16 MAJOR-GEN. SIK C. W. WILSON, K.E., F.R.S., ON 



Great. In Christian times th(n-c Avere the building of 

 yEha CapitoHna by Hadrian and of " New Jerusalem " by 

 Constantine, and the readaptation or reconstruction of the 

 city by Arabs, Crusaders, and Turks. Upon each of these 

 occasions the supply of water must have been a matter for 

 serious consideration ; pools, conduits, and cisterns would be 

 restored and possibly new works constructed. Our present 

 knowledge of the works connected with the ancient water 

 supply is very far from being complete, and the identifica- 

 tions proposed in the following notes can only be regarded 

 as provisional. 



Sp7'ings. — The "Fountain of the Virgin"' (the Gihon, and 

 possibly also the Enrogel of the Bible) is the source of a 

 small perennial stream which is increased in volume at 

 imcertain intervals by a sudden rush of water from the 

 spring. During a Avet winter the stream floods two or three 

 times a day ; in summer only once in two or three days. 

 The sjDring is dependent upon the annual rainfall, and the 

 water is to a certain extent polluted by its passage through 

 the accumulated refuse of centuries. The Avater Avas 

 originally sAveet, and digestive properties Avere attributed 

 to it by the Rabbis. It is now brackish and impure, but is 

 still used, Avithout apparent ill effect, for drinking purposes 

 by the poor of Jerusalem and the villagers of Siloam. The 

 spring cannot tlius be utilized in any scheme for a supply of 

 pure Avater.* 



In early days the water from the spring ran doAvn the 

 valley of the Kidron, and perhaps irrigated gardens ; then, 

 possibly during the reign of Solomon, it Avas impounded 

 in a pool in the same valley, Avhicli is called " Solomon's 

 Pool" by Josepims (B.J., v. 4, § 2), and has not yet 

 been recoA^ered. Then, apparently for the convenience of 

 dwellers in the loAver parts of the city, and to give increased 

 facilities for the irrigation of the king's gardens, a conduit, 

 partly rock-hcAvn, Avas constructed to carry the Avater to a 

 pool in the Tyropoeon valley in the position noAV occupied 

 by the pool of Siloam (see Q.S. of P.E.F., 1886, p. 197; 1891, 

 p. 13; 1902, p. 29). This conduit is perhaps referred to in 

 the Avords of Isaiah (viii, 6), " The A\^aters of Shiloah that go 

 softly " ; and as " the brook that ran through the midst of 



* The Editor some years ago endeavoured to explain the cause of the 

 intermittent action of this spring on the syphon princij^le. He is unable 

 to recall the name of the publication in which the paj^er appeared. 



