- "Golgotha" redirects here. For other uses, see Golgotha (disambiguation). For other uses of the term "Calvary" and "Mount Calvary," see Calvary (disambiguation) and Mount Calvary (disambiguation).
Calvary or Golgotha are the English language/Western Christian names given to the site, outside of ancient Jerusalem’s early 1st century walls, ascribed to Jesus's crucifixion. Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) The exact location is handed down from antiquity. Although the significance of the name is lost to modernity, Calvariae Locus in Latin, Κρανιου Τοπος (Kraniou Topos) in Greek, and Gûlgaltâ in Aramaic all denote "place of [the] skull". Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Most scholars believe that historical '''Jesus''' primarily spoke Aramaic, with some Hebrew and Greek, although there Aramaic is a Semitic language with In some Christian and Jewish traditions, the name refers to the location of the skull of Adam. Adam (אָדָם ʼĀḏām, "dust man mankind" آدم; Ge'ez: አዳ and Eve (חַוָּה Ḥawwā, "living [1] The word "Calvary" comes from Calvaria in the Latin Vulgate[2]. The Vulgate is an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin, and largely the result of the labours of Jerome, who was commissioned by
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Calvary/Golgotha in the Bible
Although usage since the sixth century has been to designate Calvary as a mountain,[1] the Gospels call it merely a "place. " The word "calvary" is only found in the King James Version of the English Bible in Luke 23:33. The word "calvary" is not from the original Greek versions, but is a gloss from the Latin Vulgate. The original Greek versions instead use "golgotha". The location called "skull" is mentioned in all four of the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion in the Christian canonical Gospels:
- Matthew 27:33
- And when they came to a place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull), (RSV)
- Mark 15:22
- And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull). The crucifixion of Jesus is an event recorded in all four Gospels (;;) which takes place after his arrest and trial and includes his scourging Canonical is an Adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the Greek word kanon, "rule" (perhaps originally from This article is about the canonical books of the New Testament The Gospel of Matthew (Gk Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον is one of the four Canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a Synoptic gospel The Revised Standard Version (RSV is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin (RSV)
- Luke 23:33
- And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. The Gospel of Luke (Gk Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον) is a synoptic Gospel, and is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the (RSV)
- John 19:17
- So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha. The Gospel of John (literally According to John; Greek, Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Kata Iōannēn) is the fourth Gospel in the canon (RSV)
The location of Calvary
Roman emperor Constantine the Great built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on what was thought to be the sepulchre of Jesus in 326–335 AD, near Calvary. Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February ca. 272 &ndash 22 May 337 commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or Saint Constantine The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Sanctum Sepulchrum also called the Church of the Resurrection, ( Greek: Ναός της Αναστάσεως Naos tis Anastaseos According to Christian legend, the Tomb of Jesus and the True Cross were discovered at that site by the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine, in 325. The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which by a Christian tradition are believed to be from the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified Saint Helena (Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta also known as Saint Helen, Helena Augusta or Helena of Constantinople (c
Regarding the location of the church, there has been some question of the legitimacy of its claims as it appears to sit within Jerusalem's Old City Walls. The Old City (העיר העתיקה HaIr HaAtika, البلدة القديمة al-Balda al-Qadimah) is a 0 However, although the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is now within Jerusalem's Old City Walls, it was beyond them at the time in question. The Jerusalem city walls were expanded by Herod Agrippa in 41–44 and only then enclosed the site of the future Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For other with this name see Agrippa (disambiguation. Agrippa I also called the Great (10 BC - 44 AD) King of the Jews, Professor Sir Henry Chadwick (Dean Emeritus of Christ Church Oxford University) comments: "Hadrian's builders replanned the old city, incidentally confirming the bringing of Golgotha inside a new town wall" (a fact implicit in a Good Friday sermon 'On the Pascha' by Melito bishop of Sardis about thirty years later). Not to be confused with Christchurch, a city in New Zealand. Christ Church (Ædes Christi the temple or house of Christ and thus sometimes known as Good Friday, also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday preceding Easter Sunday ("Pascha" Sardis, also Sardes ( Lydian: Sfard, Greek: Σάρδεις, Persian: Sparda) modern Sart in On this site, already venerated by Christians, Hadrian erected a shrine to Aphrodite [3]. Publius Aelius Hadrianus (January 24 76 &ndash July 10 138 as emperor Imperator Caesar Divi Traiani filius Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, and Divus Hadrianus after
Inside the church is a rock, about 7 m long by 3 m wide by 4. 8 m high,[4] that is believed to be what now remains visible of Calvary. During 1973–1978 restoration works and excavations inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it was found that this place was originally a quarry from which white Meleke limestone was struck. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 [4] Observation suggests that from the city the little hill (which still exists) could have looked like a skull. [5] In 1986, a ring was found of 11. 5 cm diameter, struck into the stone, which could have held a wood trunk of up to 2. 5 m height. [6]
