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  Home > Tours > The Kidron Valley > Site 39: Absalom’s Tomb and the Cave of Jehoshaphat
 
 
 
Jerusalem Archaeological Park
The Kidron Valley
 
Site 39: Absalom's Tomb and the Cave of Jehoshaphat

Absalom's Tomb is the most impressive and complete of the ancient tombs of wealthy Jewish families that lived in Jerusalem in Second Temple times. Dated to the 1st century CE, it was probably also the nefesh for the Cave of Jehoshaphat - an imposing rock-cut tomb behind Absalom's Tomb, with eight finely hewn burial chambers.


Absalom's Tomb is sixteen and a half meters high. The lower part, in the shape of a cube set on a podium ('a'), was hewn of hard limestone; the exterior is decorated with reliefs of columns bearing Ionic capitals ('b'). Running along the top of the cube are a Doric frieze ('c') and an Egyptian cornice ('d'). The upper, ashlar-built part of the monument, is shaped like a tholos (conical pyramid), consisting of a circular pedestal ('e') with a conical roof ('f'), surmounted by a lotus flower carved in stone ('g').

The original entrance, in the facade of the rock-cut cube, leads to a small burial chamber located in its upper part. The chamber contains two benches on which the deceased were placed, probably in sarcophagi or ossuaries (see Tombs and Burial in Jerusalem). The holes in the walls of the monument were made many centuries ago by tomb robbers.
A popular Jewish tradition associates the monument with Absalom, King David's rebellious son, of whom the Bible says: "Now Absalom in his life-time had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said: 'I have no son to keep my name in remembrance'; and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument unto this day" (2 Samuel 18:18).

The identification is, of course, erroneous, for the monument was built about one thousand years after the time of Absalom. Nevertheless, it was customary in Jerusalem, from the Middle Ages to recent generations, for whoever passed by the monument to throw a stone at it, as if to proclaim the fate of a rebellious son.
Behind Absalom's Tomb is the rock-cut opening of the Cave of Jehoshaphat. The gable over the entrance is decorated with floral motifs carved in the stone. The cave contains eight neatly hewn burial chambers, which branch off from the entrance (access to the north wing of the cave is blocked by earth). Most of the chambers contain rock-cut benches for placing sarcophagi or ossuaries, as well as loculi in which the deceased's bodies were laid for primary burial (see Tombs and Burial in Jerusalem).

The details of the decoration on the façades of the cave and of the monument represent a mixture of artistic styles borrowed from the Hellenistic, Oriental and Egyptian realms. At the same time, the depiction of human figures, so typical of Hellenistic culture, is absent. This probably reflects the injunction of Jewish law against graven images.

Farther along the path down the bed of the Kidron Valley, on the east (left), is the Tomb of Bnei Hezir.
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