shaveh, valley of Summary and Overview

valley of the plain the ancient name of the "king's dale" (q.v.), or Kidron, on the north side of Jerusalem (Gen. 14:17).

"The king's dale," where Melchizedek and the king of Sodom met Abraham (Genesis 14:17). There Absalom reared for himself a pillar, to keep his name in remembrance; "Absalom's place" (2 Samuel 18:18). (See ABSALOM.) The pyramidal monument, the northern one of the group of monuments W. of Olivet, is hardly "the pillar of Absalom," for "the king's dale" was an 'emeq, i.e. "broad open valley", not a deep ravine as that of Kedron. Josephus says it was a column and of marble (Ant. 7:10, section 3), and erected, whereas the oldest and lowest part of the pyramidal monument is not "erected" but cut out, and this of the limestone of the hill. Its Ionic capitals and frieze ornamentation betray Roman or Grecian art. Josephus' account however that it was "two stadia from Jerusalem agrees with the nearness of Shaveh valley to Salem or Jerusalem.