The Siloam Inscription is a commemorative Hebrew text engraved onto the limestone wall of an underground tunnel beneath Jerusalem. The 6-line inscription is only about 19 feet from the opening to the Pool of Siloam (also known as the Pool of Hezekiah). Carved in about 701 BC, it gives a brief description of a masterful feat of engineering.
King Hezekiah ordered the construction of a new water tunnel just prior to the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib and his Assyrian army in 701 BC. The project was vital in order to provide a reliable and protected water source for the Judeans inside the walls of the city and to cut off the water supply from the Assyrian attackers outside of Jerusalem.
The Siloam Inscription recounts how two teams of stonecutters used axes to excavate through the rock, following the route of a natural fissure that began at the water source. One team started there, at the Gihon Spring, while the other team began from behind the city walls of Jerusalem. The Siloam Inscription recounts how the workers knew they were close to completion when they could hear the voices of the other team of through the remaining rock wall. When the two teams finally met, the finished tunnel was about 1750 feet long (533 m), and there were sections that were as much as 150 feet underground. The tunnel was masterfully engineered with a gradient of only 0.06 percent, allowing the water to flow slowly from the spring to the pool.
Summary
For posterity, the Siloam Inscription was later cut out of the wall, removed, and eventually placed on display in Istanbul. It was cut out of the wall intact, which still allowed for scholarly study.
Recent radiometric tests, along with information from ancient historical documents clearly place the date at the time of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, providing evidence that refutes the attempts to debunk the authenticity of the inscription.
The inscription (and tunnel in which it was found) has been instrumental in studying the technique of the construction project. They also corroborate the historical accuracy of the Biblical accounts of the during the time of Hezekiah and the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, as recorded in the books of Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah.
