“Golgotha” is from the Hebrew “gulgoleth” (skull; it is turned into New Testament Greek as “kranion” (cranium) and in the Latin Vulgate becomes “Calvaria.” The last of these names has found its way into the English Bible and into common use simply through the influence of the Bible of the church of Rome. It should therefore be used specially by those who have strong sympathies with Rome.
Assumption that the name is descriptive led General Gordon to identify the spot, and his conclusion is fairly commonly accepted. Sir Ambrose Fleming (Vict. Inst. 1930) has this: “Part of this cliff (at Jeremiah’s Grotto) when seen from the front has a most remarkable resemblance to a human skull; there are the holes forming the eye sockets, and a broken nose, and a slit which resembles a mouth. When once it has been pointed out, it cannot possibly be overlooked. This skull-formation is certainly not an artificial construction and not of very recent date, and if it has existed for 1900 years there is nothing more likely than that a place showing such a curious characteristic would come to be called “Skull Hill”, or “the place of a skull”, by persons familiar with it … There is an ancient tradition that it was called also “the place of stoning.”
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Author: Harry Whittaker
Keywords: Golgatha, place of the skull, Calvary, Gilgal, Nob, Samson's skull, Samson's head, Jeremiah's Grotto
Bible reference(s): Matt. 27:33, Mark 15:22, Luke 23:33, John 19:17
Source: Studies in the Gospels.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.