ABSALOM’S MONUMENT

A pillar erected by Absalom in the “Low Plain of the King,” also called the “Low Plain of Shaveh,” near Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 18:18; Gen. 14:17) The monument was erected by him due to his having no sons to keep his name alive after his death. It thus appears that his three sons mentioned at 2 Samuel 14:27 had died when young. Absalom was not buried at the place of his monument but was left in a hollow in the forest of Ephraim.—2 Sam.18:6, 17.

There is a pillar cut out of the rock in the valley of Kidron that has been called the “Tomb of Absalom,” but its architecture indicates it is from the Graeco-Roman period, perhaps of the time of Herod. So there is no basis for associating the name of Absalom with it.