course.1 In his first edition of the Researches, Dr. Robinson expressed himself cautiously in favor of the identity of the present Birket el Mamilla with the upper pool of Gihon; but in his Later Researches he reargues the question, and greatly strengthens his original position. No trace is found of any other pools that could answer the description of those immense reservoirs of the ancient city. The Birket el Mamilla and the Birket es Sultan stand related to each other as the Upper and Lower pool in the basin and valley of Hinnom. An ancient aqueduct has been traced from the site of "the royal palace" near the Jaffa gate westward toward the upper pool; but "no sources of living water have been discovered at or near the Damascus gate," and the raincisterns in that vicinity could never have fed a reservoir for the city. Dr. Barclay, who is the highest authority upon the present water resources of Jerusalem, says expressly that the two large tanks at Damascus gate are not to be regarded as sources of living waters. "They are entirely dry the latter part of summer, and evidently supplied by rain-water conducted into them by drains on the side of the road." The Birket el Mamilla, commonly called the Upper pool of Gihon, westward of the Jaffa gate, Dr. Barclay regards as the "serpents' pool" of Josephus; while he suggests that "the true fountain of Gihon was situated in the present basin across the intervening Hill of Gareb, just opposite the traditionary pool." But this is pure conjecture. If, according to Dr. B., the fountain of Gihon already poured a stream through the city by the valley leading southward from the Damascus gate, why should Hezekiah divert it around the western side of the city to a pool without the walls, and thence conduct its overflow into the city? There would seem to be neither wisdom nor economy in such a course. The pool within the walls, which Robinson regards as that built by Hezekiah, Barclay makes the Amygdalon of Josephus. On the pool of Hezekiah, he offers the following conjecture. 3 "In reproving the Jews for confiding more in human means than Divine 1 Ancient Jerusalem, p. 87. 2 Researches, III. 243–245. 3 Page 513. aid, Isaiah comments upon the defensive measures adopted by Hezekiah and his princes, when threatened by Sennacherib, in the following terms : 'Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many; and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem; and the houses ye have broken down to fortify the wall. Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but ye have not looked,' etc. (Isa. xxii. 9-11.) The 'ditch' and the lower pool' here alluded to are, therefore, evidently trenches for military defence; and, of course, the pool commonly ascribed to Hezekiah -being obviously designed for no such purpose - cannot be either of them. In exploring the Temple area and its immediate vicinity, I discovered a large pool beneath the Mechemeh and Temple street, extending eightyfour feet along side the Temple wall, which is here constructed of large Jewish rocks like those at the Wailing-place, is ten feet deep, and still partially coated with cement. But its entire extent from east to west could not be ascertained - a wall having been built across it at a distance of fortytwo feet from the Temple wall for the purpose of supporting the buildings above. Can this be the "ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool" or the trench built by Hezekiah between "the First" and "Second walls" of Josephus, as a defence to the First wall passing from Zion to the Temple, and which was supplied with water by a branch of Hezekiah's aqueduct? Or are we to recognize the empty pool below Siloam as "the ditch ?"1 As we have been led into a somewhat particular discussion of the water resources of Jerusalem, we will here add the valuable testimony of Dr. Barclay concerning the subterranean waters of the city. One of the first conditions of the growth of a city is an abundant supply of wholesome The annotations upon Dr. Trail's translation of Josephus, picture the artificial advantages of Jerusalem in this respect in glowing contrast with the natural barrenness of the surrounding region. water. "Perhaps upon no city of the ancient world had greater cost been bestowed, or more skill shown, in securing for it an unfailing supply of water; and such was the repute of Jerusalem in this particular, that its strength as a fortification is frequently alluded to by profane writers, as including this grand and indispensable means of sustaining a lengthened siege. Thus Strabo, having mentioned the fact generally that Jerusalem, situated in the midst of a district destitute of water, was itself abundantly supplied therewith, presently afterwards; and, while referring to the capture of the city by Pompey, states that he took it, notwithstanding its sub stantial munitions, and its being abundant in water, while all around was dry: — ἐντὸς μὲν εὔνδρον, ἐκτὸς δὲ παντελῶς διψηρόν xvi. (p. 762), 1106. Το the same purport is the often-cited passage in Tacitus (Hist. v. 12), who describes the temple with its porticos as a fortress; and such, in fact, it was, well fitted to sustain the frequent sieges to which it was liable. Fons perennis aquæ, cavati sub terra montes : et piscina cisternæque servandis imbribus.' In truth, the provision made and it appears to have been from the earliest times of the monarchy-for securing a supply of water to the city generally, and to the temple especially, was of the most elaborate kind; and so well contrived were these works, that they continued to be effective for their purposes through the course of many centuries; and indeed are so, in great measure, to the present time. Almost every house of the better class, in the modern Jerusalem, has its capacious tank, occupying the basement, and which, collecting the water of the rainy season from its courts and roofs, furnishes an ample supply during the months of drought." "There are frequent allusions in Josephus and other writers to deepseated aqueducts within and without the city. In the many sieges which the Holy city has sustained during the lapse of ages, the same course of events nearly is presented the sufferings of the besieged from hunger, and of the besiegers from thirst. A scarcity of water does not seem ever to have aggravated the miseries that were endured within the walls; while the want of it without has, in each instance, tormented the assailants. "Wealth, intelligence, and constructive skill, to an extent which has not been well understood by modern writers, were undoubtedly at the command of the early Jewish monarchs; and while the storms of war, ravaging their land from age to age, have swept from the surface almost every monument of its early greatness, so much of the national resources as were providently expended beneath the surface, in works of primary importance, has been-in