Siloah – Quelle des Lebens
Eine Kulturgeschichte der Jerusalemer Stadtquelle
by Jens M. Wening
The Jerusalem city spring is traditionally and presently known by the name of Siloam (Siloah), even though its water comes from the Gihon spring. An underground conduit, the so-called Hezekiah Tunnel, carries the water from the spring under the southeast hill to this day. For nearly two millennia, this western mouth of the tunnel was considered the source of Siloam, or the Siloam of Jerusalem. The actual source, the Gihon, was forgotten for over a millennium. Today, the Southeast Hill water systems are among the most extensively studied archaeological sites in the world. This study deals with the cultural memories of Siloam. On the basis of a diverse selection of different text and images, the author develops a cultural history of the Jerusalem city source from its beginnings to the present. Particular attention is paid to the plurality and variability of cultures of remembrance on the one hand, and the connection with material structures and architecture on the other. To this end, the work combines a historical-critical study of sources with a remembrance-cultural approach from a spatial-sociological perspective. In Jerusalem’s early period (Chapter IV), the Middle Bronze II period, extensive efforts were made to harness the water of the intermittent spring for the population and to deny enemies access to the city’s water resource. In Old Testament times (Chapter V), the Jerusalem city spring had a prominent cultic-theological significance: it was considered a symbol of salvation and a sign of the presence of God. The Gihon spring was associated with the streams of Paradise. Solomon is said to have been anointed king at the spring. In early Jewish times (Chapter VII), a significant water ritual was practiced on Sukkot, the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles: For this purpose, water was drawn from Siloam, brought up to the temple in a procession and poured out there at the altar. With reference to Old Testament traditions, this was intended to symbolize the expected end-time salvation. With the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 70, the subsequent expulsion of the Jewish population and the conversion of the city into the Roman colony Aelia Capitolina in AD 130, there was a major break with the Old Testament early Jewish traditions. The formative period of cultures of remembrance of Siloam ended with these events. The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple also confronted the author of the Gospel of John with the question of re-evaluating the festive liturgy of Sukkot. In the story of the healing of a man born blind on Siloam in John 9 (chap. VIII), the evangelist interprets Siloam christologically: The eschatological salvation, which the water ritual on Sukkot symbolically anticipated with the libation of spring water, is no longer dated in his view Jerusalem temple and its cult practice, but already present in Jesus. The entire early Christian interpretation and commentary literature (including Augustine) followed this interpretation of John 9. There was no historical-topographical interest in Siloam in early Christian times. In late Roman times (chap. IX) Siloam was outside the southern city wall of Jerusalem. Around 130 AD a nymphaeum was built at the mouth of the Hezekiah tunnel, which has been archaeologically proven to be a four-sided portico. In Byzantine times (Chap. X) a new city wall was built in the south of Jerusalem around the middle of the 5th century AD, which brought Siloam back into the city area. At about the same time, a church was built on Siloam, which partially integrated the late Roman portico and whose altar was located directly above the mouth of the Hezekiah tunnel. This church was apparently damaged during the Persian invasion of 614 AD. As a result of the decline in the Christian population, it fell out of use and fell into disrepair. The formation of Islamic traditions (Chapter XI) on Siloam began when the church there was already in decline. The Siloam was visited by Muslim pilgrims as early as the Umayyad period (early 8th century AD). In Islam, the Siloam was considered one of the sources of paradise, based on old Jewish temple traditions. It was only with the Crusaders (Chapter XII) that Siloam became a Christian place of remembrance of the healing of the blind. In the Mamluk period (chap. XIV) the Gihon spring was rediscovered around 1300 AD. It was given the name Fountain of the Virgin because it was said that Mary washed the diapers of her son Jesus here. The legend of washing diapers emerged from motifs from apocryphal childhood gospels and local Islamic traditions relating to the cradle of Jesus (Mahd ‘Isa) and the chamber of Mary (Mihrab Maryam). From the Ottoman period (Chapter XV), a large number of Christian pilgrimage reports have been preserved, which consistently list Siloam as the site of Johannine healing of the blind. A visit to Siloam was part of the fixed program of every Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem at that time. In the literary writings of western writers (chapter XV.3) the Siloam is treated from the aspect of its originality and secluded ocation treated.
- By (author) Jens M. Wening
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