Mamilla Pool is one of several ancient reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

s that supplied water to the inhabitants of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is located outside the wall's of the Old City about 700 yards northwest of Jaffa Gate in the center of the Mamilla Cemetery

Mamilla Cemetery

Mamilla Cemetery is an historic Muslim cemetery located just to the west of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. The cemetery, at the center of which lies the Mamilla Pool, contains the remains of figures from the early Islamic period, several Sufi shrines and Mamluk-era tombs...

. With a capacity of 30,000 cubic meters, it is connected by an underground channel to Hezekiah's Pool

Hezekiah's Pool

Hezekiah's Pool located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was once a reservoir forming part of the city's ancient water system. the pool is dry and surrounded by buildings on all sides...

 in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. It is possible that it has received water via an aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 from Solomon's Pools

Solomon's Pools

Solomon's Pools , are located immediately to the south of al-Khader and about 5 kilometres southwest of Bethlehem. The pools consist of three open cisterns, each pool with a 6 metre drop to the next, fed from an underground spring. With each pool being over 100 metres long, 65 metres wide and 10...

.

Etymology

There are a number of theories on the origin of the name Mamilla. John Gray writes that it may be a corruption of the Hebrew word for 'the filler' (m'malle'), though that is uncertain. Others indicate it may have been named for its sponsor, Mamilla or Maximilla, or for a church that once stood near the pool that was dedicated to a saint named Mamilla or Babila.

Roman period

During the rule of Herod the Great

Herod the Great

Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...

, king of the Roman provinces of Judea, Galilee and Samaria in the 1st century BCE, improvements were made to the water supply system in Jerusalem. Two new pools constructed during his reign, the Pool of the Towers and the Serpent's Pool (Birket es-Sultan), were fed by the Mamilla Pool via aqueducts. Itzik Schwiki of the Jerusalem Center Site Preservation Council attributes the construction of the Mamilla Pool itself to Herod.

Byzantine period

Following the Persian capture of Jerusalem from the Byzantines in 614, a large number of Christians were massacred at the pool.

Crusader period

During the period of Crusader rule over Jerusalem in the 12th century, Mamilla pool was known as the Patriarch's Lake, and the Pool of Hezekiah

Hezekiah's Pool

Hezekiah's Pool located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, was once a reservoir forming part of the city's ancient water system. the pool is dry and surrounded by buildings on all sides...

 inside the city walls that it fed was known as the Pool of the Patriarch's Bath.

19th century

In the 19th century, Horatio Balch Hackett described the pool:

At the distance of several hundred yards we come to another pool, Birket el-Mamilla, generally supposed to be the Upper Gihon of Scripture, (Isaiah 36, 2.) This reservoir is still used, and on the ninth of April contained three or more feet of water. It is about three hundred feet long, two hundred wide, and twenty feet deep. It has steps at two of the corners, which enable the people not only to descend and fetch up water, but to lead down animals to drink. It is customary, also, to bathe here.

20th century

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war

1948 Arab-Israeli War

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

, the Jerusalem municipality temporarily tried to connect the pool to the Jerusalem water supply, and coated the pool with cement.

Dimensions

The pool's dimensions as recorded by Edward Robinson

Edward Robinson (scholar)

Edward Robinson was an American biblical scholar, known as the “Father of Biblical Geography.” He has been referred to as the “founder of modern Palestinology.” -Biography:...

 in the mid-19th century give a depth of 18 feet (5.5 m), a length of 316 feet (96.3 m), and a width of 200 feet (61 m) at its western end and 218 feet (66.4 m) at its eastern end. In 2008, the dimensions are given as 291 feet (88.7 m) x 192 feet (58.5 m) x 19 feet (5.8 m).

Ecosystem

With the first rains, the pool hosts an ecosystem of crabs, frogs, and insects. During Spring, it becomes a haven for migrating birds. In 1997, a previously unknown species of amphibian tree frogs was discovered in the pool. The researchers named their find Hyla heinzsteinitzi, in honor of Heinz Steinitz

Heinz Steinitz

Heinz Steinitz was a senior Israeli marine biologist and herpetologist, professor and chairman of the department of zoology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem...

, a deceased Israeli marine biologist. As of 2007, the species is assumed to be extinct.