The Pool of Siloam

In June 2004, sewer-repair workers near the City of David in Jerusalem broke through to a stone step. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority were called in and over the next several seasons exposed a massive Second Temple period public pool stepped on three sides — the southern terminus of Hezekiah's Tunnel and almost certainly the Pool of Siloam where John 9 records Jesus telling the man born blind to wash. The pool measured at least 225 feet on its longest axis. Coins recovered from the plaster of its construction layer date to the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC); coins from the layer of its destruction were minted during the First Jewish Revolt (AD 66-70). The archaeological dating brackets the pool within the era of the Gospels exactly. The pool functioned as a reservoir for fresh water carried through Hezekiah's Tunnel from the Gihon Spring; it was also stepped, with broad terraced flights descending to the water on at least three sides, and was almost certainly used by Jewish pilgrims for ritual purification (mikveh-style immersion) before ascending to the Temple. Recent excavation has uncovered a stepped processional street running from the Pool of Siloam up to the Temple Mount. Until 2004 the traditional Pool of Siloam was a small Byzantine basin near a 5th-century church — a pilgrimage memorial built when the original pool had been forgotten. The 2004 find restored the original. Excavation of the full perimeter resumed in late 2022 under the City of David Foundation and the IAA. The pool is open to visitors today. Sources: Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron, "The Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem of the Second Temple Period," Qadmoniot 130 (2005); Hershel Shanks, "The Siloam Pool: Where Jesus Cured the Blind Man," BAR 31:5 (2005); Ronny Reich, Excavating the City of David (2011); Israel Antiquities Authority Pool of Siloam excavation reports (2022-).