![Solomon's pools2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Solomon%27s_pools2.jpg)
Solomon's Pools ( ar, برك سليمان, ''Burak Suleīmān'', Solomon's Pools, or in short ''el-Burak'', the pools; he, בריכות שלמה, ''Breichot Shlomo'') are three ancient reservoirs located in the south-central
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, immediately to the south of
al-Khader
Al-Khader ( ar, الخضر) is a Palestinian town in the Bethlehem Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the south-central West Bank. It is located west of Bethlehem. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the town had ...
, about southwest of
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, near the road to
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
.
The pools are located in
Area A of the West Bank under the control of the
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine, .
Solomon's Pools provided the water for two
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
that delivered water to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
during the
late Second Temple period.
The first one, known as the "Low-level Aqueduct," is thought to have been built in the first century BCE, around the end of the
Hasmonean period. It delivered water to cisterns located underground beneath the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...
, which were primarily used by the
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
.
[Mazar, A., 2002. ''‘Survey of the Aqueducts to Jerusalem’'', in Amit, Patrich, and Hirschfeld 2002. 210-42][Billig, Y., 2002. ‘''The Low-level Aqueduct to Jerusalem: Recent Discoveries''’ in Amit, Patrich, and Hirschfeld 2002, 242-52] A second aqueduct, the "High-Level Aqueduct," took a similar path, but it is uncertain where it ended up in Jerusalem. It might have provided water to
Herod's Palace Herod’s Palace may refer to any of several palace-fortresses built (or rebuilt from previous fortresses) during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC. Mostly in ruins today, several have been excavated.
* Herod's Palace ( ...
.
The
Herodium
Herodion ( grc, Ἡρώδειον, ar, هيروديون, he, הרודיון), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis ( ar, جبل فريديس, , "Mountain of the Little Paradise") is an ancient Jewish fortress and town, located in what is now ...
also received water from the Solomon's Pools.
Name
The pools are named and traditionally associated with
King Solomon
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
and linked to the passage in the
Book of Ecclesiastes 2.6: "I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees."
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
wrote that Solomon enjoyed the beauty of the water-rich "Etham" (one of the main springs is called ''Ein Eitam'' = ). The pools are in close proximity to the ancient town of ʻEiṭam (now ''Khirbet al-Khuaḥ'') and the spring known as ''ʻAin ʻEiṭam''. Legend has it that the king built the pools for his many wives, so that they could bathe in their waters.
According to
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
, he would pass this place when riding in his chariot. French explorer
Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...
who visited the site in the late 19th-century described the source of the pools and their surrounding villages in ''Description de la Palestine''.
Although the pools are named and traditionally associated with King Solomon, scholars today believe the pools to be much younger, with the oldest part dating to the 2nd century BCE.
The masonry of one pool and a recently discovered aqueduct have been dated to the early Roman period.
Description
Pools and aqueducts
Solomon's Pools, consisting of three large
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
s, are situated several dozen meters apart, each pool with a roughly drop to the next. They are rectangular or trapezoidal in shape, partly hewn into the bedrock and partly built, between 118 and 179 metres (387–587 ft) long and 8 to 16 metres (26–52 ft) deep, with a total capacity of well over a quarter of a million cubic metres (some 290,000 m
3 or 75 million US gallons).
As such, the complex of reservoirs and water conduits might have been built by
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...
or an earlier
Hasmonean ruler. The original rectangular excavations may have been stone
quarries
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...
. The pools were fed by two
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
, by several
springs of the surrounding countryside including one situated underneath the lower pool, as well as by rainwater that descended from the hills. The pools served as a storage and distribution facility, with the two feeder aqueducts bringing water to the pools from the hills to the south. The collected water was then distributed by two other aqueducts leading from the pools northwards to Jerusalem, plus another one heading eastwards to the Herodium. Traces of all five aqueducts have been found.
The pools are positioned so that the water from the high pool can flow into the lower pool next to it when the water is pumped from it. By way of an aqueduct, the water first flowed to
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...
, passed through an underground channel, and finally reached the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...
area of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
.
From the pools to Bethlehem, the average drop is about 35 cm for every 270 meters, but from Bethlehem to Jerusalem it only averages 35 cm for every 1,700 meters.
The length of the extant aqueduct is about 2,350 meters and the slope's gradient is about 11 meters, which means a drop of less than 85 cm for every 1,600 meters.
