CEDRON. – Torrent or valley (Heb. Naḥal Qidhrān, in Greek ὁ γειμαρος τῶν Κεδρῶν; opp. ὁ Κεδρῶν). It rises on Mount Scopus, northeast of Jerusalem, at about 760 m above sea level, and flows east of the city, taking between it and the Mount of Olives the modern name of Wādi Sitti Marjam (“Valley of the Madonna Maria”). After joining the Wādi er-Rabābī (valley of Ennon, Gehenna) southeast of the city, it continues under the name Wādi en-Nār toward
the Dead Sea, cutting a deep bed through the desert.
The C. is rich in historical memories. David, weeping over the rebellion of Atsalom, crossed it barefoot and with his head covered as a sign of mourning (II Sam. 15, 23-30). Christ, represented by David, crossed it at the beginning of the Passion on his way to Gethsemane (Io. 18, 1). Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, wrongly interpreting a passage of the prophet Gioele (4, 2.12) that speaks of the valley of the “Judgment of God,” called in Hebrew Jī-hōfāphat, located this valley east of Jerusalem. Many tombs are found here (the Muslim cemetery on the western slope, the Jewish cemetery on the eastern slope), including the so-called tomb of Absalom, that of Giacomo, and that of Zaccaria.
Pietro De Ambroge