Jerusalem: Gihon Spring

This photograph shows the modern entrance steps that lead down to the Gihon spring, which was the water source for the city of Jerusalem in antiquity. When Sennacherib, King of Assyria, came to besiege Jerusalem in 701 BCE, the Judahite king Hezekiah had a tunnel built that would reroute the water so that it was within the city walls and therefore inaccessible to the besieging troops. The steps and the arch seen in the photograph were probably built in the medieval period.