Installations hydrauliques (n.d.)
Localisation : système d’approvisionnement en eau de la ville depuis les sources dans la région de Hébron et Bethléem.
Réf :
Berchem (1922), p.240-248
Bliss/Dickie (1898)
Lumley (1872)
McCabe (1875), p.495-496
Masterman (1902), p.87-112
Mauss/Sauvaire (1874), in Luynes (1874), II,
p.84-86
Meinecke
(1992), 9C/32, 9C/102, 9C/215, 25A/8, 25B/73, 39/35, 42/3, 42/128
Pierotti
(1864), p.245-261
Porter
(1887)
Robinson
(1856), I, p.347-348
Saulcy
(1853), p.356-364 ; (1865), p.23-39 ; (1882)
Schick
(1878), p.132-178
Schick
(1887), p.213-220
Schick
(1898a), p.224-229
Warren (1876)
Whitty (1863)
Wilson (1865), p.77-88
Wilson (1881), I, p.98-120
Wilson/Warren (1871), p.182-186
Berchem (1922), n°76, 103
RCEA 5427
Description.
Le système hydraulique alimentant Jérusalem en eau consiste en quatre principaux aqueducs et des bassins (ill.1) :
L’aqueduc du wadî al-‘Arrûb (alt.830m). Il récolte les eaux en provenance des sources ‘Ain Kuweiziba, ‘Ain al-Dilb, et ‘Ain al-Arrûb, ces sources convergent vers le birket al-‘Arrûb (alt.820m), puis l’aqueduc al-‘Arrûb conduit l’eau sur 39km jusqu’au Bassins de Salomon.
L’aqueduc du wadî al-Biyar (alt.870m). Il récolte les eaux de la source ‘Ain al-Daraj principalement puis court vers le nord-est sur 4,7km jusqu’aux Bassins de Salomon. Cette conduite est en partie faite de tunnels avec des ouvertures verticales pour l’entretien et l’aération.
Les Bassins de Salomon : un ensemble de trois bassins situés au sud-ouest de Bethléem, ils sont alimentés par les aqueducs du wadi al-‘Arrûb et du wadî al-Biyar. Ils reçoivent aussi l’eau des sources environnantes du ‘Ain al-Salîh (alt.810m), ‘Ain al-Burak (alt.805m) et ‘Ain al-Faruja. Ces bassins apportent l’eau à trois aqueducs : l’Aqueduc Inférieur, l’Aqueduc Supérieur qui fournissent l’eau à Jérusalem et un aqueduc qui va à Artas et alimente le site de l’Hérodion.
Les nombreuses fouilles effectuées ont permis de retrouver des sections de la conduite à l’approche de Jérusalem :
Une section de 75m à 745m d’altitude, orientée nord-sud, sur la pente est de Dayr Tantur (ill.1, 2)[1], puis le tracé passe par l’est du monastère Grec Orthodoxe de Mar Elias.
Une section sur la pente est de Giv’at HaArba’a.[2]
Deux sections à 742m d’alt, orientées ouest-est, sur les pentes sud-est de Giv’at HaArba’a : une section de 25m en zone B1 et de 26m en zone B2 et une autre section en zone C (ill.3).[3]
Deux sections sur le côté nord de Shmuel Meir avenue : en zone A à 741,80m d’alt, orientée nord-ouest sud-est ; et en zone B, une section de 4,20m à 741,74m d’alt, orientée nord-ouest sud-est (ill.4).[4]
Plusieurs sections à Sur Bahîr sur al-Mashahîd street (ill.5, 8)[5], et deux autres sections de 30m à 745m d’alt, orientées est-ouest, à Sur Bahîr sans localisation précise (ill.6).[6]
Une section de 20m à 745m d’alt, orientée ouest-est, sur les pentes du Nahar Darga à Sur Bahîr.[7]
Une section de 15m à 741m d’alt, orientée ouest-est, en direction de la partie est de Asher Viner street (ill.7).[8]
Une section sur le Khirbat Sabiha, à Gershon Avner street.[9]
Plusieurs sections sur les pentes est et sud du Diplomat Hotel, toutes orientées sud-est nord-ouest[10], une autre section de 25m de même orientation à 741m d’alt (ill.9).[11]
Deux sections entre Kurtz street et Rav HaHovel street l’une orientée nord-sud et l’autre orientée sud-ouest nord-est (ill.10).[12]
A 200m au NE du Diplomat Hotel sur Rav Hovel street ; en zone A une section de 34m, orientée ouest-est ; et en zone B une section de 15m, orientée nord-ouest sud-est (ill.11, 12).[13]
Une section arrivant depuis l’ouest par David Raziel street, puis au nord-nord-est par Mordekhay Alkehir street et Elram building jusqu’au tunnel à Armon HaNatziv.[14]
Une section au 20 Dov Guner street.[15]
Une section à l’entrée du tunnel Armon HaNatziv.[16]
Une section découverte dans le voisinage de Armon HaNatziv, sur al-Kashî street, sans précision.[17]
Le tunnel Armon HaNatziv orienté sud-nord sur 395m (ill.13-15)[18] puis sortie à Tayeret Haas Promenade où une section parallèle a été rajouté, cette section se superpose à l’ancien tracé jusqu’à Mishkenot Sha’ananim.[19]
Une section de 30 m sur la Gabriel Scherover Promenade dans le parc HaShalom (ill.16).[20]
Une section de 400m à l’est du couvent Ste Claire dans HaShalom Forest, au nord de Shaar Harimonim.[21]
Une section orientée nord-sud sur les pentes est de Abu Tor, actuelle wadî Aqrad street (ill.17).[22]
Le tracé tourne vers la partie ouest de la vallée du Hinnom aux pieds de l’église écossaise Saint Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church.[23]
Une section de 9m à 738m d’alt, orientée nord-sud, au sud du birket Sultan et à 100m au nord une autre section passe sur une structure à arcades (ill.18).[24]
Une section d’une trentaine de mètres, orientée nord-sud, longeant un réservoir souterrain[25] à Mishkenot Sha’ananim (ill.19-29).[26]
Il longe ensuite le birket al-Sultan (ill.31-33)[27] par l’ouest puis le contourne par le nord pour traverser la vallée du Hinnom ; une section de 11m, orientée sud-ouest nord-est, aujourd’hui dissimulée dans la Cité des Artistes (ill.30).[28] Un pont à neuf arches permettait à l’aqueduc de traverser cette vallée depuis le sud-ouest jusqu’au nord-est (voir plus bas).[29] Une inscription datée 720/1320 mentionnait la restauration de cette partie de l’ouvrage sous le sultan al-Nasîr Muhammad (3e règne 30 ramadan 709/3.III.1310 – 21 dhu’l-hijja 741/7.VI.1341), ce pont est aujourd’hui, inséré et dissimulé dans le Cité des Artistes du Mitchell park. Une autre section est située au sud-est du birket, sans précision.[30]
L’aqueduc fait ensuite un circuit sur les pentes du Mont Sion[31] et aux pieds du mur d’enceinte sud jusqu’au burj Kibrit (voir plus bas), où une section est exposée aux pieds de la tour (ill.34-38), il continue de longer le mur d’enceinte sur les affleurements du parc Beit Shalom (ill.39, 40) où il entre dans la ville intra-muros par une percée dans le mur à l’ouest de la Porte des Immondices/Dung Gate près d’une base de tour. Il suit parallèlement l’escarpement rocheux du Quartier Juif, passe aux pieds de l’actuel Dan Family Building/Aish HaTorah (ill.41-44) pour finir sa course au Haram via l’Arche de Wilson (alt.735m). Arrivé sous le Haram, l’eau circule par un système de galeries et est stockée dans un réseau de citernes souterraines (voir plan plus bas).[32]
L’aqueduc Supérieur : il démarre au Bassin Intermédiaire et parcourt 13km parallèlement à l’Aqueduc Inférieur mais à une altitude plus élevée. Il a connu de nombreuses opérations de nettoyage. Son tracé est plus compliqué à suivre que l’aqueduc Inférieur, à l’approche de Jérusalem par le sud, il traverse des terrains agricoles et des espaces densément bâtis. C’est lors de fouilles programmées ou par hasard que des sections de l’aqueduc sont découvertes sur plusieurs sites permettant ainsi de reporter un tracé approximatif :
Des sections à Dayr Tantur et au monastère de Mar Elias (ill.1).[33]
Plusieurs sections encerclant Giv’at HaMatos/Khirbat Tabalîya par l’ouest et le nord (ill.1)[34], puis il traverse la route de Hébron en direction de Ramat Rahel via les ruines de l’église de Kathisma au nord de Shmuel Meir avenue.[35]
Une section à 50m à l’est de la
station service Ramat Rahel sur le site du Beta Israel Memorial (ill.2-6).[36]
Plusieurs sections sur un total de 300m à 776,50m d’alt, orientées nord-sud, elles se situent, plus au nord, sur des terrasses agricoles en hauteur dans un parc longeant la route (ill.7, 8).[37]
Plus au nord sur la partie nord-ouest de la colline, à la jonction de Hebron road et Asher Viner street, plusieurs sections de 60 et 250m à 776m d’alt, orientée nord-sud, non localisée avec précision (ill.9)[38], ce site fait suite aux vestiges précédents.
