Jerusalem - Hinnom Valley

To the south of the Pool of Siloam extends the Hinnom valley. It is reached by returning from the Pool of Siloam to the road, continuing for another 200m/220yds and then taking a side road on the right. In Canaanite times this valley was dedicated to the worship of Baal and Moloch, in which children "passed through the fire" (that is, were offered as burnt sacrifices to the god). This cruel cult, of which there is evidence throughout Phoenician territory, extending westward to Carthage, is the subject of a series of prohibitions in the books of Moses. In spite of this the cult of Moloch was practiced in Israelite times: Manasseh, Hezekiah's son and successor, not only set up altars to Baal and Astarte but also "made his son pass through the fire" (2 Kings 21,6). The place where this occurred later came to be seen as the very essence of evil, and the name of Hinnom is derived from the Arabic word for hell, Gehenna. The hill to the northwest became known in Crusader times as the "Mount of Evil Counsel", since this was believed to have been the meeting-place of the council held by the high priest Caiaphas at which it was resolved that Christ should be put to death (John 11,47-53). Here too, near the Monastery of St Onuphrius, is the Field of Blood (Aceldama), bought with the thirty pieces of silver which the repentant Judas cast down in the Temple (Matthew 27,6-8).