Solomon's Pools

Solomon's pools, 1981

Solomon's Pools (Arabic: برك سليمان, romanizedBurak Sulaymān, or in short el-Burak, 'the pools'; Hebrew: בריכות שלמה, romanizedBreichot 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.[1][2] The pools are located in Area A of the West Bank under the control of the Palestinian National Authority.[3]

Solomon's Pools provided the water for two aqueducts that delivered water to Jerusalem during the late Second Temple period.[4] 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.[5][6] 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.[4] The Herodium also received water from the Solomon's Pools.[7]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hawari was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Leeper, J. L. (1903). "Remains of the Temple at Jerusalem". The Biblical World. 22 (5): 340. doi:10.1086/473292. ISSN 0190-3578.
  3. ^ Blumenthal, Itay (2016-05-09). "Second Temple era archaeological site suffer serious damage". ynetnews. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  4. ^ a b Gurevich, David (2017-04-03). "The Water Pools and the Pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Late Second Temple Period". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 149 (2): 103–134. doi:10.1080/00310328.2017.1310563. ISSN 0031-0328. S2CID 165135217.
  5. ^ Mazar, A., 2002. ‘Survey of the Aqueducts to Jerusalem’, in Amit, Patrich, and Hirschfeld 2002. 210-42
  6. ^ Billig, Y., 2002. ‘The Low-level Aqueduct to Jerusalem: Recent Discoveries’ in Amit, Patrich, and Hirschfeld 2002, 242-52
  7. ^ Garbrecht, Günter; Peleg, Yehuda (1994). "The Water Supply of the Desert Fortresses in the Jordan Valley". The Biblical Archaeologist. 57 (3): 161–170. doi:10.2307/3210411. ISSN 0006-0895. JSTOR 3210411. S2CID 132210394.

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