Kidron Valley

For other uses, see Kidron (disambiguation).
Kidron Valley viewed from the Old City of Jerusalem, with the Stepped Stone Structure (bottom right)

Kidron Valley (classical transliteration, Cedron, from Hebrew: נחל קדרון, Naḥal Qidron, literally Qidron River; also Qidron Valley)[1][2][3][4] is the modern name of the valley originating slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives, and ending at the Dead Sea. Beyond Jerusalem it continues in a general south-easterly direction through the Judean desert in the West Bank, reaching the Dead Sea near the settlement of Ovnat, and descending 4,000 feet (1,200 m) along its 20-mile (32 km) course.

In ancient Hebrew sources, as well as in Arabic, different segments of the valley bear different names. Arabic names include وادي الجوز, Wadi el-Joz, 'Valley of the Walnut', but possibly a shortening of "Valley of Josaphat", for the upper segment, near the Temple Mount; and Wadi en-Nar, 'Fire Valley', for the rest of it – with at least the segment at the ancient Mar Saba ('Saint Sabbas') monastery also known in the 19th century as Wadi er-Rahib, 'Monk's Valley'.

In its upper part, the Palestinian neighbourhood of Wadi Joz bears the valley's Arabic name.[5] The Jewish settlement of Kedar, in the West Bank, located on a ridge above the valley, is named after the valley's Hebrew name.

The Hebrew Bible apparently calls the upper course Emek Yehoshafat, the "Valley of Josaphat". It appears in Jewish eschatologic 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 south-west 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.[6]

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.[7] 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).[7][8] The ancient tombs in this area attracted the attention of ancient travelers, most notably Benjamin of Tudela.[9]

A source of confusion is the fact that the modern name "Kidron Valley" (Nahal Kidron in Hebrew) applies to the entire length of a long wadi, which starts north of the Old City of Jerusalem and ends at the Dead Sea, while the biblical names Nahal Kidron, Emek Yehoshafat, King’s Valley etc. might refer to certain parts of this valley located in the immediate vicinity of ancient Jerusalem, but not to the entire wadi, and certainly not to the long segment crossing the Judean desert. Similarly, in Arabic, large wadis have many names, each applied to a certain distinct segment of its course.

  1. ^ Palmer, E. H. (1881). The Survey of Western Palestine: Arabic and English Name Lists Collected During the Survey by Lieutenants Conder and Kitchener, R. E. Transliterated and Explained by E.H. Palmer. Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. p. 319. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Maan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Smith, Eli (1841). Biblical researches in Palestine, Mount Sinai and Arabia Petraea: A journal of travels in the year 1838. Drawn up from the original diaries, with historical illustrations, by Edward Robinson, D.D. Vol. II. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. p. 249. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  4. ^ John Kitto, ed. (1846). Kidron. Vol. II: Ibz-Zuz. New York: Mark H. Newman. pp. 202–203. Retrieved 9 December 2019. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b Goffart, Walter. After Rome's Fall. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.
  6. ^ [1] "The Necropolis from the Time of the Kingdom of Judah at Silwan, Jerusalem", David Ussishkin, The Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 33, No. 2 (May, 1970), pp. 33–46
  7. ^ a b Hachlili, Rachel. Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices and Rites in the Second Temple Period. Boston: Brill, Leiden, 2005. Pages 2, 30-36, 237-242.
  8. ^ Goodman, Martin. Jews in a Graeco-Roman World. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  9. ^ Adler, Marcus Nathan. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. London: Oxford University Press, 1907.