970 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



The first legible copies were made by Prof. A. H. Sayce, wlio came 

 to Jerusalem iu February, 1881. He spent three afternoons in the 

 tunnel, sitting- in water 4 to 6 inches deep, the conduit being dimly 

 lighted by a c;indle held by his companion, Mr. Slater.' Another copy 

 was independently made by the Eev. VV. T. Filter. 



In March, 1881, Dr. Guthe, head of the German Palestine Explora- 

 tion Society, went to Jerusalem, and after making as exact a drawing 

 as possible of the inscription as it stood, he removed the lime deposit 

 by the application of hydrochloric acid. This rendered feasible the 

 taking of an adequate impression of the inscription. Squeezes and 

 plaster impressions were subsequently made by Dr. Guthe, Lieuts. 

 Claude K. Gonder and Mantel.^ 



In 1891 the Siloam inscription was cut out of its place in the tunnel 

 and carried away. It was found in the house of a Greek living near 

 Jerusalem on the Hebron road, and the fact reported to the authorities 

 at Gonstantinopie. The Turkish law makes all monuments public 

 property, and the minister of public instruction ordered the inscrip- 

 tion sent to Gonstantinopie. So important, however, was the matter 

 deemed that it was considered at a council of ministers, and a peremp- 

 tory telegram was sent by the Grand Vizier to the Pasha of Jerusalem 

 to use all means to secure possession of this priceless monument and 

 forward it with dispatch to the capital.^ This action had the desired 

 result and the Siloam inscription is now preserved at the Imperial 

 ]\Iuseum in Gonstantinopie. 



The contents of the inscription, which consists of six lines, are as 

 follows: "Behold the excavation! And this was the manner of the 

 excavation, while [the excavators] were lifting up the pick, each to his 

 neighbor, and while 3 cubits [of rock remained] the voice of one called 

 to his fellow- workman, for there was a fissure iu. the rock on the right 

 hand. * * * And on the day [or, to the west] of the excavation 

 the excavators struck, each so as to meet his fellow, pick against pick, 

 and there flowed the water from the source to the pool through the 

 spa{;e of 1,000 cubits, and * * * cubit was the height of the rock 

 over the head of the excavation." 



The inscription would seem to show that the work of excavation was 

 undertaken simultaneously from both ends by two gangs of workmen, 

 and that for want of engineering skill the borings overlapped. 



Judging by the form of the letters the inscription must have origi- 

 nated between the eighth and sixth centuries. The most generally 

 accepted opinion is, that it dates from the reign of Ilezekiah, and is 

 referred to in II Ghrcmicles xxxii, 4 and 30: " So there was gathered 

 much x>eople together, and they stopped all the fountains, and the 

 brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, why should 



1 Quarterly Statement, 1881, p. 143. 

 "■ Quarterly Statement, 1881, p. 285 ; 1882, p. 123. 



■'The above acionnt is written from personal knowledge. For a slightly different 

 acconnt see Quarterly Statement, 1891, pp. 2, 8.s ; 1891, pp. 271, 272. 



