Herod’s Pool Near Petzael Filled with Water for the First Time in Decades
An ancient reservoir located near Moshav Petzael in the Jordan Valley has been refilled with water for the first time in decades. The enormous pool, whose dimensions are clearly visible from the air, is square in shape with high retaining walls, and sits in the heart of the arid wilderness of the valley.
According to archaeologist Dr. Yitzhak Omri Abadi, Herodian stones have been identified at the base of the pool’s walls, indicating that this is a water installation built during the time of Herod about 2,000 years ago. The water in the pool came from the ancient aqueduct that Herod built on the mountainside, which carried water from the Petzael springs to the city of Phasaelis in the valley. Nearby was an ancient road on which pilgrims ascended to Jerusalem.
Phasaelis was founded in 8 BCE by Herod and was named after his older brother Pasael, the governor of Jerusalem who ended his life in Parthian captivity. Josephus describes the city in two places. In The Jewish War, he writes that Herod “founded a city in the narrow valley northward toward Jericho and called it Phasaelis,” and in Antiquities of the Jews he adds that Herod “made the land around it, which had been desolate, very fertile.” After Herod’s death, the city passed to his sister Salome, and upon her death she bequeathed it to Julia Augusta, the wife of Emperor Augustus.
The remains of Phasaelis are now located inside the nearby Palestinian village of Fasayil. According to Abadi, those who enter the site find exceptional finds, ritual baths, a luxurious residence from the Second Temple period, and a Byzantine bathhouse with a preserved hypocaust floor and mosaic decoration. The site also contains another reservoir with a capacity of 8,000 cubic meters, which also received its water from the same Herodian aqueduct.
Moshav Petzael was established in 1970, about a quarter of a kilometer north of the remains of ancient Phasaelis, and its name preserves the name of the Herodian settlement that preceded it by 2,000 years. It has been reported that the water is currently dirty. Visitors are asked to exercise caution and observe safety rules. Please keep the area clean and leave it as it is. The site is not an official bathing area, and the bottom is full of trees and thorns. This article is not a call for the public to come and visit the site.
