing. As a freshwater reservoir, the pool would have been a major gathering place for ancient Jews making religious pilgrimages to the city. Some scholars, influenced by Jesus commanding the blind man to wash in the pool, suggest that it was probably used as a [[mikvah]] (ritual bath).<ref>{{Bibleverse||John|9:6–11|}}</ref> 

The pool was destroyed and covered after the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] in 70 CE. Dating was indicated by several coins discovered on the stones of the patio near the pool to the north from the days of the War. The latest coin is dated "4 years to the day of the Great Revolt, " meaning 69 CE. In the years following the destruction, winter rains washed [[alluvial|alluvia]] from the hills to the valley and down the slopes of [[Mount Zion]] to the west of the pool; the pool was filled with silt layers (up to 4m in some places) until it was covered completely.

===Late Roman and Byzantine periods===
[[File:Siloam72.jpg|thumb|The [[Byzantine]] pool of Siloam]]
[[File:TRISTRAM(1870) p058 THE POOL OF SILOAM.jpg|thumb|right|Handcolored photo of the site (c. 1865)]]

Roman sources mention a ''Shrine of the Four Nymphs'' (''Tetranymphon''), a [[nymphaeum]] built by [[Hadrian]] during the construction of [[Aelia Capitolina]] in the year 135<ref>Dave Winter, ''Israel handbook'', (1999), p. 180.</ref><ref>André Grabar, ''Martyrium'', (1946), volume 1, p. 193.</ref><ref>E. Wiegand, ''The Theodosian Monastery'', (1929), volume 11, pp. 50–72</ref> and mentioned in Byzantine works such as the 7th-century ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]''; other nymphaea built by Hadrian, such as that at [[Sagalassos]], are very similar.<ref>for example, see [http://www.akmedanmed.com/resim/3/13_1.jpg this view] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181103215547/http://www.akmedanmed.com/resim/3/13_1.jpg |date=2018-11-03 }}</ref> It is unlikely that this shrine was built on the site of the Second Temple Pool of Siloam, but it may have been a precursor to the Byzantine reconstruction.

In the [[5th century]], a pool was constructed at the end of the Siloam tunnel at the behest of [[Aelia Eudocia]], [[queen consort|empress consort]] of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. This pool survives today, surrounded by a high stone wall with an arched entrance to Hezekiah's Tunnel. The pool is around {{convert|70|yd}} from the [[Second Temple period]] Lower Pool and is significantly smaller. Until the discovery of the Second Temple pool, this pool was wrongly thought to be the one described in the [[New Testament]] and Second Temple sources.