its wrecks at least-conserved, these to the present time, to claim, what they so well deserve, the enlightened attention of Biblical archæologists. The temple of Solomon and of Herod has been razed, yet its substructures still, and not obscurely, shadow forth its greatness. The cedar roofs of a hundred palaces, blazing with gold, are no more; but the ample and well-contrived reservoirs which those palaces bestrode, still exist, and still subserve their purpose. The terraced gardens, the 'paradises' of the kings and nobles of Jerusalem, have long been desolated ; but even now, around the slopes of the hills may be traced, mile after mile, the aqueducts whence those gardens drew perpetual verdure, and which then poured their superfluous streams into the deep bosom of Moriah!" (lviii—-lxi.) In addition to these artificial water sources, the tradition has long been credited of a natural spring of water under the Haram, the site of the temple. To the investigation of this point, Dr. Barclay addressed himself with sagacity and perseverance. The following is the result of his observations, in his own words. "WATERS OF THE HARAM. Great Reservoir of the Temple - Royal Cistern' — Subterranean ‘sea' of the temple. -During our exploration of the Haram enclosure, we observed on removing a half-buried marble capital on one occasion, a rude subterranean passage, leading to a long flight of steps. The Effendi immediately despatched some of the workmen for flambeaux, and prepared for a thorough exploration. Descending a broad flight of forty-four wide steps, cut in the native rock-but so worn in some places as to have required partial re-cutting, only a few centuries ago, to all appearance - we reached a beautiful sheet of water. The Effendi mounted the shoulders of a Fellah and seemed to navigate the waters very pleasantly; while my sons and self spent our time certainly as pleasantly in wading through its rude but venerable halls; and making an accurate ground-plan of it-finding the water nowhere much more than kneedeep. We afterwards spent a good portion of another day in its dark nether regions, completing and verifying the plat, taking other measurements, and making an accurate sketch- that here figured a few minutes' inspection of which will convey a better idea of this long-lost place than many pages of written explanation. -- "This sheet of water is, without doubt, the sea' of which the Son of Sirach and the Commissioner of King Ftolemy speak in such rapturous terms. It is now, however, quite a rude piece of work-the massive metalcovered pillars having given place to ill-shaped piers, apparently of unhewn rocks, badly plastered; the rapacity of some of the various spoilers of the devoted city. Syrian, Roman, Persian, Saracenic, Turkish, or Frank-having left it minus the lead or brass with which it was formerly encased. It is seven hundred and thirty-six feet in circuit, and forty-two in depth; and, according to the best estimate I could make, its capacity falls but little short of two millions of gallons! The rain from el-Aksa is conducted into it by a small trench, and much also finds its way through small superficial channels leading from various parts of the temple area into the same opening near el-Aksa porch. We discovered no fountain in connection with it, nor did we find the entrance of the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools, which, we were told by one of the old keepers who had formerly visited this subterranean lake, enters it on the west, yet we cannot positively affirm that there is none; nor did we discover any exit from it into the neighboring pool under el-Aksa; yet, as that pool, which is said to be very capacious, has no visible source of supply, there is probably a communication between them. It formerly had eight apertures above, through which the water was drawn up; but only one remains open at this time. "I am not able to say how many wells there are in the Haram enclosure -the larger ones having several mouths each; but there are no less than thirty-two well-mouths; though some of these reservoirs are now disused and nearly filled with rubbish. The dimensions of only the few marked on the map could be ascertained. That under el-Aksa is forty-seven feet deep, that at Mugaribeh gate twenty-seven and a half, and that on the right hand of the Cotton bazaar, near Hammam es-Shefa, is only thirty-three feet in depth-a conclusive proof that it can receive no water by lateral connection with the latter, as some have contended-being less than half its depth. According to Mejr ed-Din, there were thirty-four of these wells or reservoirs in the Haram yard about three and a half centuries ago.” The famous Hammam es-Shefa, described by Mr. Wolcott and also by Mr. Williams, was more thoroughly explored by Dr. Barclay. The substance of his report is as follows. “AIN HAMMAM ES-SHEFA (Well of Healing). — The entrance to this mysterious well is situated ten feet south of the Cotton bazaar, one hundred and twenty-five and a half feet from the Haram wall, and one hundred and seventy-six from the Valley street. Its apparent depth is nearly eightyfive feet; but, subtracting eighteen and a half of this for the height of the house, upon the top of which its mouth opens, its real depth beneath the surface of the ground is only sixty-six and a half feet. Its mouth being ten feet higher than the general level of the Haram area, its bottom is, therefore, seventy-five feet below the level of the Haram. "That its source is entirely independent of and totally disconnected with any of the waters alluded to, or indeed any others whatever, is obvious from the fact (at least when considered in connection with their small supply), that no such source is discoverable, and that water trickles into it from nearly every portion of the interior; and though only guttatim, yet, considering the large surface from which it exudes, is fully adequate to the daily demand, which is only about three or four hundred skinsful — except on Friday. Upon this sabbatical day of the Moslem, about eight hundred skins are demanded for expurgatorial ablution. My own impression is, that a well (probably from former indications of moisture in the neighborhood) was originally sunk to the depth of the room, now ten feet above the bottom; which, being plastered and shaped as cisterns generally are, was probably the original cistern, and long used as the receptacle. But the supply proving inadequate to the demands of later times, after the cessation of the latter rains, it was deepened and enlarged; in process of which following no doubt the leaky veins of porous chalky formation -a cave of crumbling material was reached, which required to be walled in and supported by ma sonry. Even had I not proved by previous analysis the fallacy of the assertion that this water is identical with that of the Virgin's Fount, Fla Pages 526-528. |