In olden times, this aqueduct, commonly called the "Lower Aqueduct," crossed the
Valley of Hinnom slightly above the
Sultan's Pool The Sultan's Pool ( he, בריכת הסולטן, translit=Brechat ha-Sultan; ar, بركة السلطان, translit=Birket es-Sultan) is an ancient water basin to the west side of Mount Zion, Jerusalem.
The Sultan's Pool was part of the water supp ...
and passed through a number of pointed arches protruding slightly above the ground.
Afterwards, the aqueduct continued to meander on the southern slope of
Mount Zion
Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...
and entered the city near the present Jewish Quarter of the Old City.
It then ran along the eastern side of that hill, and was supported in part by stonework, while in other parts passed through a conduit carved from the rock, until it suddenly turned east, passed along the embankment and what is now known as
Wilson's Arch, whence it entered the Temple Mount courtyard at the
Chain Gate
The Chain Gate ( ar, باب السلسلة, ) is one of the gates to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compund on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was previously known as David's Gate.
It was also known as ( Gate of the Law Court), named afte ...
.
Today, below the middle pool are the remains of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
pump station that took the water by pipe to the
Old City of Jerusalem
The Old City of Jerusalem ( he, הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, translit=ha-ir ha-atiqah; ar, البلدة القديمة, translit=al-Balda al-Qadimah; ) is a walled area in East Jerusalem.
The Old City is traditionally divided into ...
. Another, more recent pumping station below the lower pool is still providing water to the town of Bethlehem.
Turkish fort; museum
Near the Upper Pool stands a small Turkish fort known as Qal'at el-Burak ("castle of the pools"), or Qal'at Murad ("castle of
ultanMurad"), now Murad or Burak Castle. The rectangular structure with four square corner towers was built by the
Ottoman sultan
The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...
Osman II
Osman II ( ota, عثمان ثانى ''‘Osmān-i sānī''; tr, II. Osman; 3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622), also known as Osman the Young ( tr, Genç Osman), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 162 ...
in 1618.
It served as barracks for the Turkish soldiers guarding the Pools of Solomon and the commercial caravans between Jerusalem and Hebron, as well as a staging post on the local
hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
route to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
. For a long time it was also used as a
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
or ''khan''. After being allowed to decay since the middle of the 19th century, the ruined fortress has been largely rebuilt and developed as part of a new tourist complex.
The Castle Museum houses one of the largest ethnographic collections of Palestinian history and culture.
History
Background
The water system gradually created consisted of two aqueducts feeding the pools, which themselves acted as a collection and distribution facility, and of three further aqueducts: two carrying the water north to Jerusalem, and a third one to
Herodium
Herodion ( grc, Ἡρώδειον, ar, هيروديون, he, הרודיון), Herodium (Latin), or Jabal al-Fureidis ( ar, جبل فريديس, , "Mountain of the Little Paradise") is an ancient Jewish fortress and town, located in what is now ...
. Together, the five aqueducts totalled some 80 kilometres in length.
Upper pools
The construction date of the upper (westernmost) two pools is uncertain but they was probably started during the
Hasmonean period, between mid-second and mid-first century BC and completed by
Herod the Great
Herod I (; ; grc-gre, ; c. 72 – 4 or 1 BCE), also known as Herod the Great, was a Roman Jewish client king of Judea, referred to as the Herodian kingdom. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea, including his renov ...
in connection with his
rebuilding program of the
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
.
Low-Level Aqueduct
The Low-Level Aqueduct is thought to have been built in the first century BCE, around the end of the
Hasmonean period.
The aqueduct began at the lower pool and, after traveling to Jerusalem, climbed a bridge over the
Tyropoeon Valley
Tyropoeon Valley (Greek: i.e., "Valley of the Cheesemakers") is the name given by Josephus the historianWars 5.140 to the valley or rugged ravine, in the Old City of Jerusalem, which in ancient times separated Mount Moriah from Mount Zion and em ...
to reach the
Temple Mount
The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compoun ...
platform, where it ended inside the cisterns hidden underneath its surface. Water delivered by this aqueduct were primarily used by the
Second Temple
The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...
.
On the surface of the aqueduct, archeologists discovered two
prutah
Prutah (Hebrew: פרוטה) is a Hebrew term, possibly derived from Aramaic. It refers to a small denomination coin.
