Matt 27:33; Mar 15:22; John 19:17.
Gólgotha (Gr. Golgothá; transliteration of Heb. Gulgôleth; simplified Gulgôtha’, place of the “skull”). Place of the crucifixion of Christ (Mat 27:33; Mr 15:22; Joh 19:17). In Luk 23:33, “Calvary” (BJ; gr. Kraníon) is literally “skull” (derived from lat. Calvaria). Today it is believed that this name was given because of its resemblance to a skull, but the early Church Fathers attributed it to the fact that the skull of Adam (Origins) was buried on that site, or to the many scattered skulls of the criminals who had been executed there (Jerome). From the Gospel account it is clear that it was a prominent place (Mar 15:22; Luk 23:49), located outside the walls of Jerusalem (Joh 19:20; Heb 13:11-13) and near a garden ( John 19:41). The site has not been pinpointed with certainty, although numerous attempts have been made to do so. Many places around the city, and some within it, were once considered to be Golgotha. Eusebius (c 264-c 339 AD), the 1st, a Christian historian who provides some information on the subject, states that the wicked covered the sacred place with earth and erected there the temple of Venus, which was in the forum built by the emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD Constantine demolished this pagan structure and erected a church on the site, which is now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (fig 284). Although it is reasonable to believe that Palestinian Christians did not soon forget the place of their Savior’s suffering, this identification has not generally been accepted. However, excavations carried out by Kenyon near the Holy Sepulcher (1961-1967) show that the site of that Church of the Holy Sepulcher was outside the city at the time of Christ. This evidence has been confirmed by excavations carried out by N. Avigad after 1967. This removes one of the main objections against the identification of the Holy Sepulcher as the site of the crucifixion: that this church is well within the current wall of Jerusalem. . 243. Hill, called Gordon’s Calvary – north of the Damascus Gate – in Jerusalem. Another supposed site of the crucifixion is the rocky hill known as Gordon’s Calvary, about 230 m northeast of the Damascus Gate (fig 243). It has in its favor the skull-like appearance of some rock formations, and that a Roman tomb, the so-called “garden tomb,” is next to it (fig 283). This identification dates from 1849, when it was first awarded to him by Otto Thenius, and received strong support for having been defended by General Charles G. Gordon, famous for his actions in China and in Khartum. Opponents claim that the Turks mined the rocks there until relatively recently, so the current skull-like shape is of recent origin. Therefore, the true site of the crucifixion remains uncertain. Bib.: K. Kenyon, Digging Up Jerusalem (New York, 1974), pp. 226-235.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Aramaic gulgutá, skull or skull, Greek kranion, Latin calvaria.
Place where Christ died crucified. The evangelists say that Jesus was led to the place called G., which means “Calvary”, Mt 27, 33; Mark 15, 22; Lk 23, 33; Jn 19, 17. The exact place of the G. is unknown, it was, yes, on the outskirts of the city, Jn 19, 20; Heb 13, 12; as prescribed by the Law, as it was a place of executions, Lv 24, 23; Nm 15, 35; Dt 17, 5; it was a high place, a hill, for which the evangelist says: “There were also some women watching from afar”, Mt 27, 55; Mk 15, 40. In G. there was a garden and in it a new tomb, which Joseph of Arimathea had excavated in the rock, in which Jesus was buried, Mt 27, 59; Mark 15, 45-46; Jn 19, 41.
