Gihon Spring or Fountain of the Virgin, also known as Saint Mary's Pool, is a spring in the Kidron Valley. It was the main source of water for the Pool of Siloam in Jebus and the later City of David, the original site of Jerusalem.
Illustration of Gihon Spring ("Upper Fountain of Siloam") in David Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia
Virgin's Fountain in 1907
Siloam inscription, discovered in 1880
Image: City of David
The term Pool of Siloam refers to a number of rock-cut pools on the southern slope of the Wadi Hilweh, located outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem to the southeast. The pools were fed by the waters of the Gihon Spring, carried there by the Siloam Tunnel.
Ain Silwan
Birket Hamra
Artist's reconstruction of the pool in the Second Temple period
The Byzantine pool of Siloam