Mamilla Pool

Mamilla Pool
بركة ماملا
Mamilla pool in Jerusalem (1854), showing the adjacent Mamilla Cemetery
Alternative nameBirket Mamilla
LocationJerusalem
Coordinates31°46′40″N 35°13′14″E / 31.77778°N 35.22056°E / 31.77778; 35.22056
TypeAncient reservoir
Length316 ft (96 m)
Width218 ft (66 m)
Height19 ft (5.8 m)
History
MaterialStone, cement
FoundedUnknown (possibly Herodian or Byzantine period)
Site notes
Public accessYes
Mamilla pool (2005)

Mamilla Pool (also known as Birket Mamilla) is one of several ancient reservoirs that supplied water to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.[1] It is located outside the walls of the Old City about 650 metres (710 yd) northwest of Jaffa Gate in the centre of the Mamilla Cemetery.[2][3] With a capacity of 30,000 cubic metres, it is connected by an underground channel to Hezekiah's Pool in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. It was thought as possible that it has received water via the so-called Upper or High-Level Aqueduct from Solomon's Pools,[4] but 2010 excavations have discovered the aqueduct's final segment at a much lower elevation near the Jaffa Gate, making it impossible to function as a feeding source for the Mamilla Pool.[5][6]

  1. ^ Avraham Negev, Shimon Gibson (2005). Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land (Revised, illustrated ed.). Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 9780826485717.
  2. ^ Robert Walter Stewart (1857). The tent and the khan: A journey to Sinai and Palestine. Oliphant, Hamilton, Adams.
  3. ^ Asem Khalidi (Spring 2009). "The Mamilla Cemetery: A Buried History". Jerusalem Quarterly. 37.
  4. ^ Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (2008). The Holy Land: an Oxford archaeological guide from earliest times to 1700 (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-19-923666-4.
  5. ^ Wilke Schram (2013). "Pools of Jerusalem". Roman Aqueducts. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  6. ^ Gurevich, David (November 5, 2020). "The Enigma of the High-Level Aqueduct to Jerusalem and the Mamilla Water System". Tel Aviv Journal. 47 (2): 268–281. doi:10.1080/03344355.2020.1820057. S2CID 226263091. Retrieved November 14, 2020.