Deux sections sur un total de 60m, orientées nord-sud, entre Asher Viner street et Revadin Street, exposées dans le Cypress Park (ill.10-19).[39]
Une section sur le boulevard Ein Tsurim à Talpiyot.[40]
Après un parcours supposé par Talpiyot et North Talpiyot, l’aqueduc réapparaît au niveau du Monastère Sainte Claire où deux sections de 10m, orientées nord-sud, sont découvertes. Les caractéristiques de ces deux sections se rapprochent de celles de l’aqueduc Supérieur (ill.20).[41]
La section suivante se situe à l’emplacement de l’ancienne gare ferroviaire où des vestiges sont connus depuis 1926/1927 (ill.21).[42]
Une autre section est connue au nord de Ketef Hinnom, près de l’allée desservant le Begin Heritage Center.[43]
Plusieurs sections supposées au croisement de deux rues près du Liberty Bell Park, sans précision.[44]
Une section passant par un tunnel de 32m sur la pente ouest de Yemin Moshe en contrebas du sderot Blumfeld près du moulin Montefiore (ill.22-24), l’appartenance de cette section à l’aqueduc Supérieur n’est pas certifiée.[45]
Le tracé disparaît pour réapparaître au niveau du cimetière de Mamilla où une section supposée est découverte au nord du birket Mamilla, site du nouveau Musée de la Tolérance (ill.45)[46], le tracé bifurque ensuite au sud-est par le Mamilla-Alrov Mall street, côté sud[47] et longe le mur d’enceinte sur Yaffo street[48] avant d’atteindre la Porte de Jaffa/Bâb al-Khalîl[49] où il entre dans la Vieille Ville. Des vestiges du mur d’enceinte et d’un canal sont exposés sous la Porte de Jaffa (ill.29-31).[50] Il termine sa course au sud-ouest du bassin d’Ezechias/birket Hammam al-Batrak (ill.28), via le Gloria Hotel (ill.27)[51], l’Imperial Hotel (illustrations plus bas et ill.26)[52] et le Petra Hotel.[53]
Historique
Période antérieure.
La question de l’approvisionnement en eau de la ville était déjà d’actualité vers le 1e siècle BC, à cette époque la ville grandit rapidement et il faut beaucoup d’eau pour subvenir aux besoins des habitants toujours plus nombreux et pour alimenter les espaces publics et rituels.
L’aqueduc Inférieur peut être daté de la période hasmonéenne (168-37 BC), il est restauré par Hérode (r.37-4 BC) durant ses grands travaux d’urbanisme de Jérusalem. Tout le système hydraulique est aussi restauré et amélioré par Hérode et ses successeurs après 37 BC pour en faire un ensemble comprenant les aqueducs du Biyar, du ‘Arrûb, les deux premiers bassins des Bassins de Salomon et les aqueducs Inférieur et Supérieur.
L’aqueduc Inférieur a probablement été endommagé suite à la 1ere Révolte Juive (66-70) et abandonné jusqu’au 5e siècle, il est réparé au début de la période Omeyyade pour alimenter les citernes souterraines du Dôme du Rocher et de la Mosquée al-Aqsa.
Il y a peu d’information sur l’utilisation de ce système durant les Croisades[54] et la période Ayyûbide, il est restauré et à nouveau utilisé sous les Mamluk.
La datation de l’aqueduc Supérieur est plus problématique, une hypothèse[55] admet sa construction (ou plus sûrement sa rénovation) suite à l’installation de la Xe Légion Fretensis à Jérusalem, après la 1e révolte juive entre 66 et 70.[56] L’aqueduc apparaît complètement achevé au 2e siècle. Il semble que Hérode soit aussi responsable de la construction de cet aqueduc destiné à alimenter son palais dans la ville haute de Jérusalem. Les récentes fouilles et découvertes au sud de Jérusalem montrent plusieurs phases de restaurations de l’aqueduc Supérieur entre le début de la période romaine et la période byzantine, à cette époque cet aqueduc est la source d’eau majeure de la ville pourtant il est à l’abandon pendant la période byzantine[57] et au début de l’ère Musulmane ; néanmoins, une section entre le birket Mamilla et la Porte de Jaffa semble utilisée durant le Moyen Age et la période Ottomane, elle compte plusieurs phases de restauration dont une Ayyûbide.[58]
Période Mamluk.
Une importante restauration de l’aqueduc est attestée sous le règne du sultan al-Nâsir Muhammad (3e règne 30 ramadan 709/3.III.1310 – 21 dhu’l-hijja 741/7.VI.1341), l’émir Sanjâr al-Jawlî entame des réparations pour le compte du sultan en 713/1313-1314. Une inscription datée 720/1320 mentionne une restauration vers le birket al-Sultân (voir plus bas)[59], puis l’émir Qutlûbak ibn Qarâsunqur al-Jukandâr poursuit et achève ces travaux, pour le compte du gouverneur Sayf al-Dîn Tankiz, remplaçant Sanjâr al-Jawlî[60], entre shawwal 727/20.VIII-17.IX.1327 et fin rabi’ I 728/13.II.1328.
Une autre campagne de restauration a lieu en 785/1383-1384 sous le sultan d’al-Zâhir Barqûq (r.1e règne 19 ramadan 784/26.XI.1382 – 6 jumada II 791/2.VI.1389) et concerne l’aqueduc al-‘Arrub et le birket al-Sultân.
Le sultan al-Zâhir Khushqadam (r.19 ramadan 865/28.VI.1461 – 10 rabi’I 872/9.X.1467) entame des travaux de restauration du système hydraulique, mais ils sont interrompus après son assassinat le 10 rabi’ I 872/9.X.1467. Ils sont repris et achevés entre 873/1468-1469 et la première décade de jumada II 874/6-15.XII.1469 par l’émir Muhammad ibn al-Nashâshîbî et à partir du 12 rajab 885/17.IX.1480 par le gouverneur de Ghaza Sîbây tous deux pour le compte du sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbây (r.6 rajab 872/31.I.1468 – 27 dhu’l-qa’da 901/7.VIII.1496). Une inscription sur le mur du tombeau Jaliqîya (707/1307) côté rue, documente la phase de restauration de l’émir al-Nashâshîbî (ill.3). L’ensemble de ces travaux sont achevés le 20 rajab 888/24.VIII.1483 et concernaient principalement les aqueducs et conduites d’eau. Durant le règne de Qaitbây, le pèlerin italien Felix Fabri, qui visite la région entre 1480 et 1483, en fait une description.[61]
Les bassins sont restaurés par le sultan Ottoman Soliman entre 1541 et 1568, une forteresse le Qal’at al-Burak est élevée vers 1601 pour protéger le site.[62] Tout le système est ainsi restauré par le sultan vers 943/1536 et ses successeurs[63], la ville de Jérusalem est aussi dotée de plusieurs fontaines.[64]
L’augmentation de la population au 19e siècle entraine la municipalité de Jérusalem a étudier et améliorer son système d’approvisionnement en eau, les canalisations sont ainsi remplacées et refaites en céramique[65], et entre 1856 et 1860 tout le système d’approvisionnement est restauré.[66] En 1863 paraît le rapport de John Irwine Whitty proposant une restauration intégrale du système d’approvisionnement en eau de la ville.[67]
En plus de cela, de nombreux voyageurs et explorateurs du 19e siècle ont étudiés et publiés des monographies sur le système hydraulique de la ville[68] et de nos jours les fouilles de l’IAA sont aussi régulièrement publiées.[69]
Epigraphie
720/1320. Qanât al-Sabîl, dalle 2 lignes (200x60) sur la face sud du pont
(voir plus bas).[70]
« A ordonné la réparation de ce canal béni
notre maître le sultan al-Malik al-Nâsir, le sultan de l’Islam et des
musulmans, Muhammad, fils du sultan al-Malik al-Mansûr Qalâwûn, dans les mois
de l’année 720 (1320). Gloire à notrer maître al-Malik al-Nâsir ! ».
874/1469. Texte de restauration 6 lignes (130x54) sur la façade sud du
tombeau Jaliqîya (ill.3).[71]
« Gloire à Allâh, qui a prodigué le bienfait et
… . (et qui a favorisé par ?) sa gracieuse assistance la restauration
des aqueducs aboutissant à Jérusalem … le sultan de l’Islam et des musulmans,
le tueur des hérétiques et des polythéistes, le dompteur des rebelles et des ….
(titres), (al-Malik) al-Ashraf Abû’l-Nasr Qaytbay, que son règne glorieux ne
cesse de donner la victoire à l’Islam…. (eulogies). Et ce (travail a été
exécuté) par les mains du serviteur avide d’Allâh, (l’émir Nâsir al-Dîn
Muhammad ibn al-Nashâshîbî….qu’Allâh le comble ?) de ses bienfaits et le fasse
parvenir, en toute bonne chose, au terme de ses espérances ! sous la
direction de Zain al-Dîn Qâsim…. (titre ou eulogie), qu’Allâh lui donne en
abondance… ! dans la premièr décade de jumada II de l’an 874 (décembre
1469) ».
