BETHESDA (BnOeizSci, ; from [Syr. .tb.-r—` = win" roz, House of mercy, according to some, while others derive it from Heb. WIZ:7N 'n, House or place of effusion, i. e., of waters] a pool (KoXvp.pijO pa) at the Sheep-gate of Jerusalem, built round with porches for the accommodation of the sick who sought benefit from the healing virtues of the water, and upon one of whom Christ performed the healing miracle recorded by St. John (v. 2-9). That which is now, and has long been pointed out as the Pool of Bethesda, is a dry basin or reservoir outside the northern wall of the enclosure around the Temple Mount, of which wall its southern side may be said to form a part. The east end of it is close to the present gate of St. Stephen. The pool measures 36o feet in length, 130 feet in breadth, and 75 in depth to the bottom, besides the rubbish which has accumulated in it for ages. Although it has been dry for above two centuries, it was once evidently used as a reservoir, for the sides internally have been cased over with small stones, and these again covered with plaster; but the workmanship of these additions is coarse, and bears no special marks of antiquity. The west end is built up like the rest, except at the south west corner, where two lofty arched vaults extended westward, side by side, under the houses that now cover this part. Dr. Robinson was able to trace the continuation of the work in this direction under one of these vaults for too feet, and it seemed to extend much farther. This gives the whole a length of 16o feet, equal to one-half of the whole extent of the sacred•enclosure under which it lies : and how much more is unknown. It would seem as if the deep reservoir formerly extended farther westward in this part; and that these vaults were built up, in and over it, in order to support the structures above. Dr. Robinson considers it pro
bable that this excavation was anciently carried quite through the ridge of Bezetha, along the northern side of Antonia to its north-west corner, thus forming the deep trench which separated the for tress from the adjacent hill (Bib. Researches, i. 433, 434). The mere appearance of the place, and its position immediately under the wall of the sacred enclosure, strongly support this conjecture, so that we are still left to seek the Pool of Bethesda, if indeed any trace of it now remains. Dr. Robin son himself, without having any definite conviction on the subject, asks whether the Pool of Bethesda may not in fact be the Fountain of the Virgin?' The question was suggested to his mind by the exceedingly abrupt and irregular plan of that foun tain. He remarks—' We are told that an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water ;' and then whosoever first stepped in was made whole ( John v. 2-7). There seems to have been no special medicinal virtue in the water itself, and only he who first stepped in after the troubling was healed. Does not this troubling of the water accord with the irregular plan of this fountain ? And as the Sheep-gate seems to have been situated not far from the Temple (Neh. 1, 32), and the wall of the ancient Temple pro bably ran along this valley ; may not that gate have been somewhere in this part, and the Foun tain of the Virgin correspond to Bethesda? the same as the King's Pool' of Nehemiah, and the Solomon's Pool' of _Iosephus ? (Bibl. Researches, i. 5o8). For the latest investigations of this sub ject, see Narrative of a Tourney round the Dead Sea, by F. De Saulcy, London, 1854. [SILOAM,