KIDRON
Israel.
A valley in Jerusalem, to the
E of the Temple Mount, also known by the name of the
Valley of Joshaphat. In the lower course of the valley
several monumental tombs were carved from rock in the
Late Hellenistic and the Early Roman periods. The earliest in this group is the Tomb of the Priests of the House
of Hezir, a family of priests known also from the scriptures. It has a Doric porch which rests on two freestanding columns and two attached pilasters, behind which is
the rock-cut burial cave. It is dated by the funerary inscription to the end of the 2d c. B.C. To the S of this
tomb is the monolithic monument, the so-called Tomb
of Zechariah, in the form of a cube decorated by Ionic
attached columns and corner pilasters, and surmounted
by an Egyptian cornice with a pyramid above. No burial
cave connected with this monument has been discovered.
The northernmost monument, the most elaborate, is the
so-called Tomb of Absalom. It consists of an Ionic cube
decorated by a Doric frieze and an Egyptian cornice set
on a podium. Above the cornice is a square base for the
built part of the monument, which is otherwise cut out
of the rock. This square base supports a steep-sided cone.
The monument is 22.5 m high and contains a small burial
chamber, probably for the fathers of a noble family, the
remaining members of which were buried in a nearby
burial cave, the so-called Cave of Joshaphat. The gable
above the portal of this cave is decorated with an
acanthus scroll. The three monuments last mentioned
are dated to Herodian times.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
K. Galling, “Die Nekropole von Jerusalem,”
Palästinajahrbuch (1936) 73-101; N. Avigad,
IEJ 1 (1950-51) 96-106; id.,
The Ancient Monuments
of the Kidron Valley (1954). (In Hebrew.)
A. NEGEV
