Where Is Golgotha?
Where Is Golgotha? Golgotha is just outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem in Israel. It is named in the New Testament as the place where Jesus was crucified. Jesus was brought before the Roman governor of the province, Pontius Pilate, and accused of blasphemy. Pilate could find nothing to support the charge and offered to release Jesus. But the Chief priests and elders persuaded the people to demand his death.
Jesus was beaten by the Roman soldiers dressed in a scarlet cloak and crowned with thorns to mock him as “king of the Jews”. Afterwards he was forced to carry his own cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. The name Golgotha, meaning the place of a skull, is derived from the Aramaic language spoken in that part of Palestine. The word Calvary comes from “calvaria”, which is the Latin translation of Golgotha.
No one knows why Golgotha was so called, but a very ancient story says that Adam’s skull was buried there. Since the 6th century it has been referred to as the location of a mountain and as a small hill since 333. The Gospels describe it as a place near enough to the city that those coming in and out could read the inscription ‘Jesus of Nazareth – King of the Jews’.