SILOAH. (SmoAm.] SILOAM (.7:1Xiocii.e), or Snitomr 0:150. The name Siloah or Siloam is found only three times in Scripture as applied to water : once in Isaiah (viii. 6), who speaks of it as running water ; again, as a pool, in Neh. 15 ; and lastly, also as a pool, in the account of our Lord's healing the man who had been born blind Uohn ix. 7-1r). None of these passages affords any clue to the situation of Siloam ; but this silence is supplied by Josephus, who makes frequent mention of it as a fountain (De Bell. 7ud. v. 4, sec. r, 2), and indicates its situation at the mouth of the valley of Tyropceon, where the fountain, now and long since indicated as that of Siloam, is still found. He describes its waters as sweet and abundant. Jerome (Com ment. in Esa. viii. 6), indicating its situation more precisely, also mentions its irregular flow—a very remarkable circumstance, which has been noticed by most subsequent pilgrims and travellers. This assures us that the present fountain of Siloam is that which he had in view ; and that it is the same to which the Scriptural notices refer there is no reason to doubt. The pool of Siloam is within and at the mouth of the valley of Tyropceon, and about eighty paces above its termination is that of Jehoshaphat. The water flows out of a small arti ficial basin under the cliff, the entrance to which is excavated in the form of an arch, and is immedi ately received into a larger reservoir, fifty-three feet in length by eighteen feet in width. A flight of steps leads down to the bottom of the reservoir, which is nineteen feet deep. This large receptacle is faced with a wall of stone, now slightly out of repair. Several columns stand out of the side walls, extending from the top dowmward into the cistern, the design of which it is difficult to conjec ture. The water passes out of this reservoir through a channel cut in the rock, which is covered for a short distance ; but subsequently it opens and dis
.closes a lively copious stream, which is conducted into an enclosed garden planted with fig-trees. It is afterwards subdivided, and seems to be exhausted in irrigating a number of gardens occupied with figs, apricots, olive and other trees, and some flourishing legumes. The small upper basin or fountain excavated in the rock is merely the en trance, or rather the termination of a long and narrow subterranean passage beyond, by which the water comes from the Fountain of the Virgin. This has been established beyond dispute by Dr. Robin son, who, with his companion, had the hardihood to crawl through the passage. They found it 1750 feet in length, which, owiug to its windings, is several hundred feet more than the direct distance above ground. It is thus proved that the water of both these fountains is the same, though some travellers have pronounced the water of Siloam to be bad, and that of the other fountain good. It has a peculiar taste, sweetish and very slightly brackish, but not at all disagreeable. Late in the season, when the water is low, it is said to become more brackish and unpleasant. The most remark able circumstance is the ebb and flow of the waters, which, although often mentioned as a characteristic of Siloam, must belong equally to both fountains. Dr. Robinson himself witnessed this phenomenon in the Fountain of the Virgin, where the water rose in five minutes one foot in the reservoir, and in another five minutes sunk to its former level. The intervals and the extent of the flow and ebb inIthis and the fountain of Siloam vary with the season ; but the fact, though it has not yet been accounted for, is beyond dispute (see Robinson's Palestine, i. 460, 492-498 ; Olin's Trave/s, 153, 154 ; liams's .Holy City, pp. 378, 379).—J. K.