The Pool of Siloam (Hebrew: בריכת השילוח)

DAY 6: STOP 9

The Pool of Siloam is a rock-cut pool on the southern slope of the City of David, the original site of Jerusalem, located outside the walls of the Old City to the southeast. The pool was fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by two aqueducts.

A rendering of what the area probably looked like

Here Jesus, according to John, healed a man born blind.

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:2-4)

In the summer of 2004, archaeologists were checking the area southeast of the traditional Pool of Siloam for a public works project when they discovered some large stone steps. Further excavations, which continued to summer 2005, uncovered several flights of steps and a pool that was in use during the 1st century AD. Scholars believe that this pool — and not the one nearby traditional identified as such — is the actual Pool of Siloam.

This is what we saw which is a fraction of the original pool:

Father Peter speaking to us

To build out the pol property, they will need to acquire the adjacent property.  Below is a rendering of what the original might have looked like:

Some pics of the area outside of the pool below