The Pool of the Towers / Hezekiah's Pool

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The post yesterday told of my first-ever visit to the Petra Hostel.
On the roof one woman was sitting on a mat and another was living in a tent behind her line of laundry.
You probably recognize the Citadel or Tower of David across the street.

Right behind the hostel was this giant pool, surrounded by residential houses.
I was so excited to see it! I had read of its existence but could never get a view of it.

It looks like a dump now, but what a history it has!

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Two thousand years ago King Herod and the Romans built aqueducts and a system of pools and cisterns in order to enlarge the water supply of Jerusalem.

The pool shown in the photos above was fed by an aqueduct from the Mamilla Pool, as explained in an earlier post.

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This huge interior rock-cut pool is today called, in Arabic, "Ḥammâm el Batrak" (The Patriarch's Pool).

Some call it, perhaps erroneously, Hezekiah's Pool.

Josephus called it the Amygdalon pool, possibly a corruption of the Hebrew Ha-Migdalon, meaning the Pool of the Tower(s).

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UPDATE!   What a difference two years can make!   See Tom Powers' blog report of the first-ever concert inside the cleaned-up pool!!
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Stairs, stones, and schools

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ABC Wednesday is already on letter S.
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So many times I have entered the Old City at Jaffa Gate and walked right past the old Petra Hostel.
A few days ago I gathered courage and entered this dilapidated old building, refuge of backpackers and other penniless types.
Slowly, so as not to slip on the well-worn stairs, I climbed to the 3rd floor and then up onto the flat roof.
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SPECTACULAR view!!
New west Jerusalem and old east Jerusalem!
The Old City and Temple Mount and beyond, to the Mount of Olives and the desert!
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But my favorite photo from the roof was not off into the distance but rather straight down.
Enlarge it, please.
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The Arab girl was bending over, opening a grate, cleaning it as the final step in her big work of hosing down the courtyard and scrubbing the stones.
Shining stones, still wet!
Aren't they beautiful?
It's like in archaeology when we pour water over an ancient mosaic and all its colors come to life!
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I wish the young lady could see her work from above and be proud.
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Not sure, but I think, judging from a basketball hoop, that the enclosed area is part of St. Dimitri's School.
It is a private school sponsored by the Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church.
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I see in a 2008 news item that St. Dimitri's was then celebrating the renovation and revitalization of its building.
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Apparently the EU has a Comprehensive School Upgrading Program for a few selected Palestinian schools in east Jerusalem which "revamps the schools and upgrades the electricity networks, sanitation facilities, sewage systems, carpentry and mechanical works and general classroom conditions (paint, floors, and ceilings). It also funds new school equipment like computers, fax, and copy machines, as well as school management software."
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Along with two partner organizations, the EU provides "extensive teacher training around teaching methods, interfaith education, inclusion and appropriate methods of maintaining discipline and openness in the classroom."
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The need is great and I wish them success.
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