more than state the popular legend as he found it, without vouching for its truth, except so far as it ex- plained the invalid's presence there.
Eusebius and Jerome — though unfortunately they give no clew to the situation of Bethesda — describe it in the Onomasticon (s. v. BnZ,a$d, Bethesda) as exist- ing in their time as two pools, the one supplied by the periodical rains, while the water of the other was of a reddish color, due, as the tradition then ran, to the fact that the flesh of the sacrifices was anciently wash- ed there before offering, on which account the pool was also called "the Sheep-pool" (Pecualis, IIpo- fiaTiKif). See, however, the comments of Lightfoot on this view, in his Exercit. on St. John, v, 2. Euse- bius's statement is partly confirmed by the Bordeaux Pilgrim (A.D. 333), who mentions in his Itinerary "twin fish-pools, having five porches, which are called Bethsaida" (quoted in Barclay, p. 299). The large reservoir called by the Mohammedans Birket Israil, within the walls of the city, close by the St. Stephen's gate, and under the north-east wall of the Haram area, is generally considered to be the modern representa- tive of Bethesda. This tradition reaches back cer- tainly to the time of Sacwulf, A.D. 1102, who mentions it under the name of Bethsaida (Early Trav. p. 41). It is also named in the Citez de Jherusalem, A.D. 1187 (sect, vii), and in more modern times by Manndrell and all the h.te travellers. The pool measures 360 feet in length, 130 feet in breadth, and 75 in depth to the bottom, besides the rubbish which has accumu- lated in it for ages. Although it has been <\xy 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 plas- ter ; 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 west- ward, side by side, under the houses that now cover this part. Dr. Robinson was aide to trace the contin- uation of the work in this direction under one of these vaults for 100 feet, and it seemed to extend much farther. Tins gives the whole a length of KJ0 feet, equal to one half of the whole extent of the sacred en- closure under which it lies. Mr. Wolcott, writing since, says, " The southern vault extends 130 feet, and the other apparently the same. At the extremity of the former was an opening for drawing up water. The vaults are stuccoed" (JJib/iotheca Sacra, 1843, p. 33). 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
Traditionary " Pool of Bethesda.
BETII-EZEL
778
BETH-HOGLA
the structures above. Dr. Robinson considers it prob- able that this excavation was anciently carried quite through the ridge of Bezetha, along the northern side ofAntonia to its N.W. corner, thus forming the deep trench which separated the fortress from the adjacent kill
(Bib. Res hes, i, 133, 434). 'ihe little that can be
said on the subject, however, goes nearly as much to confirm as to invalidate the traditionary identification. ^i i On the one hand, the most probable position of the Bheep-gate is at the cast part of the city. See. Sheep- gate. ( )n the other hand, the Birlcet Israil exhibits none, of the marks which appear to have distinguished the water of Bethcsda in the records of the Evangelist and of Eusebius ; it certainly is neither pentagonal nor double. (2) The construction of the Eirlcch is such as to .-how that il was originally a water-reservoir, and not the moat of a fortress. See Jerusalem. (3) There is certainly a remarkable coincidence between the name as given by Eusebius, Bezatha, and that of the north-east suburb of the city at the time of the Gospel history — Bezetha (q. v.). (-i) There is the difficulty that if the Birhet Israil be not Bethesda, which of the ancient "pools" does it represent? On the whole, however, the most probable identification of the ancient Bcthesda is that of Dr. Robinson (i, 508), who suggests the "fountain of the Virgin," in the val- ley of the Kedron, a short distance above the Pool of Siloam. In favor of this arc its situation, supposing the sheep-gate to be at the south-east of the city, as Lightfoot, Rol linson, and others suppose, and the strange intermittent "troubling of the water" caused by the periodical ebbing and flowing of the supply. Against it are the confined size of the pool, and the difficulty of finding room for the five stose. (Sec Barclay's de- tailed account, City of the Great King, p. 516-524, and 325, 6.) See Jerusalem.
For rabbinical allusions to this subject, see Light- foot, in loc. Joh. ; for a discussion of the medical qual- ities of the water, see Bartholin, De paralytic. N. T. p. 898; Mead, Med. Sacr. c. 8; Witsius, Miscell. ii, 2-19 sq. ; D'Outrein, in the Biblioth. Brem. i, 597 sq. ; Rus, Harmon. Evang. i, G80 ; Eschenbach, Scripta Med. Bibl. p. GO sq. ; Stiebriz, An piscina Beths. calidis aquis nu- merari queat (Hal. 1739) ; Reis, Joseph] s'dentium ev. histories mm noxium (Altorf. 1730), p. 17 sq. ; Richter, ]i< balneo animali (in his Dissert. Med. Gott. 1775, p. 107) ; Schulze, in the Berlin verm. Abhandl. ii, 146 sq. ; Jungmarker, Bdliesdei hand balm um animate (Gryph. 1766) ; on the miracle, treatises are by Harenberg (in tli- Bibl. Brem. r, vi, p. 82 sq.), Olearius (hips. 1706), Ziebich (Gerl. 1768), Schelgvig (Gcdan. 1681, 1701); also general treatises, De piscina Bethesda, by Arnold (Jen. 1661), Frischmuth (den. 1661), Hottingcr (Tigur. 1705), Sommelius (Lund. 1767), Wendeler (Viteb. 1676). The place has been described more or less fully by nearly every traveller in Jerusalem. (See especially De Saulcy, Dead Sea, ii, 244 sq.)