Solomon's Pools 1

Solomon

View looking east southeast at the Middle Pool of the three that make up the complex called "Solomon's Pools."  These pools are located about 3 miles southwest of Bethlehem.

The pools were constructed during the Second Temple Period—the Lower Pool by the Hasmoneans, the Upper Pool by Herod the Great (to service his Palace by Jaffa Gate), and the Middle Pool by Pontius Pilate(?).

This Middle Pool feeds into the Lower Pool and from there an aqueduct delivers water to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  It is fed by the Arrub Aqueduct and several springs.  Each of the pools can hold around 75 million gallons of water—if full.

These pools are imaginatively named after King Solomon (r. 970–930 BCE) on the assumption that he was the author of Ecclesiastes 2:6:

Eccl. 2:5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.  6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.