History
Antiquity
The prutah was an ancient copper Jewish coin with low value. A loaf of bread in ancient times was worth about ...
coins - one was minted by
Alexander Jannaeus
Alexander Jannaeus ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἰανναῖος ; he, ''Yannaʾy''; born Jonathan ) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A son of John Hyrcanus, ...
and the other one by
Herod - along with a fragment of a roof tile bearing a stamped impression of
Legio X Fretensis
Legio X ''Fretensis'' ("Tenth legion of the Strait") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the young Gaius Octavius (later to become Augustus Caesar) in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the diss ...
.
High-Level Aqueduct
The High Level Aqueduct originated in the upper pool and followed a similar route to the Low Level Aqueduct. However, its precise destination in Jerusalem is unknown. Scholars speculate that it might have supplied water to
Herod's Palace Herod’s Palace may refer to any of several palace-fortresses built (or rebuilt from previous fortresses) during the reign of Herod the Great, King of Judea from 37 BC to 4 BC. Mostly in ruins today, several have been excavated.
* Herod's Palace ( ...
, which according to ancient sources, was particularly well-known for its water fountains.
Wadi el-Byiar Aqueduct
Herod created the sophisticated Wadi el-Byiar Aqueduct, which fed the upper pool. The aqueduct was partially built as a tunnel which collected underground water from the
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
it was passing through, in the way of a
qanat
A qanat or kārīz is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct; the system originated approximately 3,000 BC in what is now Iran. The function is essentially the same across ...
, to supplement the spring water and
surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...
it was also carrying.
Pilate's Arrub Aqueduct
In a third phase, Roman
prefect
Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
A prefect's ...
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
built of aqueduct bringing yet more water to Solomon's Pools from the large collection pools at
Arrub to the south. This aqueduct, which brought water to Jerusalem, was paid for by Pontius Pilate at the expense of the
Temple treasury The temple treasury was a storehouse (Hebrew אוצר 'otsar) first of the tabernacle then of the Jerusalem Temples mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. The term "storehouse" is generic, and also occurs later in accounts of life in Roman Palestine where ...
, which act in itself incited the anger of the local people.
Amihai Mazar
Amihai "Ami" Mazar ( he, עמיחי מזר; born November 19, 1942) is an Israeli archaeologist. Born in Haifa, Israel (then the British Mandate of Palestine), he has been since 1994 a professor at the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew Univ ...
(1972), p. 120 The aqueduct was destroyed during the
First Jewish-Roman War
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
.
Mamluk lower pool
The lower of the three pools was built in 1483 CE during the reign of Mamluk Sultan
Qaytbay
Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–149 ...
.
Between 1480 and 1484
Felix Fabri
Felix Fabri (also spelt Faber; 1441 – 1502) was a Swiss Dominican theologian. He left vivid and detailed descriptions of his pilgrimages to Palestine and also in 1489 authored a book on the history of Swabia, entitled ''Historia Suevorum''.
H ...
visited, and noted that beside the middle pool there were: "pavilions and tents, wherein dwelt the architects, clerks of the works, overseers, and masters, who there arranged how the watercourses should be dug through the mountains. Round about these pavilions many
Moors
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
and
Saracen
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
s were running to and fro..."
Later history
The water system based on Solomon's Pools has provided water to Jerusalem, on and off, for two millennia, all until 1967.
Major repairs to the water system were done by
the 10th Roman Legion, ''Legio Fretensis'' during the second century CE, later by the
Mamluks
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') i ...
, the
Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
and the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
. In 1902 for instance, a new 16 km pipeline to Jerusalem was inaugurated to mark the 60th birthday of the Ottoman sultan
Abdul Hamid II
Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...
.
Springs feeding the pools
![Roman aqueduct from Pools of Solomon to Jerusalem](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Roman_aqueduct_from_Pools_of_Solomon_to_Jerusalem.jpg)
The pools are directly fed by four different springs: the most prominent is 'Ain Saleh, at the head of the Wadi Urtas (Artas), about to the north-west of the upper pool.
