Lying at the foot of the rock scarp that once bore the Antonia Fortress, the pool is located at the northwestern corner of Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

Once open-aired, the pool was accessible along both long walls by a series of rock-cut steps covered by waterproof mortar composed of chalk and ashes.

[3] The pool was apparently built by Herod the Great during his construction of the Antonia and the renovation of the Temple Mount in the late first century BCE.

Originally thought to be contemporary with the construction of the pool and thus to belong to the Antonia Fortress, reexamination of archaeological data by Father Pierre Benoit has prompted a revision of its dating.

[3] The pool had remained in use down to modern times, and was identified as the Struthion by British engineer Sir Charles Warren during his exploration of Jerusalem between 1867 and 1870.

The attraction has a linear route, starting at the Western Wall Plaza, passing through the modern tunnels, then the ancient water system, and ending at the Struthion Pool.