(Silwan is the village on the left side of the photo)
Click on photo to enlarge it
Silwan
is a gritty, graffiti-daubed Arab village built into the southern slopes of the
Mt. of Olives. Currently about 45,000 residents live in this village located on
the southeast side of the Kidron Valley, opposite the ancient City of David and Pool of Siloam. It occupies fertile ground near the Gihon Springs, the main
water source of ancient Jerusalem.
Silwan
is built on top of a necropolis, or cemetery, from Old Testament times. Many of
the ancient tombs are used as cisterns today, and interestingly, are also used
as basements for many of the houses built over them.
The
name itself is interesting. Silwan is the Arabic form of the Greek Siloam, which is a
corruption of the Hebrew word Shiloach.
Siloam is mentioned many times in the New Testament and is associated with the
healing of a blind man (John 9).
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