Home > Sites > Jerusalem > Sebil (drinking fountain)

                                                                                    

Contents: Overview History Location Photos Biblical Refs Historical Refs Links

Overview:

 

   Sebil is a Turkish public drinking fountain. There are several such fountains in the city. They provided water to the visitors of the temple mount and the old city.

 

 

Location:

 

   An aerial view is seen below showing the places of the sebils that are featured in this page. You can point on the purple points to navigate to the selected site.

 

 

 

  

 

Photos:

 

(a) Hagai (Al-Wad) Road:

 

Along the Hagai (Al-Wad) road, on the western side of the Temple mount, are several Ottoman sebils. The photo below shows one of the Sebils which is closest to the Western Wall.

 

Click on the photos to view in higher resolution...

 

A closer detail of the sebil.

 

 

(b) Sultan's pool:

 

   Another sebil is seen outside the walls, on the south-west side of the old city, on the bridge over the Valley of Hinnom. The road is called Hebron. The sebil was built by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-1566). This great builder of Jerusalem built additional 4 sebils inside the walls.

  The photo below shows the sebil, with the "Sultan's pool" behind it in the near right side, and the Tower of David and the walls of the old city in the far right background.

   The inscription reads: "Instructed us to build here a drinking place, our lord the Sultan, the great King... Sultan Suleiman son of Sultan Selim Khan, Allah will keep his kingdom and government for eternity".

 

 

   The water was fed from an aqueduct which filled up an Ottoman reservoir behind the sebil - called the Sultan's pool. The aqueduct was based on the Jerusalem "lower aqueduct" that delivered water to the city in the Roman period, from Solomon's pools (near Bethlehem) to the temple mount (20KM in total length). Its traces are visible on the west side of the pool. The Turks added clay pipes into the ancient rock-hewn aqueduct.

 

Links:   Turkish inscriptions in Jerusalem (pdf)   Sultan's pool and the sebil (Hebrew)   Water supply in Jerusalem (pdf; Hebrew)

 

Etymology (behind the name):

 

• Sebil - a Turkish name for a drinking fountain. It is based on the Arabic name of a "path" , since the Sebil was located near roads. in Hebrew a path is called "Shvil", which is very similiar.

 

 

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