Biblio complémentaire
Gibson/Jacobson (1996)
Hawari (2000),
p.101-120
Nadelman (2000),
p.159-162
Boas (2001), p.171-178
Amit (2002a), p.253-266
Billig (2002),
p.245-252
Mazar (2002), p.211-244
Adawi (2005)
Sion (2006)
Stark (2006)
Barda/Barzilai (2008)
Dagan/Barda (2009)
Harrington (2009), p.103-128
Kenney (2009), p.85-89
Beeri (2011)
Dagan/Barda/Adawi (2011)
Lemire (2011)
Sion/Puni (2011)
Zelinger (2011)
Zilberbod (2011)
Zilberbod (2011b)
Billig/Dolinka (2012)
Sulimani (2012)
Sulimani (2012b)
Sulimani (2012c)
Billig/Dolinka (2013)
Kloner (2013), n°389, 399, 401
Kloner (2013b), n°4, 16, 66, 72, 75, 76, 93, 97, 100, 112
Amit/Gibson (2014), p.9-41
Billig (2014)
Beeri (2014)
Oz (2014)
Billig (2015)
Billig (2017)
Billig (2018)
Adams (2019), p.15-35
Billig (2019)
Gibson/Lewis (2019), p.18-56
Gurevich (2020), p.268-281
Yechezkel (2021), p.149-187
The Times of Israel 28/08/23
Abu Raya/Avni (2024)
Cohen (2024)
Cohen/Sion (2024),
p.77-97
Gurevich
(2024), p.129-157
Yechezkel (2024), p.97-129
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=aqueduct&co=matpc&sg=true photos de l’aqueduc de l’American Colony
conservées à la Library of Congress
Illustrations générales
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1/ plan du système hydraulique de Jérusalem |
2/ localisation des
principales fouilles au sud de Jérusalem |
3/ inscription datée
874/1469 sur le tombeau Jaliqîya |
4/ exemplaires de conduites
en pierre exposés au Musée Rockefeller |
5/ exemplaires de conduites en
pierre exposés au Musée Rockefeller |
Illustrations aqueduc Inférieur
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1/ plan des fouilles à Dair
Tantur |
2/ plan des fouilles à Dair
Tantur |
3/ plan des fouilles à
Giv’at HaArba’a/Har Homa |
4/ plan des fouilles sur le
côté nord de Shmuel Meir boulevard |
5/ plan des fouilles à Umm
Tuba |
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6/ plan des fouilles à Sûr
Bahîr |
7/ plan des fouilles au sud
d’Asher Viner street, Sûr Bahîr |
8/ plan des fouilles à Umm
Tuba |
9/ plan des fouilles au
Diplomat hotel |
10/ plan des fouilles vers
Kurtz street |
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11/ plan des fouilles sur
Rav HaHovel street |
12/ plan des fouilles à Rav
HaHovel street |
13/ plan de l’aqueduc au
tunnel d’Armon HaNatziv |
14/ plan de l’aqueduc au tunnel
d’Armon HaNatziv |
15/ plan de l’aqueduc au
tunnel d’Armon HaNatziv |
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16/ plan des fouilles à
Sherover promenade |
17/ plan des fouilles à Abû
Tor |
18/ plan des fouilles à
Mishkenot Sha’ananim |
19/ plan des fouilles à
Mishkenot Sha’ananim |
20/ plan des fouilles à
Mishkenot Sha’ananim |
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21/ vue de l’aqueduc Inférieur
et de la terrasse à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis le sud |
22/ vue de l’aqueduc
Inférieur et de la terrasse à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis le sud-est |
23/ vue de l’aqueduc
Inférieur à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis le nord-est |
24/ vue de l’aqueduc
Inférieur et de la terrasse à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis le nord-est |
25/ vue de l’aqueduc
Inférieur à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis le nord-est |
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26/ vue du mur de
soutènement de l’aqueduc à Mishkenot Sha’ananim depuis l’est |
27/ le canal d’évacuation du
mur de soutènement depuis l’est |
28/ vue d’une partie du specus
à l’extrémité nord de l’aqueduc depuis la terrasse |
29/ vue du specus et
sa couverture de dalles depuis la terrasse vers le nord |
30/ plan des fouilles au
nord du birket al-Sultan |
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31/ le birket al-Sultan
(Mitchell garden) depuis l’est |
32/ la partie nord du birket
al-Sultan depuis l’est |
33/ l’intérieur du birket
al-Sultan depuis l’ouest |
34/ vue de l’aqueduc Inférieur
à l’ouest du burj Kibrit depuis l’ouest |
35/ la partie supérieure de
l’aqueduc à l’ouest du burj Kibrit |
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36/ l’aqueduc Inférieur à
burj Kibrit depuis l’est |
37/ l’aqueduc Inférieur à
burj Kibrit depuis l’est |
38/ l’emplacement de la
section de l’aqueduc à l’ouest du burj
Kibrit |
39/ les vestiges et
l’aqueduc Inférieur en contrebas de Batei Mahase street et des remparts |
40/ l’aqueduc Inférieur
depuis l’ouest |
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41/ l’aqueduc sur
l’escarpement rocheux aux pieds du Aish HaTorah center/Dan building |
42/ l’aqueduc aux pieds du
Aish HaTorah center/Dan building depuis le sud-est |
43/ l’aqueduc aux pieds du Aish
HaTorah center/Dan building depuis le sud |
44/ la partie souterraine de
l’aqueduc en direction du Haram |
Illustrations aqueduc Supérieur
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1/ plan des fouilles à Giv’at Haatos et Ramat Rachel |
2/ une section de l’aqueduc sur le site du Beta
Israel Memorial depuis l’est |
3/ une section de l’aqueduc sur le site du Beta
Israel Memorial depuis l’est |
4/ une section de l’aqueduc sur le site du Beta
Israel Memorial depuis le sud-est |
5/ une section de l’aqueduc sur le site du Beta
Israel Memorial depuis le sud |
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6/ une section de l’aqueduc sur le site du Beta
Israel Memorial depuis le sud |
7/ plan des fouilles à Ramat Rahel |
8/ plan des fouilles à Ramat Rahel |
9/ plan des fouilles à Ramat Rahel, au sud d’Asher
Viner street |
10/ localisation des fouilles au Cypress park |
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11/ les 2 sections de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress park
depuis le sud |
12/ la section sud de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress park
depuis le sud-ouest |
13/ la section sud de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress park
depuis le nord |
14/ exemplaire de conduite en pierre de l’aqueduc
dans le Cypress park |
15/ la section nord de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress
park depuis le sud |
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16/ la section nord de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress
park depuis le sud |
17/ la section nord de l’aqueduc et les conduites de
pierre dans le Cypress park depuis le sud-est |
18/ la section nord de l’aqueduc et les conduites de
pierre dans le Cypress park depuis le nord-ouest |
19/ la section nord de l’aqueduc dans le Cypress
park depuis le nord |
20/ plan des fouilles au couvent sainte Claire |
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21/ localisation de l’aqueduc vers la gare
ferroviaire |
22/ le tunnel de l’aqueduc sur Blumfeld boulevard
vers le moulin Montefiore |
23/ le tunnel de l’aqueduc sur Blumfeld boulevard
vers le moulin Montefiore |
24/ le tunnel de l’aqueduc sur Blumfeld boulevard
vers le moulin Montefiore |
25/ plan des fouilles au nord du birket Mamilla |
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26/ plan des fouilles à l’Imperial hotel |
27/ plan des fouilles au Gloria hotel |
28/ vue du bassin d’Ezechias depuis la Citadelle |
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29/ plan des fouilles sous Jaffa Gate/Bâb al-Khalîl |
30/ vue d’une conduite découverte sous Jaffa
Gate/Bâb al-Khalîl depuis l’est |
31/ vue d’une conduite découverte sous Jaffa
Gate/Bâb al-Khalîl depuis l’est |
Documents anciens
Robinson/Smith (1856), I, p.347-348. Visite en 1838.
THE AQUEDUCT. The course of the aqueduct which brings water from Solomon's pools to the great mosk, has already been described, from the point where it crosses the valley of Hinnom and winds around the sides of Zion. We did not ourselves see its termination in the area of the mosk ; but the unanimous testimony both of Muhammedans and Christians leaves no doubt upon this point. It enters the Haram across the mound already described. In passing along the road to Bethlehem, the aqueduct is seen from the plain of Rephaim on the left ; and again on approaching Bethlehem, on the low ridge between Wady Ahmed at the right and the head of another Wady at the left. Here water was running in it. It winds eastwards around the hill on which Bethlehem stands ; and on the southern side, beyond the town, lies at some depth below the surface. Here is a well, or rather reservoir, through which it flows ; whence the water is drawn up with buckets. The channel is usually conducted along the surface of the ground ; and has an appearance of antiquity. For some distance from the pools it is laid with earthen pipes enclosed and covered with stones ; but afterwards, apparently, it consists merely of stones laid in cement, forming a small channel of perhaps a foot in breadth and depth.
Of course, being thus exposed, it could never benefit the city in a time of siege. That the aqueduct is ancient, is also probable from the character and enormous size of the pools themselves, which could not well have been erected on such a scale for any purpose, except to aid in furnishing the ordinary supply of water for the Holy City. They may indeed have served also to irrigate gardens in the valley below ; but this could hardly have been their main object. Yet there is no mention of them in the Scriptures. Later Jewish writers, however, as cited in the Talmud, speak often of the manner in which the temple was supplied with water by an aqueduct from the fountain of Etam, which lay at a distance from the city on the way to Hebron. This notice could not well have been an invention of their own ; corresponding as it does to the mention of an Etam by Josephus, not far from Jerusalem, which Solomon is said to have adorned with gardens and streams of water. Those writers doubtless refer to an aqueduct which of old, as at the present day, connected those ancient reservoirs with the temple of Jerusalem.
This aqueduct seems not to be mentioned by any of the pilgrims of the earlier centuries, nor by the writers of the times of the crusades. The first direct though imperfect allusion to it, which I have been able to find, is in the Itineraries of William of Baldensel and Ludolph de Suchem (A.D.1336-50), who speak of the cisterns of Jerusalem as being filled with water brought under ground from Hebron, which however could be seen along the way. A similar allusion occurs in Gumpenberg's Journal A.D.1449. A fuller notice is given by F. Fabri in 1483 ; but Cotovicus a century later (A.D.1598), is apparently the first to make known both the pools and aqueduct with tolerable exactness. Since that time the pools have been often described ; while the aqueduct has usually been passed over with a slight notice.
Wilson/Warren (1871), p.182-186. Visite en 1867.
These have been classed by Captain "Wilson in O. S. Notes, under the heads of Springs, Tanks, and Aqueducts, The aqueducts are supposed to have been three in number, leading at different levels from near Solomon's Pools ;
of these the low-level aqueduct is still in use—that is to say, it was repaired a few years ago, but in so ineffectual a manner that it is very seldom that it carries water into Jerusalem, and, when it does do so, it runs to the Pacha's Palace, the Judgment Hall, and the Great Sea under the Mosque, from whence it is drawn up and sold to the people about the place, but it is of no advantage to the Jewish and Christian inhabitants. This low-level aqueduct is for the most part carried along near the surface of the ground about Jerusalem, but there is no doubt it originally was dug in the rock with shafts at intervals for supplying the houses it passed under.
Extract of Letter, September 2, 1867.—" I have made what I consider to be a very important discovery, viz., an ancient aqueduct, southeast corner of the Coenaculum, and about 50 feet north of the present aqueduct—I have no
doubt the original aqueduct from Solomon's Pools to the Sanctuary. We dug out the earth from a cut-stone shaft 2 feet square, and at 16 feet was a channel running from the west to the northeast, precisely similar in construction to the passages under the Triple Gate. It varies very much in size ; sometimes we could crawl on hands and knees, then we had to creep sideways, again we lay on our backs and wriggled along, but still it was always large enough for a man of ordinary dimensions. In parts built of masonry, in parts cut out of solid rock, it is generally of a semicylindrical shape ; but in many parts it has the peculiar shoulders which I have only seen under the Triple Gateway, but which I told you in my last letter had been noticed by Mr. Eaten, in the channel leading toward Tekoah. To the northeast we traced the channel for 250 feet, until we were stopped by a shaft which was filled with earth ; to the west we traced it for 200 feet, till it was stopped in the same manner. In part of this passage we could stand upright, it being 10 or 12 feet high, with the remains of two sets of stones for covering, as shown in M. Piazzi Smyth's work on the Great Pyramid ; the stones at the sides being of great size—12 feet by 6. This channel is evidently of ancient construction. It is built in lengths, as though the work had been commenced at several points, and had not been directed correctly. The plaster is in good preservation.
" The aqueduct was traced for 700 feet, and at either end it was found to be crossed and used by the present low-level aqueduct, it being at the same time level, but the entrances are much farther up the hill on account of the cutting being so deep, in one place 29 feet below the present surface.
" It is apparent that the builder of the present low-level aqueduct made use of the original one wherever it was convenient.
" This rock-cut aqueduct (discovered in 1867) has no appearance of being a Roman work, though we are informed by Josephus (Ant., XVIII., 3, 2) that Pilate, the Procurator of Judea, brought water into Jerusalem from a distance of 200 furlongs.
" The high-level aqueduct was traced by Captain Wilson to a short distance beyond Rachel's Tomb, and we have since traced it along the right-hand side of the road for several hundred yards, until about half-way between Mar Elias and Jerusalem, where it has been ploughed up. It is supposed to have crossed from hence the plain of Rephaim (so called), and to have flowed into a pool lately discovered on the high ground to the west of the citadel ; from thence it would naturally flow into the Birket Mamilla, or Upper Pool of Gilion, and so be carried along the line of the existing aqueduct from that pool to the citadel.
Extract of Letter.—"Nothing could be seen anywhere of the third aqueduct, and I could find no trace of any outlet in its supposed direction in the passage leading from the Sealed Fountain to Solomon's Pools, which we explored for nearly 500 feet, until we were close to the head of the upper pool. Here we were unable to proceed, the mud and water being up to our hips, and the accumulation of bats all driven into a small space being more than we could contend against, our candles being blown out by the nasty little animals, which got entangled in our hair and beards, and were most unpleasant in their antics. We left a mark on the walls, and I intend reexamining the passage from the end close to the pool, where there is an opening and vault very like that covering the Souterrain under the convent of the Soeurs de Sion. I have made a plan of the chambers and entrances for water at the Sealed Fountain. There is a very small flow at present, but near the Upper Pool of Solomon it is joined by a rush of water from a higher level, apparently from the aqueduct of Wady Byar, which, however, is dry a few hundred yards higher up. Probably there may be another sealed fountain to the southeast of that known at present. There is plenty of water at this point to keep the high-level aqueduct going all the summer, should it ever be repaired, and that without interfering with the supply to Bethlehem and Jerusalem by the low-level conduit".
During the late dearth of water in Jerusalem (1870), it was reported that the flow from this sealed fountain was greater than usual, and yet the Mejelis took upon themselves to refuse the munificent offer of Miss Burdett Coutts to supply Jerusalem with water. The passive resistance of these local Moslem authorities is easily explained : the water supplied to the city would come in at the higher level, and would supply the Christian and Jewish part of the population who inhabit the higher portions of the city. The richer Moslems, who live for the most part around the Sanctuary, are able to obtain water from its tanks when their own run dry, and can command a further supply from the Great Sea at any time, by repairing the low-level aqueduct ; they therefore would to a certain extent lose money (the monopoly of the low-level stream) by the scheme, and they think they might run also the chance of losing the supply altogether from the low-level aqueduct.
" The water from the Birket Mamilla appears, after passing the citadel, to have flowed as at present into the pool of the Bath, or, as it is called, of Hezekiah. This pool, I am under the impression, was Gihon-in-the-valley, where Solomon was anointed king. It is to be noticed that the Gihon-in-the-valley is often shown as the Birket-es-Sultan, but this is not in accordance with 2 Chron. XXXIII. 14 : ' Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley,' which shows that the lower Gihon is to be looked for within the city."
It has been suggested by some that the pool of Siloam is the lower Gihon, but this can hardly be called the west side of Sion, neither is it apparent how a wall would then have been built to its west. By supposing Sion to be identical
with Acra of the Maccabees, the lower pool of Gihon at once falls into its place on the site of the pool of the Bath, and the wall of Manasseh would be the supposed wall to its west, shown as the second wall by many authorities
on Jerusalem.
" After passing into the lower Gihon, or Gihon-in-the-valley (the valley which runs down from the Jaffa Gate to the Sanctuary), the overflow water probably was conducted along this valley until when near Wilson's Arch it turned to the south along the rock-cut canals we have found under Rohinson's Arch ; from thence down the Tyropoeon Valley to the pool of Siloam, where it would be met with the waters from the Virgin's Fount.
" There are two pools of Siloam, a small one into which the waters from the Virgin's Fount full after issuing from the tunnel, the other a larger pool now nearly filled up. This latter I suppose to have been the pool dug by King
Hezekiah, and to be that going under the name of Siloam in Josephus (Wars, V, 10, 4) and the ‘king's pool’ in the first chapter of the prophet Nehemiah.
" The question of the origin of the Virgin's Fount aqueduct is a very interesting one ; it appears to me to have been constructed in the following manner :
" First, an intermittent fountain on the east side of the Kedron issuing ; into the valley. When the Assyrians were expected by King Hezekiah, the fountains outside the city were stopped and the water brought inside. This applies
completely to this fountain, for we find a canal cut in the rock leading due west till it is well under the hill of Ophel, then a shaft down to this canal with a place scooped at the bottom for water to lie in, and an iron ring at the top to tie the rope of the bucket to ; leading from this shaft is a great corridor cut in the rock, and then also a staircase leading up until it is under a vaulted roof, the exit being on the hill of Ophel, a few feet from the ridge, and almost certainly within the ancient walls. Below the vaulted roof is another rockcut shaft shown on the illustration, but this was only exam ined to a depth of about 35 feet.
" Apparently after this had been in use for some time, it was considered insufficient for the supply of the city, as the receiving-hole at the bottom of the shaft is so small and the corridor so confined for a large number of people ; and so a rock-cut channel was cut through the hill, 1,700 feet long, to carry the water into the pool of Hezekiah, which already received the overflow water from the Gihon Pools, This pool was probably without the wall, but being at the mouth of the valley it would be surrounded on three sides by the outer wall, and would thus be as secure for the people as though it were inside ; at the same time it would act as a wet ditch to protect a very vulnerable part of the fortress. This passage from the Virgin's Fountain to Siloam has been examined by several gentlemen, but to most of them some accident happened, so that only measurements were taken. Le Frere Lieven (author of the very useful French Guide to the Holy Land), apparently took angles with an ordinary compass, and I found his plan of the canal, which he lent me to compare with mine, to be very correct."
Mauss/Sauvaire (1874), in Luynes (1874), II, p.84-86. Visite le 7 avril 1866.
Ce canal, qui pourrait bien être l'oeuvre des Arabes, passe donc derrière Bethléem ; mais en cherchant en avant de cette ville, on trouve, dans les environs du tombeau de Rachel, un tronçon considérable d'un ancien aqueduc construit d'une tout autre manière que celui dont nous parlons plus haut, et ne pouvant s'y relier en aucune façon. Ce tronçon d'aqueduc, que tous les voyageurs ont signalé, se compose de blocs de pierre assez considérables, percés au centre pour le passage de l'eau et s'emboîtant les uns dans les autres, comme font à peu près aujourd'hui les tuyaux de fonte employés en Europe pour le même usage. En suivant les traces de cet aqueduc dans la direction d'El-Borak, on en retrouve encore des portions importantes dans les jardins et les champs qui sont situés en avant de Bethléem. J'ai fait moi-même cette constatation dans une excursion que nous fîmes avec M. Walker, le père Busoni et le gouverneur Yzzet-pacha. — En suivant toujours, on finit par reconnaître dans la montagne d'autres traces du passage de cet aqueduc, et l'on finit par aboutir à l'angle de la troisisième vasque, juste à un point où un coude très-brusque permet au canal actuel de se relier avec la portion antique taillée dans le roc, qui va, en longeant les vasques, rejoindre la source d'El-Borak.
Selon toute probabilité, cet aqueduc, plus ancien, devait passer en avant du couvent de Mar-Elias ; car, dans la plaine qui sépare Jérusalem de Mar-Elias, on retrouve encore des portions d'aqueduc ruiné, qui pouvaient très bien
se relier au tronçon connu du tombeau de Rachel. Il est facile sur le terrain de suivre cet ancien tracé.
Cette découverte ne pourrait-elle pas permettre de supposer que l'aqueduc réparé par Ponce-Pilate fut celui dont je viens de signaler l'existence, et qui, détruit en partie pendant les troubles continuels qui ont agité ces contrées,
fut remplacé au moyen âge par celui qui fonctionne aujourd'hui. Cette hypothèse est permise, je crois, surtout en présence des nombreux travaux hydrauliques dont les Arabes ont laissé des traces en ce pays. — Je laisse d'ailleurs cette question à plus savant que moi, me contentant de signaler la présence de deux aqueducs bien distincts, mettant en communication les sources d'El-Borak avec Jérusalem.
Pour en finir avec les réparations qui ont été faites en 1865 à l'aqueduc dont il s'agit, je me demande dans quel but le gouverneur a consacré tant d'argent et de peines à la réparation de la troisième vasque, pour en faire un réservoir destiné à alimenter Jérusalem, quand il était si simple de conduire directement à la ville l'eau pure et limpide de la source ? Pourquoi vouloir alimenter Jérusalem avec l'eau stagnante d'un bassin à ciel ouvert, quand l'aqueduc actuel met Jérusalem et la source en communication directe sans qu'il y ait la moindre solution de continuité ? — On pouvait parfaitement négliger les vasques, qui ont eu, je crois, une autre destination que celle d'alimenter Jérusalem, et employer tout l'argent dépensé à une réparation sérieuse et générale de l'aqueduc. — Cela aurait suffi pour fournir abondamment aux besoins de la ville.
Quoi qu'il en soit, on ne saurait trop applaudir, dans cette circonstance, à la bonne intention de l'administration locale, qui semble enfin comprendre la nécessité des travaux d'utilité publique.
La forteresse, en assez mauvais état, qui protège la source et les vasques, sert aujourd'hui de logement à quelques zaptiés préposés à sa garde et dont le turc semble être la langue usuelle. Au-dessus de la porte d'entrée est une inscription turque que Sauvaire a beaucoup de peine à déchiffrer à cause de la maigreur des caractères. Il parait que la dernière ligne de cette inscription est arabe, et Sauvaire la traduit ainsi : « Cette forteresse bénie a été construite
par l'ordre du sulthan Osman Khan, fils du sulthan Ahmed Khan, qu'il soit victorieux, en l'an (12)26.
McCabe (1875), p.495-496.
Water was formerly brought into the city by two aqueducts, now called the " low level " and the " high level. " The course of the " low level " aqueduct alone can be traced within the walls of Jerusalem at present. It crosses the Valley of Hinnom a short distance above the Lower Pool of Gihon, and winding around the slope of the modern Zion, enters the city near the Jewish almshouses ; " it then passes along the eastern side of the same hill, and runs over the causeway and Wilson's Arch to the Sanctuary. The numerous Saracenic fountains in the lower part of the city appear to have been supplied by pipes branching off from the main, but the pipes are now destroyed, and the fountains themselves are used as receptacles for the refuse of the town ." This aqueduct brought water from the Pools of Solomon, Ain Etan, and a reservoir in Wády Arûb. Its total length is over forty miles ; " not far short of the length of the aqueduct which Josephus tells us was made by Pontius Pilate ."
The " high level " aqueduct is called by the Arabs " the Aqueduct of the Unbelievers. " It is " one of the most remarkable works in Palestine. The water was collected in a rock-hewn tunnel four miles long, beneath the bed of Wády
Byar, a valley on the road to Hebron, and thence carried by an aqueduct above the head of the upper Pool of Solomon, where it tapped the waters of the Sealed Fountain. From this point it wound along the hills above the Valley of Urtas to the vicinity of Bethlehem, where it crossed the watershed, and then passed over the valley at Rachel's Tomb by an inverted stone siphon, which was first brought to notice by Mr. Macneill, who made an examination of the water supply for the Syria Improvement Committee. The tubular portion is formed by large perforated blocks of stone set in a mass of rubble masonry ; the tube is fifteen inches in diameter, and the joints, which appear to have been ground, are put together with an extremely hard cement. The last trace of this aqueduct is seen on the Plain of Rephaim, at which point its elevation is sufficient to deliver water at the Jaffa Gate, and so supply the upper portion of the city ; but the point at which it entered has never been discovered, unless it is connected in some way with an aqueduct which was found between the Russian Convent and the northwest corner of the city wall." "The aqueducts," continues the same writer, " are supposed to have been three in number, leading at different levels from near Solomon's Pools ; of these, the low level is still in use-that is to say, it was repaired a few years ago, but in so ineffectual a manner that it is very seldom that it carries water into Jerusalem , and, when it does so, it runs to the Pacha's Palace, the Judgment Hall, and the Great Sea under the Mosque, from whence it is drawn up and sold to the people about the place, but it is of no advantage to the Jewish and Christian inhabitants ."
The water brought into the city by these aqueducts was pure and sweet, and there can be no doubt that these works supplied the greater portion of the water used in the Temple enclosure.
Wilson (1881), I, p.101-115.
The works connected with the water supply of Jerusalem are of very great interest. It is well known that in the many sieges which the Holy City has sustained the besiegers without the walls suffered from want of water, whilst the besieged within were amply supplied. The cisterns hewn out of the rock for the storage of water in the Haram esh-Sherif have already been alluded to, but they only formed part of the" general scheme for the supply of water to the whole city. The present supply is deficient in quantity and as a rule bad in quality ; to this may be attributed the fact that the city which the Psalmist once described in loving terms as " the joy of the whole earth," has become one of the most unhealthy cities of the world.
The plateau on the edge of which the city is situated slopes uniformly to the south-east, and contains about one thousand acres ; it is composed of white, yellow, and buff limestones of the age of the English chalk. The upper, beds, from eighteen inches to four feet in thickness, provide an extremely hard compact stone, called by the Arabs "missae ;" whilst the lower, some forty feet in thickness, consist of a soft white stone termed " malaki." In this latter bed most of the ancient tombs and cisterns at Jerusalem have been excavated. The strata are much broken and cracked, so that the rain readily sinks into the ground, and finds its way downwards through a thousand hidden channels, to be given out at a lower level. The general direction of this underground flow and of the surface drainage of the plateau is towards Bir Eyub (" Job's Well "), below the junction of the two main ravines, Kedron and Hinnom.
It was at one time supposed that the quantity of rain which fell at Jerusalem each year was very large, from fifty to eighty inches, but the average annual rainfall is really not more than about nineteen inches, and the rainy season is spread over the winter months from November to March. During the remaining months even a slight shower is of the rarest occurrence, and the heavens become, to use the graphic language of the Bible, as " brass," and the earth as " iron." Every three or four years there is a fall of snow, which lies on the ground for a day or two ; and, on the other hand, there is occasionally an almost total failure of rain. The number of cisterns and reservoirs which were excavated or built for the collection of the rainfall, and the skill exhibited in the construction of the conduits that brought water into the city, show pretty clearly that there has been no material change in the climate since the days of the Jewish monarchy.
The modern supply of water is derived from springs, wells, cisterns, pools, or reservoirs, and springs connected with the city by aqueducts. The only true spring known to exist in Jerusalem at the present day is the " Fountain of the Virgin." This spring has a constant though small flow of water, and also an intermittent one, which appears to depend upon the rainfall, and which consists in a sudden increase of the ordinary flow. In winter there are from three to five flows per diem ; in summer two ; later on, in autumn, only one ; but after a dry winter the flow takes place only once in three or four days.
The water is conveyed from the spring to the Upper Pool of Siloam by a passage cut in the rock, and thence runs down to irrigate some gardens Its taste is slightly salt and decidedly unpleasant, owing chiefly to the fact that the
water has filtered through the mass of rubbish and filth on which the city stands. This peculiarity in the taste is intensified at Siloam, as the water passes over a slimy deposit, from two to three inches deep, which covers the bottom of the passage. The people make matters worse by bathing and washing their clothes in the same place from which they draw water for drinking purposes. The passage between the spring and the Upper Pool of Siloam is seventeen
hundred feet long, about two feet wide, and from one foot ten inches to sixteen feet in height. The lower portion is not easy to pass through, especially if the spring commences to flow whilst the explorer is engaged in making the attempt. In connection with the passage Captain Warren opened out a rock-hewn canal, which ran for some distance due west, with a slight fall, so that the water from the spring could flow down to the western end, where a shallow basin had been excavated to receive it. From this point a circular shaft, more than forty feet high, led upwards to a great corridor excavated in the rock, whence a flight of steps gave access to the surface at a point, on that portion of Mount Moriah known as Ophel, which must have been well within the ancient walls of the city. It was thus possible for the Jews on the approach of an enemy to close or "seal " the well with blocks of stone, and at the same time procure a supply of water for their own use by means of the shaft or well within the walls. In the corridor three glass lamps of curious construction were found placed at intervals, as If to light up the passage to the shaft. A little pile of charcoal, as if for cooking, a dish glazed inside, jars of red pottery, and other lamps, were also found, as well as an iron ring overhanging the shaft, to which a rope might have been attached for drawing water. The Virgin's Fountain derives its name from the tradition that the Virgin drew water from the well and washed the swaddling clothes there.
The only real well at Jerusalem is Bir Eyub, Job's Well, situated a little below the junction of the Kedron and Hinnom Valleys. It has a depth of one hundred and twenty-five feet, and the water, which is collected in a large rock-hewn chamber at the bottom, is derived from the drainage of the two valleys and their offshoots. The supply is directly dependent on the rainfall, and in winter the water occasionally rises above the shaft and flows down the valley in a stream. This generally occurs in January, after from three to five consecutive days' rain. At a depth of one hundred and thirteen feet there is a large chamber, from the bottom of which a shaft leads downwards to the present collector. This seems to indicate that the well was deepened at some period. There is much rubbish in this part of the valley, and the plan in constructing the well seems to have been to try and stop out the surface drainage, which might be charged with impurities from the city, and to depend entirely on the water which runs in freely between the lower beds of the limestone. The well, which is one of the principal sources of supply to the poorer classes, is inconveniently situated at the foot of a steep hill, and the water has to be carried to Jerusalem in goat skins. This traffic is almost entirely in the hands of the villagers of Silwan (Siloam), who charge from one penny to sixpence per skin for water delivered in the city, and are much given to cheating by partly filling the skins with air. The water of Bir Eyub has, though in a much less degree, the peculiar taste of that of Siloam. This probably arises from the fact that the surface drainage from the city is imperfectly stopped out.
In the Tyropoeon Valley there is a well that supplies water to the Turkish bath in the old Cotton Market. The shaft of the well, eighty feet deep, passes entirely through rubbish, and at its foot there is a rock-hewn conduit stretching in a southerly direction, in which the water lies. This conduit was probably connected with that discovered near Robinson's Arch, which was cut when the present south-west angle of the Haram esh Sherif was built, and it possibly formed part of the great system of water supply devised by King Hezekiah. The supply of water is due partly to infiltration, and partly, perhaps, to the flow of water from a concealed spring higher up the valley. In either case it passes through the foul mass of rubbish on which the city now stands, and acquires a nauseous taste.
There are four classes of cisterns in Jerusalem. First, those which have been formed by sinking deep shafts through the rock, and then making a bottle or retort-shaped, excavation at the bottom to act as a collector. These cisterns appear to be of very great age. They derive their supply in part from surface drainage and in part from the water which finds its way in between the beds of limestone ; even in the driest summer the percolation gives three or four
buckets of water between sunset and sunrise. The second class, of which the " great sea " in front of the Mosque el Aksa is a good type, consists of great tanks, from forty to sixty feet deep, which have been formed by making small openings in the hard overlying beds of limestone ("missae"), and then excavating the softer " malaki " beneath. The roofs are of rock, generally strong enough to stand by themselves, but in the larger cisterns supported by rough pillars left for the purpose. The labour expended in mining out the underlying rock and bringing it to the surface through small openings must have been very great, and it seems natural to suppose that these cisterns were
made before the use of the arch for covering large openings became general. The third class comprises those in which the rock has been cut perpendicularly downwards and a plain covering arch thrown over the excavation. Such
cisterns are found near the Golden Gate, beneath the platform of the Dome of the Rock, and in various places in the city. The cisterns of the second and third class were formerly supplied by aqueducts, now they have to depend on surface drainage. The fourth description of cistern is that which has been built in the rubbish of the city, and is of modern date. Cisterns of this class are entirely dependent on the rain which falls during the winter ; those which have been constructed by Europeans in convents and dwelling-houses are good, and, being carefully cleaned out every year, furnish water that is always clean and sweet. Such, however, is not the case with those in the native houses ; when the rain commences, as much as possible is collected, even from the streets, which, being the common latrine of the city, are by the end of the rainy season in a very filthy state. Every duct is opened, and all the summer's accumulation of rubbish and refuse is carried from roof and courtyard to the cistern below. During the early part of summer little evil arises, but towards autumn the water gets low, the buckets in descending stir up the deposit, and the mixture which thousands then have to use as their daily beverage is almost too horrible to think of. At this time, too, a sort of miasma seems to rise up from the refuse and the fever season commences. The most
remarkable cisterns are those in the Haram esh Sherif, and the cistern of Helena near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ; there are, however, a vast number both within and without the city, and some of them are of great size.
The pools or reservoirs of which remains exist at present are—the Birket Mamilla, the Birket es Sultan, the Birket Sitti Mariam, the two Pools of Siloam, and a pool near the Tombs of the Kings, without the walls ; and the so-called Pools of Hezekiah and Bethesda within the city. There is also undoubted tradition of pools near the Jaffa Gate, the Gate of the Chain, and the Church of St. Anne ; these are now concealed by rubbish. The Birket Mamilla collects the surface drainage of the upper part of the Valley of Hinnom, and transmits its water to the Pool of Hezekiah by a conduit which passes under the city wall a little to the north of the Jaffa Gate, and has a branch running down to the cisterns in the Citadel. The average depth of the pool is nineteen feet ; it is three hundred and fifteen feet long, and two hundred and eight feet wide ; the estimated capacity is eight million gallons, but there is a large
accumulation of rubbish at the bottom, and it now holds water imperfectly. The pool has not been well placed for collecting the drainage, as that from the western slope is lost, but the position was necessary to obtain a level high enough to supply the Pool of Hezekiah and the Citadel. A hole in the ground below the lower end of the pool gives access to a flight of steps leading down to a small chamber, where the conduit, which on leaving the pool is twenty-one inches square, narrows to nine inches, so as to allow of an arrangement for regulating the flow of water into the city. The Birket Mamilla has sometimes been identified with the Upper Pool of Gihon, but it is more probably the Serpent Pool mentioned by Josephus, a name which may have had its origin in the Dragon's Well of Nehemiah, which seems to have been situated to the west of Jerusalem. The Birket es Sultan lies in the Valley of
Hinnom, but at so low a level that its only use could have been the irrigation of gardens lower down the valley. The pool does not now hold water ; it is, however, of considerable extent, and would contain about nineteen million gallons. The reservoir has been formed by building a solid dam or causeway across the valley, and closing the upper end by a slight embankment ; at the sides the rock is left for the most part in its natural state. Immediately above the pool the aqueduct from Solomon's Pools crosses the valley, and a road, which may have existed at an early date, passes over the causeway. The Birket es-Sultan was repaired by Sultan Suleiman, hence its name, but it appears to have existed at an early date, and was sometimes identified with the Lower Pool of Gihon ; during the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem it was called Germanus. The Birket Sitti Miriam is a small pool near St. Stephen's Gate, which still holds water ; it receives little or no surface drainage, and must always have been supplied by the conduit of which the mouth is still to be seen in the north-east corner of the reservoir. The two Pools of Siloam are situated in the Tyropoeon Valley not far from its mouth. The upper and smaller pool receives its supply of water from the Fountain of the Virgin by means of the remarkable rock-hewn conduit which has already been noticed ; the water runs off at the south-east corner, and after having been used by the washerwomen of the city passes on to irrigate the gardens below. From the centre of the pool rises the broken shaft of a column ; at the south-west corner a rude flight of steps leads to the bottom ; at one place there are some piers rapidly going to ruin ; and all round the pool there is a large accumulation of rubbish. The remains which are seen now probably date from the twelfth century ; but in the early part of the seventh century there was a round basilica, from under which the water rose, with two marble reservoirs, and enclosures with wooden railings.
The largest pool in the neighbourhood of the city was probably that which lies to the left of the main road which leads northward from Jerusalem, a little beyond the Tombs of the Kings. It is now nearly filled with soil washed down by the winter rains, but at the upper end there is still a shallow excavation which holds water, and at the lower end the scarped rock is visible. The pool is admirably situated for collecting the surface drainage of the upper branches of the Kedron Valley, but all attempts to discover the conduit by which it transmitted its water to the city have hitherto been unsuccessful.
The Pool of Hezekiah, within the city, is situated close to Christian Street ; it receives its principal supply of water from the Birket Mamilla without the walls, and it is calculated to hold about four million gallons. The masonry does not appear to be very old, and but a small portion of the pool has been formed by actual excavation. The cement is bad and out of repair, and the bottom is covered with a thick deposit of vegetable mould, the accumulation of several years. When the pool is full in winter no inconvenience arises, but in autumn, when the water gets low, exhalations rise up which have a bad effect on the health of those who live in the neighbourhood. The water is chiefly used in the Turkish " Bath of the Patriarch," whence the pool derives its local name, " Pool of the Patriarch's Bath ; " the Christian name, " Pool of Hezekiah," comes from the tradition that it was made by that king, as in 2 Kings XX, 20 : " Hezekiah made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city." There is, perhaps, better reason for identifying the pool with that called by Josephus Amygdalon, where the celebrated tenth legion raised a bank against the city walls during the siege by Titus. The Pool of Bethesda, or Birket Israil, does not now hold water ; it is filled with rubbish to a height of thirty-eight feet, and receives the drainage of the houses in the vicinity. At the east end Captain Warren discovered an overflow arrangement by which the surplus waters could be discharged into the Kedron Valley. The source from which it originally derived its supply of water is not known, but at a later period it appears to have been connected with the aqueduct which brought water from Solomon's Pools. The Birket Israil has generally been called the Pool of Bethesda, or " Sheep Pool," by pilgrims and others who have identified it with the pool mentioned in John V. 2 : " Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches." Two arches at the west end of the pool are said to be two of the five porches. In the time of the Crusades there was a well or pool near the Church of St. Anne, over which a church was built ; this well was said to be the place where the angel troubled the waters. Eusebius and Jerome say that the Pool of Bethesda was shown at the double pools, one of which was supplied by the periodical rains, whilst the other had reddish water, " as they say, from the sacrifices ; " but they give no indication of its position. The Bourdeaux pilgrim says that the double pools were more within the city than the two large pools at the side of the Temple, and that the water was muddy and of a scarlet colour. This discoloration of the water no doubt arose from the quantity of rich red loamy earth which was carried into the pool after heavy rain. The actual position of the biblical Bethesda is uncertain ; Dr. Robinson has suggested that it is identical with the Fountain of the Virgin, but the more general view is that the pool was to the north of the Temple, either in the position modern tradition assigns to it or farther to the west, where the souterrains connected with the Convent of the Sisters of Zion mark the position of a double pool in the old ditch. Near the Cotton Gate of the Haram there is said to have been a reservoir some years ago, and there was another close to the Jaffa Gate, which was called the Pool or Bath of Bathsheba on the supposition that David dwelt in the Tower of David opposite.
One of the aqueducts from Solomon's Pools is repaired occasionally and then delivers water to the cisterns of the Haram esh Sherif, and supplies some of the beautiful fountains in the city ; but the repairs rarely last for any length of time, and the aqueducts may be considered as forming part of the ancient rather than of the modern system of water supply. The ancient supply was partly derived from the same sources as the modern one, but the inhabitants appear to have depended chiefly on water brought from a distance by aqueducts and stored in pools and cisterns.
Of the springs, wells, pools, &c., mentioned in the Bible and Josephus, Enrogel may almost certainly be identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, and the same spring is probably Gihon in the valley (2 Chron. XXXIII. 14), as nachal, the word rendered valley, is always employed for the Valley of the Kedron ; the water running from the Fountain may also be identified with the waters of Shiloah (Isaiah VIII. 6). So, too, the Fountain of Siloam of Josephus and the Pool of Siloam of the New Testament may be placed at the modern Pool of Siloam, which is fed from the Virgin's Fountain. There is, however, a passage in the Mishna which describes Siloam as being in the midst of the city, and Dr. Lightfoot asserts that there is a difference in the Hebrew between the Siloah of Nehemiah and the Shiloah of Isaiah; a distinction which seems, on one occasion at least, to be made by Josephus. The Septuagint, too, whilst rendering the latter Siloam, translates the former as " the Pool of the Sheep-skins." From this it may almost be inferred that there was another pool called Siloah higher up the Tyropoeon Valley, a position which would be more in accordance with the conditions required by the description of the rebuilding and dedication of the walls under Nehemiah. Gihon is mentioned in two other passages in the Bible : in I Kings I. 33, Solomon
is said to have been anointed at Gihon ; and in 2 Chron. XXXII. 30, Hezekiah is described as having stopped the upper source of Gihon, and as having brought the waters straight down to the west side of the city of David. The Targum of Jonathan, and the Syriac and Arabic versions, have Shiloha for Gihon in Kings, whilst in Chronicles they agree with the Hebrew text in having Gihon. Josephus, however, states that David ordered Zadok and Benaiah to carry Solomon " out of the city to the fountain called Gihon and to anoint him there." The spring stopped by Hezekiah appears to have been some distance up the Tyropceon Valley. Its position has not yet been discovered, but the rock-hewn conduit which has been found running along the bed of the Tyropceon Valley is believed to be the work of Hezekiah, and the water which sometimes finds its way through it may come from the spring.
No well has yet been discovered at Jerusalem except Bir Eyub (Job's Well), but others may possibly exist beneath the rubbish. Close to Bir Eyub there is a remarkable work which must have involved a great expenditure of time and labour. It consists of a drift or tunnel some six feet high and from two to three feet wide, cut in the solid rock. The tunnel is more than eighteen hundred feet long, and runs beneath the western side of the bed of the valley
at a depth of from seventy to ninety feet from the surface. It is reached at certain intervals by flights of rock-hewn steps. The object of this tunnel seems to have been the collection of the water running in between the beds of limestone, and it is interesting to find that a work of such magnitude was considered necessary at a level so much lower than that of the city. It clearly shows that there must always have been some difficulty in providing Jerusalem with water.
The most important system of supply was, however, that by which water was brought into the city from the south by aqueducts. The supply was derived from three sources, and the conduits were apparently constructed at different periods. They were of considerable extent, and the remains exhibit a degree of engineering skill which could not well be surpassed at the present day. The first works, and perhaps the most ancient, are those connected with the Pools of Solomon. These pools, three in number, are cleverly and well constructed in the bed of a valley not far from Bethlehem, and they are so situated that the water from each of the upper pools can be run off into the one immediately below it as the supply is drawn upon.
The water was first carried to Bethlehem, and, passing under that town through a tunnel was finally delivered in the Temple area at Jerusalem. From the pools to Bethlehem the fall of the conduit is about one in eight hundred, but from Bethlehem to Jerusalem it is only one in five thousand two hundred. The total length is seventy thousand feet, and the total fall thirty-two feet, which gives a mean fall of less than two and a half feet per mile. This conduit, to which the name " low-level aqueduct " has been given, crosses the Valley of Hinnom a little above the Birket es Sultan on several pointed arches, which just show their heads above ground, and, winding round the southern slope of the modern Sion, enters the city near the Jewish almshouses. It then passes along the eastern side of the same hill, partly supported by masonry and partly through a tunnel, until, taking a sudden turn eastward, it runs over the causeway and Wilson's Arch, and enters the Haram esh Sherif at the Gate of the Chain. The numerous Saracenic fountains in the lower part of the city were supplied by pipes branching off from the main aqueduct. The channels and conduits in the Haram esh Sherif are in such a bad state of repair and so choked with rubbish that it is impossible to trace them without excavation, but sufficient is known of them to show that there was at one time an elaborate system of waterworks, which provided for the delivery and overflow of the water brought by the low-level aqueduct. The waste overflow appears to have passed through one of the passages discovered by Mons. de Saulcy beneath the Triple Gate into the main drain of the eastern hill, which discharged itself into the Kedron Valley a little below the Fountain of the Virgin. As a large supply of water must have been necessary immediately upon the institution of the Temple services, and as there was not sufficient at Jerusalem itself, there seems no reason for doubting the current tradition that this aqueduct, and perhaps one or more of the pools, were the work of Solomon.
The works connected with the second source of water supply are, perhaps, the most interesting, on account of the great skill shown in their construction. The conduit has been called the " high-level aqueduct," from the fact that It must have delivered water at a level more than one hundred feet above that of the low-level aqueduct, and sufficiently high to supply the western hill of Jerusalem. In a valley called Wady Byar, to the south of Solomon's Pools, there is a place known as the " Well of the Steps," where a flight of steps gives access to a subterranean chamber from sixty to seventy feet below the surface of the valley. From this chamber a well-constructed channel cut in the rock, and varying from five to twenty-five feet in height, leads up the valley for some distance until it terminates in a natural cleft of the rock. A similar channel follows the bed of the valley downwards for more than four miles, until it issues from the ground near a solid dam of masonry which extends right across the valley. This great tunnel, to facilitate the construction of which several shafts from sixty to seventy feet deep were sunk in the bed of the valley, was intended to catch the flood water of the valley, the dam being probably made to retain the water or prevent its running off before it had filtered down to the channel. There are a few small springs in the side valleys which contributed to the supply, but the principal source was the flood water. This mode of collecting water is very common in Persia and Afghanistan, where the underground conduit is called a kariz ; but it is doubtful whether another instance could be found of a tunnel nearly five miles long cut in hard limestone. About six hundred yards below the dam the conduit enters another tunnel, seventeen hundred feet long, which at one point is one hundred and fifteen feet below the surface of the ground. Eleven shafts were sunk to aid the work of excavation, and the passage is in places fourteen feet high. After passing through the tunnel the conduit winds round the hill to the valley in which the Pools of Solomon lie. It then crosses that valley above the upper pool in an underground channel which tapped the Sealed Fountain, and formerly brought it, with its own waters, to the high level in Jerusalem. After leaving the pools the aqueduct at first runs along the side of the Valley of Urtas, but at a point not far from Bethlehem it enters a tank, and thence, when perfect, carried the water over the valley near Rachel's Tomb by means of an inverted syphon. This syphon was about two miles long, and consisted of perforated blocks of stone set in a mass of rubble masonry some three feet thick all round. The tube is fifteen inches in diameter, and the joints, which appear to have been ground or turned, are put together with an extremely hard cement. The whole work is a remarkable specimen of ancient engineering skill, and the labour bestowed on the details excites the admiration of all travellers. This portion is known amongst the native peasantry as the " Aqueduct of the Unbelievers,'’ On approaching Jerusalem all trace of the conduit is lost. It has evidently been destroyed during one of the many sieges, and the point at which it entered the city is still uncertain.
The most interesting feature, however, is that the supply was brought to Jerusalem at an elevation of twenty feet over the sill of the Jaffa Gate, and that the conduit would have been able to deliver water to the highest part of the city, and so provide an adequate supply for the whole population. Some persons have supposed that the high-level aqueduct supplied the Birket Mamilla and thence the Citadel ; but it seems not improbable that the conduit wound
round the head of the Valley of Hinnom and entered the city at the north-west angle, where the Tower Psephinus stood. This view is supported by the discovery some years ago of a conduit within the Russian consular enclosure, which was afterwards found in some ground belonging to M. Bergheim without the city, and beneath the house of the Latin Patriarch within the walls. The direction of this conduit was towards the tower which most nearly agrees with the Hippicus of Josephus, that at the Jaffa Gate; and thence the water was in all probability carried onward to the Temple enclosure by the conduit which was discovered far below the level of the present surface when the English church and vicarage were built. The date of the high-level aqueduct has been the subject of some discussion, without any very satisfactory result. There is, however, a passage in Josephus which seems to throw some light on the question. In describing Herod's Palace, which occupied the site of the present Citadel, the historian states that " there were, moreover, several groves of trees and long walks through them, with deep canals and cisterns, that in several parts were filled with brazen Statues, through which the water ran out." This seems to imply the constant presence of running water ; and as the palace with its gardens was distinctly the work of Herod the Great, it will perhaps not be very wrong to ascribe the construction of the aqueduct, with its remarkable syphon, to that monarch. The only known instance of a similar syphon is at Patara, in Asia Minor, but it does not show such high constructive skill as that at Jerusalem.
The third source of supply was derived from several springs in a valley, Wady Arûb, to the left of the road from Jerusalem to Hebron. One of the springs is estimated to yield as much as one hundred thousand gallons a day.
Porter (1887), p.134-137.
It may be interesting here to give a brief connected account of the several aqueducts which in ancient times brought water to Jerusalem from this region. Josephus informs us that Pontius Pilate offended the Jews by expending the sacred treasures upon an aqueduct by which he brought water to the city from a distance of four hundred furlongs. The aqueduct from Etam already mentioned follows the windings of the hill-sides by Bethlehem to the Valley of Hinnom. On one of the arches on which it crosses the valley is an Arabic inscription informing us that it was built by a certain Prince Melek en-Naser of Egypt ; but of course he only repaired it. The date of the inscription is about
a.d. 1300. The aqueduct has been traced to the great cisterns beneath the Haram.
Major Wilson's more recent researches have brought to light no less than three ancient aqueducts from the hill country beyond Bethlehem to, or towards, Jerusalem. The first, or low-level aqueduct, he says, "derives its supply of water from three sources : the Pools of Solomon, Ain Etam, and a large reservoir in the Wady Arrub." On leaving the reservoir it " follows a winding course amongst the hills, passing Tekoa, before it reaches Urtas." Its course is below the lower pool. From thence to Jerusalem " it has a serpentine course of thirteen miles, and passes through two tunnels, one under the village of Bethlehem and the other not far from the city." A section of a much older
aqueduct, on the same level, was discovered by Captain Warren, tunnelled in the rock round the southern brow of Zion. It was evidently of Jewish origin.
The high-level aqueduct derived its supply from several sources among the highlands between Etam and Hebron. The most distant of these has not yet been discovered, but the aqueduct has been traced as far south as Wady Arrub. From that place it is carried along the sides of valleys and through ridges of rock, passing between the upper pool and the " sealed fountain ;" the latter of which, as Major Wilson observes, it probably tapped.
Thence it runs along the hill-side above Bethlehem and past Rachel's Tomb, near which it crosses a valley in a tube formed of large blocks of stone perforated, cemented together, and embedded in rubble masonry. The tube is fifteen inches in diameter. Further north it has not been traced, but it is supposed to have run along the Valley of Rephaim, and to have flowed into a large reservoir lately discovered on the high ground west of the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem. When excavating for the foundations of the Russian convent, the remains of a very ancient conduit were discovered ; and subsequently a section of it was laid bare within the city, at the house of the Latin Patriarch. Major Wilson suggests that this may be the termination of the high-level aqueduct.
" The third aqueduct," says Major Wilson, " was only seen at one place,—to the south of Rachel's Tomb. It was said to follow the northern slope of the ridge lying between Wady Urtas and Wady er-Rahib, and to have done thisust have passed under the divide near the head of the Pools by a tunnel." These particulars of ancient engineering works are most interesting from an antiquarian and also from a scriptural point of view. They give us a clearer insight into the talent and enterprise of the Jews. They show, too, in all probability, something of the character of those " great works " of which Solomon proudly boasts, and upon which the Queen of Sheba looked with profound astonishment. In their engineering, as well as in architecture and art, the Jews may have been instructed by the Phoenicians, whose genius and skill were famed over the world.
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Plan de la ville en 1845 avec le tracé du système
hydraulique d’après Kieper Source : wikimedia.org |
Vue du birket al-Sultan Source : Stebbing (1847) |
Plan de la ville en 1853 avec le tracé du système
hydraulique d’après Robinson et Smith Source : National Library of Israel |
Plan de la ville avec le tracé du système
hydraulique Source : Pierotti (1864) |
Plan du Haram avec son système hydraulique Source : Pierotti (1864) |
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Plan de la ville vers 1867 d’après C.W. Wilson Source : Wilson/Warren (1876) |
L’inscription de restauration datée 720/1320 d’après
une photo datée 1880 Source : israelpalestineguide.wordpress.com |
Plan et élévation du bâtiment de l’Imperial hotel Source : Schick (1887) |
Plan du birket Sultan d’après C. Schick Source : Schick (1898a) |
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Plan des fouilles du Mont Sion avec le trajet de
l’aqueduc Inférieur Source : Bliss/Dickie (1898) |
Une section de l’aqueduc au début du 20e
siècle d’après l’American Colony Photo Department Source : Library of Congress |
Plan de la ville en 1912 avec le tracé du système
hydraulique d’après le guide Baedeker (1912) Source : commons.wikimedia.org |
Plan de la ville en 1915 avec le tracé du système
hydraulique Source : Smith/Bartholomew (1915) |
