Tomb of Absalom - a monument, carved in the rock - stands on the eastern side of the Kidron Valley at the foot of the Mount of Olives. This area is a huge cemetery with thousands of graves, including the tomb of Absalom covered with legends - the largest and most famous.

The title refers to the tragic history of the relations of the Old Testament King David and his son Absalom .  The second book of Kings says, "There were in all Israel as beautiful as Absalom, and as hvalimogo him; from the soles of the feet to the top of his head there was no blemish in him .  When he polled his head - and he polled it every year, because it was heavy on him - the hair of his head weighed two hundred shekels after the king's weight "(2 Samuel 14: 25-26) .  This spectacular and beloved people man killed his brother (though dishonored their sister) and decided to take away the throne from his father .  On the day of the great battle that engulfed the country, sitting astride a mule Absalom was under the big oak tree and its luxurious hair entangled in its branches .  Mule fled and a rebel was killed the king's commander Joab and his squires .  Fatherly love overcame the bitterness of filial betrayal, despair David mourned his child: "My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! oh that I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! "(2 Samuel 18:33) .

According to legend, the tomb in the Valley of Kidron - a monument that Absalom, as stated in the Bible, raised himself during his lifetime. In Jerusalem, it is called "Yad Avshalom" - "Memory Absalom." For centuries it was believed that the rebellious son of King David, first entombed there, where he died, was later reburied here, so pious Jews threw stones tomb - a sign of disgust for the man who rebelled against his own father. However, recent archaeological studies have shown that the tomb was built in the I century, which means that Absalom, who lived a thousand years before, had to do with it. Besides the graffiti say that here is buried or the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, Simeon, or holy man (presumably the same one wrote about Luke the Evangelist - old man confessed to the Child Jesus the Messiah).

Inspect the tomb is: powerful and elegant at the same time the construction is impressive. Monument to a height of about 20 meters is carved into the rock and decorated with Doric frieze and Ionic columns. The tomb has a square base, and the top - round drum with a cone, topped with a stone lotus flower. Locals Arabs call this cone hat pharaoh. It involves another legend: they say, hollow lotus flower once stuck a stone hand that smashed a shot out of a cannon on the orders of Napoleon - he learned that Absalom was buried here, and ordered to destroy the hand and lifted his father. This beautiful bike is not worth believing: Napoleon did not make it to Jerusalem.