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© Erich Lessing/lessingimages.com

INSCRIPTION OF THE PEOPLE. The excavation of Hezekiah’s Tunnel is chronicled in the Siloam Inscription, which recounts the moment when the two teams of tunnelers met in the middle. Written in paleo-Hebrew, the inscription has no mention of Hezekiah or another king; it was not a regal inscription or a public record. Rather it was apparently written by the tunnelers themselves to commemorate the impressive feat of digging the tunnel. Incised in the wall of Hezekiah’s Tunnel 20 feet from its southern outlet into the Byzantine Pool of Siloam, the inscription was discovered in 1880 by boys swimming in the tunnel. It currently is on display at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum.