information about the Kidron Valley of the City of David, Jerusalem itself will be provided after this announcement (Cecille Batoon).
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Should you have a personal request I will be more than happy to respond and even film it in a personal video.
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Your tour guide
Zahi Shaked
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The Kidron valley marks the eastern boundary of Jerusalem in ancient times. It starts at the French hill, north of the old city, continues east of the City of David, and drains into the Dead Sea. The Kidron Valley Tombs are a set of burial monuments carved in the local limestone, in a section that faces the Temple Mount. Most famous are the “Tomb of Absalom” (in Hebrew Yad Avshalom), cave of Jehosaphat, and the Benei Hezir Tomb. Though none of the tombs bear an inscription with a date, they were probably created in the 1st century CE, by wealthy families of Jewish priests.
In the middle ages Jews were buried around the tombs, and on the slopes of Mount of olives. In the 1960s, a British archaeologist suggested that Yad Avshalom monument might contain some of the treasures mentioned in the “Copper Scroll” found near Qumran. He excavated in and around all the monuments, to bedrock, but failed to make any significant discovery.
Touring the Kidron Valley Tombs
kidron-valley-tombsThe Tombs are accessible by foot both from the old city and from Mount of Olives. Furthermore, ELAD organization operates a Bedouin style hospitality tent next to them, and even offers camel rides.
Because of repeated vandalism by the local Arab population, the burial chambers of all of tombs are locked.
The Hebrew Bible calls the upper course Emek Yehoshafat, the "Valley of Josaphat". It appears in Jewish eschatological prophecies, which include the return of Elijah, followed by the arrival of the Messiah, and the War of Gog and Magog and Judgment Day.[5]
Dry plate photograph of Jews gathering at Absalom's Tomb in the Kidron Valley, early 20th century. View towards the southwest from the Jewish cemetery, with the south-eastern corner of Temple Mount in the upper background.
The upper Kidron Valley holds Jerusalem's most important cemetery from the First Temple period, the Silwan necropolis, assumed to have been used by the highest-ranking officials residing in the city, with rock-cut tombs dating between the 9th and 7th centuries BCE.
The upper Kidron Valley segment north of the Old City was one of the main burial grounds of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period, where hundreds of tombs have survived until today, while the segment east of, and opposite the Temple Mount, boasts several excellently preserved monumental tombs from the same period. Several of the Second Temple period tombs were also used later in time, either as burial or as shelters for hermits and monks of the large monastic communities which inhabited the Kidron Valley during the Byzantine Empire period (4th-7th century). The ancient tombs in this area attracted the attention of ancient travelers, most notably Benjamin of Tudela.
