Siloam

Shiloah pool overlooking Silwan

• For the Arab village and neighborhood, see Silwan
• For the ancient city and contemporary Jewish neighborhood, see City of David

Siloam is an ancient Greek name derived from the more ancient Hebrew Shiloah. the Arabic: Silwan, was derived form the Greek, Siloam. It is an ancient site in Jerusalem, south of the Old City.

Antiquity

According to the Hebrew Bible, the ancient community of Siloam was built around the "serpent-stone", Zoheleth, where Adonijah gave his feast in the time of Solomon. Siloam is the site of the Pool of Siloam, the outlet of the waters of the Gihon Spring. According to the Christian New Testament, this is the site where Jesus healed a man blind from birth as described in the Gospel of John, and the legendary Tower of Siloam, whose collapse is an omen in the Gospel of Luke.

Inscription

An inscription from Siloam, from the lintel of Shebna-yahu's tomb

The Siloam inscription was discovered in the water tunnel built during the reign of Hezekiah, in the early 7th century BCE. The Siloam inscription is now preserved in the Archeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey.

Commemoration

Biblical Siloam has been honored, for its healing pool, in the names of many Baptist churches and is commemorated by the US towns of:

• Siloam Springs, Arkansas, the location of John Brown University
• Siloam, Georgia
• Siloam, New Jersey, a district in southern Freehold
• West Siloam Springs, Oklahoma
• Siloam, North Carolina
• Siloam, Colorado, now deserted

See also

• Silwan
• City of David
• Pool of Siloam

References

Coordinates: 31°46′12.29″N 35°14′10.17″E / 31.7700806°N 35.2361583°E / 31.7700806; 35.2361583

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