was sending him to the very pool which still bears that name. About the Pool of Bethesda, "by the sheep gate" (John v.), there has not been the same assurance and unanimity. The traditional pool occupies what was once a valley north of the Temple; but as the valley itself was there when Titus sought to attack the Temple from the north, we judge the pool to be a later construction. The two arches at the western end of it, with their staircases now buried in rubbish, are not the same as "five porches." Again, several writers have supposed that the so-called Virgin's Fountain might be the true Bethesda, because it is an intermittent spring, and because the modern Jews believe the water of this pool to be a sure cure for rheumatic complaints. They often go in numbers, men and women together, and stand in their clothes in the pool, waiting for the water to rise. But the Virgin's Fountain is too far away from the Sheep-gate to be the pool which the Evangelist refers to.
It was pointed out some years ago by M. Clermont Ganneau that the Pool of Bethesda should be sought near the Church of St Anne, where an old tradition has placed the house of the mother of Mary, calling it Beit hanna, "House of Anne." This expression is exactly identical with Bethesda, both expressions signifying House of Mercy, or Compassion.[1] This anticipation has been verified; for in the year 1888 the ancient pool of Bethesda was found a short distance north-west of the present Church of St Anne. Certain works carried on by the Algerian monks laid bare a large tank or cistern cut in the rock, to a depth of 30 feet, and Herr Schick recognised this as the Pool of Bethesda. It is 55 feet long from east to west, and measures 12½ feet in breadth. A flight of twenty-four steps leads down into the pool from the eastern scarp of rock. Herr Schick, who at once saw the great interest of
- ↑ "Quarterly Statement," 1872, p. 116.
