Water Supply for Sultan’s Pool Found

October 4, 2009

According to first-century Jewish historian Josephus, the site of the pool could have originally been an amphitheater built by Herod, around which he erected the aqueduct. Sometime during the Roman–Byzantine era, a dam was built across the Hinnom Valley (west of Mount Zion) to create a large reservoir. Today, the dam supports a piece of the highly trafficked Hebron Road. Though remnants of the aqueduct had previously been exposed, IAA uncovered the main aqueduct, supplying proof of how the pool was filled with water.

According to Dr. Ron Beeri, excavation director, “We are dealing with a very impressive aqueduct that reached a height of three meters [9 feet]. Naturally, one of the first things Sultan Suleiman I [1494–1566] hastened to do in Jerusalem (along with the construction of the city wall as we know it today) was to repair the aqueduct that was already there…Suleiman attached a small tower to the aqueduct, inside of which a ceramic pipe was inserted. The pipe diverted the aqueduct’s water to the Sultan’s Pool and the impressive sabil (a Muslim public fountain for drinking water)…”

The low-level aqueduct originated at the springs in the Hebron Highlands and at Solomon’s Pools [near Bethlehem, a length of 23 kilometers or 14 miles] and terminated in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. After the Temple was destroyed, the aqueduct served the Tenth Legion and afterwards Aelia Capitolina (Roman Jerusalem). The aqueduct was also used during the Christian–Byzantine rule and when Muslims governed in Jerusalem.

According to Beeri, “We can see that from the time of the Second Temple until the Byzantine period, water flowed in an open channel that was covered with stone slabs…Beginning in the Ottoman period, water was conveyed in ceramic pipes which were installed inside the aqueduct.” The low-level aqueduct is to be incorporated in the Montefiore Museum, which the Jerusalem Foundation plans to build inside the pool, adjacent to the aqueduct. (See www.biblewalks.com for more pictures of Sultan’s Pool.)

IAA press release and Charleeda Sprinkle

Photo Credit: Photos by Skyview Ltd

Photo Credit: courtest of IAA