Pool of Siloam

The term Pool of Siloam (بِرْكَة سِلْوَان‎ Birka Silwān, בְּרֵכַת הַשִּׁילוֹחַ, Bərēḵat haŠīlōaḥ) refers to a number of rock-cut pools on the southern slope of the Wadi Hilweh, considered by some archaeologists to be the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pools were fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by the Siloam Tunnel. The Lower Pool or "Old Pool" was historically known as Birket el Hamra, literally "the red pool". During the Second Temple period, the Pool of Siloam was centrally located in the Jerusalem suburb of Acra (חקרא), also known as the Lower City. Today, the Pool of Siloam is the lowest place in altitude within the historical city of Jerusalem, with an elevation of about above sea level. The ascent from it unto the Temple Mount meant a gradient of in altitude at a linear distance of about , with a mean elevation in the Temple Mount of above sea level. 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 offertory to the Temple Court. The Pool of Siloam (perhaps referring to the Lower Pool) was used by pilgrims for ritual purification before visiting the Temple enclosure. 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 pool was fed by the newly constructed Siloam tunnel. An older Canaanite tunnel had been very vulnerable to attackers, so, under threat from the Assyrian king Sennacherib, Hezekiah sealed up the old outlet of the Gihon Spring and built the new underground Siloam tunnel in place of the older tunnel (Books of Chronicles, ). During this period the Pool of Siloam was sometimes known as the Lower Pool (Book of Isaiah, ), as opposed to a more ancient Upper Pool (Books of Kings, , ) formerly fed by the older Canannite tunnel.