CEDRON. - Torrent or valley (Heb. Naḥal Qidhrān, in Greek ὁ γειμαρος τῶν Κεδρῶν; opp. ὁ Κεδρῶν). It rises from Mount Scopus to the northeast of Jerusalem at about 760 m. above sea level and flows to the east of the city, taking between the latter and the Mount of Olives the modern name of Wādi Sitti Marjam ("Ravine of the Madonna Mary"). After joining with the Wādi er-Rabābī (valley of Hinnom, Gehenna) to the southeast of the city, it continues under the name of Wādi en-Nār toward the Dead Sea, carving out a deep bed for itself in the desert.

The C. is rich in historical memories. David, weeping over the rebellion of Absalom, crossed it barefoot and with his head covered as a sign of mourning (II Sam. 15, 23-30). Christ, prefigured by David, crossed it at the beginning of the Passion to go to Gethsemane (Jn. 18, 1). Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, wrongly interpreting a passage of the prophet Joel (4, 2.12) that speaks of the valley of the "Judgment of God," called in Hebrew Jī-hōfāphat, have located this valley to the east of Jerusalem. Here there are many tombs (the Muslim cemetery on the western slope, the Hebrew one on the eastern slope, among which are the so-called tomb of Absalom, of James and of Zechariah.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Legendre, Cédros, in DB, II, coll. 380-86; H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel, Jérusalem, I, Paris 1912, p. 68 ff.; G. Perrella, I Luoghi Santi, Piacenza 1936, pp. 61-68.

Pietro De Ambroge

@incollection{ec3_cedron, author = {De, Ambroggi Pietro}, title = {Cedron}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1247--1248}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/cedron} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

About this entry