THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 
The eagerness of the early monks to give Scriptural names to every prominent feature of 
Jerusalem, has affixed the title of the “ Pool of Bethesda” to the reservoir on the north of 
the Great Mosque. 
In the opinion of Robinson, this reservoir merely formed a part of the fosse of 
the “ Acropolis,” or Fortress of Antonia. Its dimensions certainly seem altogether 
incompatible with the purposes of the Bethesda of Scripture, whether those were the 
bathing of the sick, or the washing of sheep preparatory to their sacrifice in the Temple ; 
for it measures 360 feet in length by 130 in breadth, and is 75 deep, even now, though 
there is evidently a great accumulation of earth at the bottom. There can be, however, 
no doubt of its having been used as a reservoir, for its sides have been cased with small 
stones, and those again have been covered with plaster; but this portion of the work wants 
the completeness of ancient skill. 1 
The western end is built up like the rest, except at the south-west corner, where two 
lofty arched vaults extend under the houses which cover that quarter. The northern one 
of those arches is nineteen feet broad, and it has been penetrated to the extent of a hundred 
feet, and apparently extends farther. The other is twelve feet in breadth, but both are 
heaped with earth. It is conjectured that the trench, of which this excavation forms a 
part, was filled up by Titus in the siege, when, in order to carry on his works for the 
assault of the Temple, he levelled the Fortress of Antonia. 
Eusebius and Jerome speak of a piscina probatica, shown in their day as Bethesda, a 
double pool, one part filled by ruins, and the other tinged of a reddish dye, as if mixed 
with blood; but they give it no locality. The name in later time's was applied, apparently, 
from the neighbourhood of the reservoir to the St. Stephen’s Gate, which was mistaken for 
the sheep-gate. 
The bottom is generally dry, though at the time of the Artist’s visit, in April, there 
was some water stagnating in it. It contains shrubs, and a few trees not tall enough to 
reach above the level of the street. 
The view is taken from the street leading to the Great Mosque. The characteristic 
feature of Jewish architecture is exhibited in the domes, which form the roof of every 
house, a result of the costliness of timber; but, from its wanting the lightness of the 
Oriental dome, in general the effect is poor and monotonous. The tower on the right is 
the minaret standing in the inclosure of the mosque, and the ruins beneath are conceived 
to be the remnants of the Tower of Antonia. 2 
Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 434. 
8 Roberts’s Journal. 