[''List of Geographical Names'', (A Memo of the National Committee to the Government of the Land of Israel on the Method of Spelling Transliterated Geographical and Personal Names, plus Two Lists of Geographical Names), Lĕšonénu: A Journal for the Study of the Hebrew Language and Cognate Subjects, Benjamin Maisler, Tel-Aviv 1932, p. 21 (note 1): "The spring of Etam is alledEin Etam, but Etam is the ruin of ''Wadi Khukh'', near ]Artas
ARTAS (ATM suRveillance Tracker And Server) is a system designed by Eurocontrol to operationally support Aerial surveillance and Air traffic control by establishing an accurate Air Situation Picture of all traffic over a pre-defined geographical ...
(Urtas)." The spring water is transferred to the upper pool by a large subterranean passage. From the same direction comes the water of 'Ain Burak. 'Ain Attan or Ein Eitam is located south-east of the lower pool, while 'Ain Farujeh is right underneath that pool.
Present day
Today the water from the pools only reaches as far Bethlehem. The aqueduct beyond this was destroyed once taken out of use in 1967.
In recent decades, the pools have suffered from neglect. Between 1967 and the 1990s, the Nassar quarry, the Arja textile industry, and other nearby enterprises freely drew water from the pools. Six people have drowned in the pools since 1993, and no one has been held accountable. One of the pools was used by Palestinian One of the pools was used by Palestinian In 2009, the pools still lacked any safety precautions, guards on duty, a fence, or warning signs preventing children from jumping in. As a result, complaints were filed against the ministry of Awqaf, the site's owner, and the Solomon's Pools Tourism Agency, the operating company. A Palestinian court was then consulted on the matter.
Solomon's Pools have been managed since 2009 by the
Convention Palace Company, which also operates Bethlehem Convention Center along with other sites in the area. The Murad Castle, an Ottoman fort at the park's northern gate, has been transformed into a tourist attraction that also includes an ethnographic and history museum and a restaurant with a garden area. Plans for the larger complex include a conference center, recreational spaces and a mosque.
In 2016, it was reported that neglect had caused the walls of one pool to collapse.
In 2017, the
U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem funded a $750,000 restoration project at Solomon's Pools, which were suffering from neglect.
Temple-era pools near Jerusalem set for renovation
/ref>
See also
* Molten Sea
The Molten Sea or Brazen Sea ( ''yām mūṣāq'' "cast metal sea") was a large basin in the Temple in Jerusalem made by Solomon for ablution of the priests. It is described in and . It stood in the south-eastern corner of the inner court. Acc ...
*Sultan's Pool The Sultan's Pool ( he, בריכת הסולטן, translit=Brechat ha-Sultan; ar, بركة السلطان, translit=Birket es-Sultan) is an ancient water basin to the west side of Mount Zion, Jerusalem.
The Sultan's Pool was part of the water supp ...
*Hezekiah's Pool
Hezekiah's Pool ( he, בריכת חזקיהו, ''Brikhat Hizkiyahu''), or the Patriarch's Pool, located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was once a reservoir forming part of the city's ancient water system.
History
Flaviu ...
*Birket Israel
Birket Israel ( trans. ''Pool of Israel'') also Birket Israil or Birket Isra'in, abbreviated from Birket Beni Israìl ( trans. ''Pool of the Children of Israel'') was a public cistern located on the north-eastern corner of the Temple Mount, in J ...
*Mamilla Pool
Mamilla Pool (also known as ''Birket Mamilla'') is one of several ancient reservoirs that supplied water to the inhabitants of the Jerusalem. It is located outside the walls of the Old City about northwest of Jaffa Gate in the centre of the Mam ...
*Herodian Architecture
Herodian architecture is a style of classical architecture characteristic of the numerous building projects undertaken during the reign (37–4 BC) of Herod the Great, the Roman client king of Judea. Herod undertook many colossal building projects ...
References
Bibliography
* ''Biblical Encyclopaedia'' (1950-1988). Bialik Institute
Bialik Institute ( he, מוסד ביאליק, ''Mosad Bialik'') is a research institution and publishing house, mostly dealing with the history and culture of the Hebrew language. It was established in 1935 by the World Zionist Executive and the E ...
: Jerusalem
*
*
*
*
*
* Flavius, Josephus. ''Antiquities''
*
* (Hebrew)
*
*
External links
www.solomonpools.com/
*
{{Solomon
Al-Khader
Aqueducts
Bethlehem
Caravanserais in the State of Palestine
Reservoirs in the West Bank
Roman aqueducts outside Rome
Roman cisterns
Solomon
Tourist attractions in the State of Palestine
Ancient Jewish history
Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC