Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Siloam tunnel
open-in-new
<h2 id="discovery-and-interpretation">Discovery and interpretation</h2> <p>The tunnel was first described in modern times by <a href="/facts/Franciscus_Quaresmius/cwUvQxKr">Franciscus Quaresmius</a> in 1625.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> It was later explored in 1838 by the American biblical scholar <a href="/facts/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)/0ognGyx5">Edward Robinson</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> and in 1865 by <a href="/facts/Charles_Warren/rcQlQoe0">Charles Warren</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> </p><p>Neither Quaresmius nor Robinson identified the tunnel with Hezekiah,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> but in 1871 Warren suggested that the <a href="/facts/Pool_of_Siloam/b2pcQ3SB">Pool of Siloam</a> may have been "dug by King Hezekiah"<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> and in 1884 following the discovery of the <a href="/facts/Siloam_inscription/9kY92puP">Siloam inscription</a> wrote that: "The inscription thus appears to belong to the later period of the Hebrew monarchy, and may very well be considered to agree with the Biblical account of Hezekiah's preparations for Sennacherib's siege."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="function-and-origin">Function and origin</h2> <p>The <a href="/facts/City_of_David_(historic)/YbFqkSeM">ancient city of Jerusalem</a>, being on a mountain, is naturally defensible from almost all sides, but suffers from the drawback that its major source of fresh water, the <a href="/facts/Gihon_Spring/G2Cqwb9U">Gihon Spring</a>, is on the side of the cliff overlooking the <a href="/facts/Kidron_Valley/RFhAabtB">Kidron Valley</a>. This presented a major military weakness, as the city walls, if high enough to be defensible, must necessarily leave the Gihon spring outside, leaving the city without a fresh water supply in case of siege. </p><p>This weakness was removed by the Canaanites, who built a very strongly fortified tower around the spring and connected it to the city walls on the slope by an additional wall, which carried a well-protected corridor. A Canaanite tunnel already collected the spring water since ca. 1800 BC and led it southwards through the bedrock. It released the water onto the fields in the Kidron Valley through several openings, and ended in an open reservoir. While allowing for important farming, this arrangement also made water available to besieging troops outside the city walls. </p><p>The Bible says that King <a href="/facts/Hezekiah/X8qNQJzM">Hezekiah</a> (c. 8th century BC), fearful that the Assyrians would lay siege to the city, blocked the spring's water outside the city and diverted it through a channel into the then Pool of Siloam.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a> Since 1997, it is now known that the earlier Warren's shaft system had already heavily fortified the Gihon Spring.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a> <a href="/facts/Warren%27s_shaft/WLFFb2Yg">Warren's shaft</a> is not an aqueduct, and requires those desiring water to travel up and down it themselves—an arrangement that Hezekiah seemingly must have considered inadequate. </p><p>In 1899, an ancient channel, also leading from the Gihon Spring halfway to the Siloam Pool area, but by a more direct route, was found. This channel is now known as the <i>Middle Bronze Age channel</i>, on account of its estimated age. <a href="/facts/Ronny_Reich/wQEqN68l">Ronny Reich</a> determined that it was constructed around 1800 BC, in the <a href="/facts/Middle_Bronze_Age/c09qWcTt">Middle Bronze Age</a>, and thus that the spring's water had already been diverted many centuries before Hezekiah. As originally constructed, it is understood as a 20 feet deep ditch in the ground, covered over by large rock slabs, which were then hidden in the foliage. It is narrower than the tunnel, but can still be walked by a human for most of its length. In addition to the (3 ft high) exit near the Siloam pool, the channel has several small outlets that watered the gardens facing the Kidron Valley.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> </p><p>Similar to the <a href="/facts/Qanat/qzVzdzbf">qanats</a> of ancient Persia, the canal or culvert, carved into the rock, led from a main water source, and was meant to channel the current to a lower place where water was needed for agricultural purposes. The well-like vertical shaft (<a href="/facts/Warren%27s_Shaft/WLFFb2Yg">Warren's Shaft</a>), connected by a gently sloping tunnel, is thought to have provided ventilation, light and access to the underground water channel for construction and maintenance.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> At its outlet, a network of dams, gates and channels is used to distribute the water. </p> <h2 id="biblical-interpretation">Biblical interpretation</h2> <p>The Bible verses relating to a tunnel in Hezekiah's time are these: </p> <p>"As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?" (2 Kings 20:20)</p> <p>"When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to wage war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. They gathered a large group of people who blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. 'Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?' they said." (2 Chronicles 32:2–4)</p> <p>"It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook." (2 Chronicles 32:30)</p> <p>"You also saw the City of David, that it was great; And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago." (<a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Isaiah%2022:11&version=nrsv">Isaiah 22:11</a>)</p> <h2 id="doubts-over-dating">Doubts over dating</h2> <p>Excavation work in the tunnel by Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority has cast doubt over the attribution of the tunnel to the reign of Hezekiah.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> They believe the evidence points to a date several decades earlier, in the last part of the 9th century or early part of the 8th century BC.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a> They note that the biblical passage connecting Hezekiah to the construction of waterworks doesn't specify a place in the city, and suggest it might refer to waterworks in the Mamilla area.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25"><sup>25</sup></a> </p><p>The revised dating is supported by De Groot and Fadida on the basis of pottery analysis.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26"><sup>26</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <a href="/facts/Wikisource/TrMdylNf">Wikisource</a> has the text of the 1897 <i><a href="/facts/Easton%27s_Bible_Dictionary/j8ts3Tkc">Easton's Bible Dictionary</a></i> article <i>Fountain of the Virgin</i>. <ul><li><a href="/facts/Fountain_of_the_Virgin/G2Cqwb9U">Fountain of the Virgin</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_artifacts_in_biblical_archaeology/CLwgXqGu">List of artifacts in biblical archaeology</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_caves/Ug9SeRs1">List of caves</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Qanat/qzVzdzbf">Qanat</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Siloam_inscription/9kY92puP">Siloam inscription</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Tunnel_of_Eupalinos/jcXaswXQ">Tunnel of Eupalinos</a>, 6th century BC tunnel on Samos, Greece</li> <li><a href="/facts/Turpan_water_system/pBEkPVoy">Turpan water system</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Warren%27s_Shaft/WLFFb2Yg">Warren's Shaft</a></li></ul> <h2 id="gallery">Gallery</h2> <h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2> <ul><li>Brisco, Thomas C. (1998). <i>Holman Bible Atlas</i>. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 1-55819-709-5.</li> <li>Frumkin, Amos; Shimron, Aryeh (2006). "Tunnel engineering in the Iron Age: Geoarchaeology of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem". <i>Journal of Archaeological Science</i>. 33 (2): 227–237. <a href="/facts/Bibcode_(identifier)/9HtdQSGB">Bibcode</a>:<a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006JArSc..33..227F">2006JArSc..33..227F</a>. <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jas.2005.07.018">10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.018</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/David_Ussishkin/0MlBFTWU">David Ussishkin</a>, <i>The Original Length of the Siloam Tunnel in Jerusalem</i> , Levant 8, 1976, pp. 82–95 <a href="/facts/Doi_(identifier)/muM9Etpq">doi</a>:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1179%2Flev.1976.8.1.82">10.1179/lev.1976.8.1.82</a></li> <li>Rogerson, J., Davies, P. R., <i>Was the Siloam Tunnel Built by Hezekiah?</i>, Biblical Archaeologist 59, 1996, pp. 138–49.</li> <li>Rosenberg, S., <i>The Siloam Tunnel Revisited</i>, Tel Aviv 25, 1998, pp. 116–30.</li> <li>Frumkin, A., Shimron, A., and Rosenbaum, J., <i><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amos_Frumkin/publication/10573097_Radiometric_dating_of_the_Siloam_Tunnel_Jerusalem/links/02e7e528e02157617f000000">Radiometric Dating of the Siloam Tunnel</a></i>, Nature 425, Jerusalem, 2003, pp. 169–71.</li> <li>Amihai Sneh, Ram Weinberger, Eyal Shalev, <i><a href="http://geos.gsi.gov.il/eyal/PUBLICATIONS/sneh_etal_10.pdf">The Why, How, and When of the Siloam Tunnel Reevaluated</a></i>, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 359, August 2010, pp. 57–65</li> <li>Ronald S. Hendel, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/821237/The_Date_of_the_Siloam_Inscription_A_Rejoinder_to_Rogerson_and_Davies">The Date of the Siloam Inscription: A Rejoinder to Rogerson and Davies</a>, Biblical Archaeologist, 1996, vol.59</li> <li>Shlomo Guil <a href="https://www.academia.edu/3008768/A_New_Perspective_on_the_Various_Components_of_the_Siloam_Water_System_in_Jerusalem">A New Perspective on the Various Components of the Siloam Water System in Jerusalem</a>.Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins,133 (2017) 2.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hezekiah's Tunnel. <ul><li><a href="http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1673&letter=A&search=Siloam%20conduit#4964">The Siloam TunnelAqueduct</a> in the <a href="/facts/Jewish_Encyclopedia/5I1ELlJV">Jewish Encyclopedia</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.bibleplaces.com/heztunnel.htm">Hezekiah's tunnel</a> BiblePlaces.com article containing photos & links</li> <li><a href="http://bib-arch.org">A Tiny Piece of the Puzzle: Six-Letter Inscription Suggests Monumental Building of Hezekiah</a> Biblical Archaeology Review</li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090409004516/http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/index.html">City of David</a> City of David archeological site</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boC7lOV-1PU">Christian video of the tunnel</a> on <a href="/facts/YouTube_video_(identifier)/db276jst">YouTube</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.israel-resort-vacation.com/hezekiah%E2%80%99s-tunnel-living-proof-of-god%E2%80%99s-greatness-throughout-human-history/">Hezekiah’s Tunnel: Living proof of God’s greatness</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Robb Andrew Young (2012). Hezekiah in History and Tradition. Koninlijke Brill. pp. 35, 48–50. ISBN 978-9004216082. <a href="978-9004216082" target="_blank">978-9004216082</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Gary A. Rendsburg, William M. Schniedewind (2010). "The Siloam Tunnel Inscription: Historical and Linguistic Perspectives" (PDF). IEJ. Rutgers University: 188, Note 1. <a href="https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/images/documents/faculty/Rendsburg/IEJ_Siloam.pdf" target="_blank">https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/images/documents/faculty/Rendsburg/IEJ_Siloam.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Robb Andrew Young (2012). Hezekiah in History and Tradition. Koninlijke Brill. pp. 35, 48–50. ISBN 978-9004216082. <a href="978-9004216082" target="_blank">978-9004216082</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Frumkin, Amos; Shimron, Aryeh (2006). "Tunnel engineering in the Iron Age: Geoarchaeology of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem". Journal of Archaeological Science. 33 (2): 227–237. Bibcode:2006JArSc..33..227F. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.018. Retrieved 13 May 2024. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (2011). "The date of the Siloam Tunnel reconsidered". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 147–157. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885268. S2CID 191493893. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Alon De Groot and Fadida Atalya (2011). "The Pottery Assemblage from the Rock-Cut Pool near the Gihon Spring". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 158–166. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885501. S2CID 128741871. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Image of exit <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,97&img=IJOTHT07" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,97&img=IJOTHT07</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Holy Land Photos <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,363&img=ICJOTHT12" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,363&img=ICJOTHT12</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Image <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,361&img=IJOTGS04" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,361&img=IJOTGS04</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Images of some mistakes - [1] [2] <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,363&img=ICJOTHT17" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,363&img=ICJOTHT17</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>Frumkin, Amos; Shimron, Aryeh (2006). "Tunnel engineering in the Iron Age: Geoarchaeology of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem". Journal of Archaeological Science. 33 (2): 227–237. Bibcode:2006JArSc..33..227F. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.018. Retrieved 13 May 2024. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Frumkin, Amos; Shimron, Aryeh (2006). "Tunnel engineering in the Iron Age: Geoarchaeology of the Siloam Tunnel, Jerusalem". Journal of Archaeological Science. 33 (2): 227–237. Bibcode:2006JArSc..33..227F. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.07.018. Retrieved 13 May 2024. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440305001688</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. p. 337. <a href="/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)" target="_blank">/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. p. 337. <a href="/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)" target="_blank">/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Warren, Charles; Wilson, Charles William; Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn (1871). Morrison, Walter (ed.). The recovery of Jerusalem: a narrative of exploration and discovery in the city and the Holy Land. New York: D. Appleton. p. 194. <a href="https://archive.org/stream/recoveryofjerusa00wilsuoft#page/194/mode/1up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/recoveryofjerusa00wilsuoft#page/194/mode/1up</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Robinson, Edward; Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical Researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A Journal of Travels in the year 1838. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. p. 337. <a href="/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)" target="_blank">/wiki/Edward_Robinson_(scholar)</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>The recovery of Jerusalem, by Captain Warren, quote: "This latter I suppose to have been the pool dug by King Hezekiah" <a href="https://archive.org/stream/recoveryjerusal00fundgoog#page/n282/mode/1up/" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/recoveryjerusal00fundgoog#page/n282/mode/1up/</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>The survey of Western Palestine-Jerusalem (1884) p.348, Warren and Conder <a href="https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00warruoft/#page/348/mode/1up" target="_blank">https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00warruoft/#page/348/mode/1up</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Holy Land Photos <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,360&img=IJNTPS10" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,360&img=IJNTPS10</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>image of the (remains of the) fortifications <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,365&img=IJOTWSTP06" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,365&img=IJOTWSTP06</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>Images of the Middle Bronze Age channel <a href="http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,362&img=IJOTWSMB12" target="_blank">http://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,359,362&img=IJOTWSMB12</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>Schiller, Eli [in Hebrew], ed. (1986). Jerusalem: Sites and tours in the United City (ירושלים: אתרים וסיורים בעיר המאוחדת) (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ariel. pp. 27–32 (Warren's Shaft). OCLC 23227290. (Reproduced from Ariel: A Journal for the Knowledge of the Land of Israel, 8th year / volume 46) <a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%A8" target="_blank">https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%A8</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (2011). "The date of the Siloam Tunnel reconsidered". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 147–157. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885268. S2CID 191493893. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (2011). "The date of the Siloam Tunnel reconsidered". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 147–157. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885268. S2CID 191493893. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:25"><p>Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron (2011). "The date of the Siloam Tunnel reconsidered". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 147–157. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885268. S2CID 191493893. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:26"><p>Alon De Groot and Fadida Atalya (2011). "The Pottery Assemblage from the Rock-Cut Pool near the Gihon Spring". Tel Aviv. 38 (2): 158–166. doi:10.1179/033443511x13099584885501. S2CID 128741871. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>