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Solomon's Pools
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Solomon's Pools
Solomon's Pools (Arabic: برك سليمان, romanized: Burak Sulaymān, or in short el-Burak, 'the pools'; Hebrew: בריכות שלמה, romanized: Breichot Shlomo) are three ancient reservoirs located in the south-central West Bank, immediately to the south of al-Khader, about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of Bethlehem, near the road to Hebron. The pools are located in Area A of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.
Solomon's Pools provided the water for two aqueducts that delivered water to Jerusalem 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, which were primarily used by the Temple. 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. The Herodium also received water from the Solomon's Pools.
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.
The pools are named and traditionally associated with King Solomon 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 wrote that Solomon enjoyed the beauty of the water-rich "Etham" (one of the main springs is called Ein Eitam = Hebrew: עין עיטם). 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, he would pass this place when riding in his chariot. French explorer Victor Guérin who visited the site in the late 19th-century described the source of the pools and their surrounding villages in Description de la Palestine.
Solomon's Pools, consisting of three large reservoirs, are situated several dozen meters apart, each pool with a roughly 6 metres (20 ft) 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 23 metres (26–75 ft) deep, with a total capacity of well over a quarter of a million cubic metres (some 290,000 m3 or 75 million US gallons).
The complex of reservoirs and water conduits might have been built by Herod the Great or an earlier Hasmonean ruler. The original rectangular excavations may have been stone quarries. The pools were fed by two aqueducts bringing water to the pools from the hills to the south; 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. The collected water was distributed by three other aqueducts: two leading from the pools northwards to Jerusalem, and the third 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, passed through an underground channel, and finally reached the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem. 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.
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Solomon's Pools
Solomon's Pools (Arabic: برك سليمان, romanized: Burak Sulaymān, or in short el-Burak, 'the pools'; Hebrew: בריכות שלמה, romanized: Breichot Shlomo) are three ancient reservoirs located in the south-central West Bank, immediately to the south of al-Khader, about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of Bethlehem, near the road to Hebron. The pools are located in Area A of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.
Solomon's Pools provided the water for two aqueducts that delivered water to Jerusalem 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, which were primarily used by the Temple. 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. The Herodium also received water from the Solomon's Pools.
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.
The pools are named and traditionally associated with King Solomon 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 wrote that Solomon enjoyed the beauty of the water-rich "Etham" (one of the main springs is called Ein Eitam = Hebrew: עין עיטם). 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, he would pass this place when riding in his chariot. French explorer Victor Guérin who visited the site in the late 19th-century described the source of the pools and their surrounding villages in Description de la Palestine.
Solomon's Pools, consisting of three large reservoirs, are situated several dozen meters apart, each pool with a roughly 6 metres (20 ft) 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 23 metres (26–75 ft) deep, with a total capacity of well over a quarter of a million cubic metres (some 290,000 m3 or 75 million US gallons).
The complex of reservoirs and water conduits might have been built by Herod the Great or an earlier Hasmonean ruler. The original rectangular excavations may have been stone quarries. The pools were fed by two aqueducts bringing water to the pools from the hills to the south; 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. The collected water was distributed by three other aqueducts: two leading from the pools northwards to Jerusalem, and the third 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, passed through an underground channel, and finally reached the Temple Mount area of Jerusalem. 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.
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