There are several traditions about the G. It is said that Adam’s skull was buried there. Regarding the name, which is due to the skulls of the executed unburied found there, which makes no sense within Jewish customs; or because the skull is a symbol of the place where death sentences were carried out and the executed were buried. Another says that the name is due to the fact that the mount of executions was shaped like a skull. Perhaps the G. is near the current Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Goliath, a Philistine giant from the city of Gath, who challenged the Israelites, in the time of King Saul, so that someone would come out of them to confront him, and it was the young David who accepted the challenge, wounded him with his sling, he cut off his head with the same sword as the Philistine giant, in the Terebinth valley, 1 S 17; Si 47, 4. The sword of G. was kept as a trophy behind the divinatory ephod, in the sanctuary of Nob, 1 Sam 21, 10; 22, 10. Already at the time of David’s reign, there was war against the Philistines in Gob, and Elchanan, one of the king’s mighty men, “killed G. de Gath”, it is said in 2 S 21, 19; however, in the parallel text, 1 Cro 20, 5, since David had already killed G., before he was king, it is said that Elhanán killed Lajmí, brother of G.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(gr., Golgotha, from the Aramaic gulgalta, skull). The place of the crucifixion of our Lord. from heb. gulgoleth implying a round, bare, skull-like mound or hill. The Latin name, Calvarius (peeled skull) has been kept in the form Calvario or simply “the Skull” (Luk 23:33). There are two explanations of the name:
(1) It was a place of execution and therefore abounded in skulls;
( 2 ) The spot looked like a skull when viewed from a short distance. Both Matthew (Mat 27:33) and Mark (Mar 15:22) place it outside the city, but close to it (Joh 19:20) on a public road, the type of place generally chosen by the Romans for executions. . Tradition places it within the current city.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(Gr. from aram skull). Hill outside Jerusalem where Christ was crucified (Mat 27:33; Mar 15:22; Luk 23:33; Jua 19:17). Various versions are given as to why it was called that, but there is no reliable evidence of any. It is possible that there was a skull-shaped rock formation on the site. The expression “those who passed by reviled him” (Mat 27:39) suggests that he was by the side of a road where many were traveling. He was outside the city, as Roman and Jewish custom dictated. In the year 336 Constantine the Great built the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where tradition indicated that the G. and the tomb of the Lord Jesus were located. In the year 1885 Charles Gordon, an English general, pointed out another different site, which is also preserved today, but no definitive evidence has been provided to rule out the best-known tradition.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
type, MOUNT
see, CALVARY
vet, (Aram. and Heb.: “skull”). in gr. it is “cranion”. The term “calvary” comes from the Latin “calvaria”, from which the cast is derived. “skull”. (See CALVARY).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Bare mound of virgin stones, in the shape of a skull (Calvary), on the eastern part of the walls of Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified. It was the place of executions.
Until the year 43, when the second wall was built, the place was outside the city (Mc. 15.22; Jn 19.17; Mt. 27.32 Hebr. 13.12)
Later legends were built on it: place of the skull of Adam, according to Origen, or place of the skulls of the executed, according to S. Jerome.
With the wall works of 1943, the destruction of the war of 1966-70, and the later constructions of the Christians, the place was totally altered from the perspective that Christ must have contemplated in his last dying gaze from the cross.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
DJN
A
Gólgotha is the name with which Matthew, Mark and John designate the place of the crucifixion of Jesus (27,33;15,22;19,17). The four evangelists point out the Greek name of the place (“topos kraniou” or “kranion” (Luke): Mt 27,33; Mk 15,22; Lk 23,33; Jn 19,17). The name comes from the Aramaic “gulgolta”, “skull”, “bald”, “head”. The name, according to exegetes, does not refer to the skull of Adam that was supposed to be buried there (Origins), nor because it was a place of execution of the damned (Jerome), but because of the topographical shape of a hill, a skull or a bald head. From the year 333 (pilgrim of Bordeaux) it begins to be called the hill of Gólgotha or Mount Calvary. The evangelists give us enough information about the topography where both Calvary and the tomb are located.
) Calvary: Golgotha outside the city walls, although close to it and on the banks of a well-used road (Mt 27,39-44; Mk 15,29-32; Lk 23,35-38; Jn 19,20; Heb 13,12).
) The tomb: The body of Jesus is placed in a nearby place: “a new tomb” (Mt 27,60; Jn 19,41), “excavated in the rock” (Mt 27,60; Mk 15,46; Lc 23,53), “no one had been buried there” (Lk 23,53; Jn 19,41). John places the sepulcher in an orchard or garden (19,41).
The entire northern part had long been filled with gardens (or more precisely, orchards), even before the construction of the third northern wall by Agrippa 1 (AD 41-44); the orchards remained within the wall. This is what the very name of the gate that formed the starting point of the second wall indicates: Gate of the Gardens (Gennath). Cf. J. JEREMí AS, “Jerusalem in the times of Jesus” (p. 58).
) Identification of Golgotha: The ink does not stop running to identify the place of the crucifixion and the tomb. “The history of the tradition about the location of Golgotha and the place that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher occupies today confirms the data provided by the Gospels, in such a way that the tradition established by Constantine deserves confidence. Supreme certainty cannot be obtained, because it is not possible to determine with certainty the layout of the second northern wall outside of which Golgotha had to be situated” (M. Ví“LKEL, in “Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, col. 776). “Of his situation we only know with certainty that he was in the first northern wall; the rest is passionately disputed by Christian scholars who investigate the ancient topography of Jerusalem. In fact, the location of the Golgotha hill depends in part on the location of the Garden Gate, that is, the starting point of the second northern wall, and, consequently, the authenticity of the location of the current church of the Holy Sepulchre” (J. JEREMí AS, ob. cit., p. 59).
a) The historical: The testimonies of Eusebius of Caesarea and Jerome are the first to locate the two places of death and tomb of Jesus on the eastern slopes of Ghareb, the western hill of the city. These two authors remember the…