Solomon's Pools South of Jerusalem. 150 Years of Photos
Solomon's Pools. The photo from the Library of Congress archives is dated
between 1860 and 1880. No photographer is credited for the photo. The photo and handwritten caption are similar to photos by Felix Bonfils (1831-1885). |
Solomon's Temple, of course, was located on the Temple Mount and was actually built by King Solomon. After its destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, it was covered by rubble, then two versions of the Second Jewish Temple, a Roman pagan shrine, a church and a Muslim shrine.
Around Jerusalem one can see other ancient sites with Solomon's name
- Solomon's Quarries,
Solomon's pools, north of Efrat, south of Bethlehem and east of
Route 60. (Google Earth) - Solomon's Prayer Place,
- Solomon's Stables,
- and Solomon's Pools
Other than the First Temple, none of them had any real association with King Solomon.
Solomon's pools (circa 1900) in a rare colored photochrom picture |
Click on pictures to enlarge. Click on captions to view the original pictures.
Water from the Biyar Spring flows into one of Solomon's Pools (circa 1935) |
Water flowing through the mountains via ancient aqueduct to Solomon's Pools (circa 1939) |
The pools are massive reservoirs built to hold water from the south and the Eitam spring to the east. The largest is 177 meters long, 60 meters wide, and 15 meters deep. Parts of the ancient aqueduct system are still visible.
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