During his lifetime, Absalom built a monument to himself in the King's Valley, for he said, "I have no son to carry on my name".He named the monument after himself, and it is known as Absalom's Monument to this day. Thus the Bible in Samuel 2 (18: 18) describes one of the episodes in the tempestuous life of King David’s rebellious son, Absalom. Traditionally, the King’s Valley is thought to be the Kidron Valley, which runs alongside the City of David, between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives.
The structure that has long been identified with Absalom’s monument is an ancient rock-cut tomb with a conical roof, which is indeed located in the Kidron Valley. Modern scholarship, however, has dated the structure to the first century CE, proposing that it is in fact the nefesh, or monument, of a neighboring burial cave. Apparently, during the Second-Temple period it was de rigueur for wealthy Jerusalemites to build massive monuments alongside their tombs.
Still, even if it turns out that it isn’t the original Absalom’s Pillar, the structure – like the nearby Zechariah’s Tomb – stands as an important Jerusalem landmark and a prime example of Greek-inspired architecture in the Holy Land.
