ABSALON, ABSOLON1, David's favorite son, was the most beautiful man in Israel. He was noted for his extraordinary hair, which was cut and weighed once a year. Achitophel encouraged him to rebel against David and gave him a plan for the rebellion. When Achitophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he set his house in order and hanged himself. Joab halted the insurrection, and as Absalom fled on his mule, his hair caught in the branches of an oak. Here Joab's men found him and slew him. David wept and mourned for him, lamenting, "Oh Absalom! My son, my son!" (II Kings 14-18).
The Parson, in his homily on anger, mentions wicked counsel that leads to treachery; Chaucer adds a gloss, "ut Achitofel ab Absolonem," ParsT 638-640. Absolon, with his blond hair, must make way for Alceste, LGW F 249, LGW G 203. By the twelfth century blond hair was an attribute of beauty; in Peter Riga's Aurora, Liber Secundus Regum (The Second Book of Kings), 41-50, Absolon has blond hair. The God of Love refers to the first lines of the balade, LGW F 539. [Achitofel: David: Joab]
Absalon/Absolon are Latin forms. Absalon appears in LGW G 203; Absolon in LGW F 249.