The church is accepted as the Tomb of Jesus by prominent historians and the little rock currently inside the present church as the location of Calvary. In 333, the Pilgrim of Bordeaux wrote, "On the left hand is the 'little' hill of Golgotha where the Lord was crucified (Latin original: … est monticulus golgotha, ubi dominus crucifixus est. The Itinerarium Burdigalense (also known as the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum) is the oldest known Itinerarium, written by an anonymous pilgrim from Burdigala (present-day ), pages 593, 594). About a stone's throw from thence is a vault (crypta) wherein his body was laid, and rose again on the third day. There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that is to say, a church of wondrous beauty. " Eyewitness Cyril of Jerusalem, a distinguished theologian of the early Church, speaks of Golgotha in eight separate passages, sometimes as near to the church in which he and his listeners were assembled:[7] "Golgotha, the holy hill standing above us here, bears witness to our sight: the Holy Sepulchre bears witness, and the stone which lies there to this day. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων was a distinguished theologian of the early Church (ca " [8] And just in such a way the pilgrim Egeria often reported in 383: "… the church, built by Constantine, which is situated in Golgotha …"[9], and also bishop Eucherius of Lyon wrote to the island presbyter Faustus in 440: "Golgotha is in the middle between the Anastasis and the Martyrium, the place of the Lord's passion, in which still appears that rock which once endured the very cross on which the Lord was. In early Christian history, Egeria, also known as Aetheria, is the name of a Spanish or Gallic woman who made a Pilgrimage to Saint Eucherius, Bishop of Lyon, (born say 380 &ndash died ca 449 was a high-born and high-ranking ecclesiastic in the Christian Church of Gaul. "[10] (See also: Eusebius (338) and Breviarius de Hierosolyma (530)). Professor Dan Bahat, one of Israel's leading archaeologists, the former City Archaeologist of Jerusalem and a senior lecturer at the Land of Israel Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, comments, "We may not be absolutely certain that the site of the Holy Sepulchre Church is the site of Jesus' burial, but we have no other site that can lay a claim nearly as weighty, and we really have no reason to reject the authenticity of the site" (Bahat, 1986). In 2007, he stated, "Six graves from the first century were found on the area of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That means, this place laid here outside of the city, without any doubt, and is the possible place for the tomb of Jesus. " [11]
Disputed Claims of Charles Gordon
After time spent in Palestine in 1882–83, Charles George Gordon suggested Calvary might have been in a different location. Major-General, CB ( 28 January 1833 &ndash 26 January 1885) known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha It was not then known that the location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was actually outside of the city walls at the time of the crucifixion. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Sanctum Sepulchrum also called the Church of the Resurrection, ( Greek: Ναός της Αναστάσεως Naos tis Anastaseos Crucifixion (from Latin crucifixio, noun of process crucifixio, from perfect passive participle crucifixus, fixed to a cross from The Garden Tomb is to the north of the Holy Sepulchre, located outside of the modern Damascus Gate, in a place that was used for burial at least as early as the Byzantine period. The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem is considered by some to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The Damascus Gate (also known as Shechem Gate or Nablus Gate) (or in Arabic باب العامود; Bab-al-Amud, meaning Gate of the Column The Garden has an earthen cliff that contains two large sunken holes that people say are the eyes of the skull to which "Golgotha" refers.
Other uses of the name
- The name Calvary often refers to sculptures or pictures representing the scene of the crucifixion of Jesus, or a small wayside shrine incorporating such a picture. Crucifixion (from Latin crucifixio, noun of process crucifixio, from perfect passive participle crucifixus, fixed to a cross from A shrine, from the Latin scrinium (‘box’ also used as a desk like the French bureau) was originally a container usually made of precious materials used It also can be used to describe larger, more monument-like constructions, essentially artificial hills often built by devotees.
- Churches in various Christian denominations have been named Calvary. The name is also sometimes given to cemeteries, especially those associated with the Roman Catholic Church.
- Two Catholic religious orders have been dedicated to Mount Calvary. Several places worldwide have been named after it; including the town Kalvarija in Lithuania and towns Góra Kalwaria and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska in Poland. Kalvarija may refer to Kalvarija Lithuania, a city Kalvarija Hill, a hill in Maribor Slovenia Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublika is a Country in Eastern often referred to as Northern Europe or in the Góra Kalwaria is a town on the Vistula River in the Mazovian Voivodship, Poland, about 25 km southeast of Warsaw. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska is a town in southern Poland with 4400 inhabitants (as of 1998
- In the 18th and early 19th centuries at Oxford and Cambridge universities the rooms of the heads of colleges and halls were nicknamed golgotha. The University of Oxford (informally "Oxford University" or simply "Oxford" located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England is the The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the Apart from the obvious pun on the place of skulls (i. e. heads), this was also due to the punishments that students received in these rooms. [12]
- In Simon R. Green's "Deathstalker" saga, the central planet of the Empire is called Golgotha, and later, Logres. Simon Green may refer to Simon R Green, a British Science-fiction and fantasy-author Simon F The Deathstalker series of Science fiction novels by British author Simon R
- The influential Louisiana sludge metal band Acid Bath's previous incarnation was known as Golgotha, and Acid Bath's first release was a demo entitled Golgotha. The State of Louisiana ( or, État de Louisiane, pronounced) is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America Sludge metal (or sludgecore) is a form of Heavy metal music that fuses Doom metal and Hardcore punk. Acid Bath was an American Sludge metal band from Houma, Louisiana that was active from 1991 to 1997
- In the first book of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series, the Gunslinger, the main character, Roland and the Man in Black, meet in a place they call Golgotha where the Man in Black turns to bones. Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American Author, Screenwriter, Musician, Columnist, The Gunslinger is a novel by American author Stephen King, and is the first volume in the Dark Tower series which King considers to be
- In the gospel song "Complete" by Parachute Band. "Then I'll see beyond my calvary one day, and I will be complete in you. "
Notes
- ^ a b (1908) "Mount Calvary", {{{title}}} Vol. III. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Luke 23:33. Latin Vulgate.
- ^ Chadwick, H. (2003). The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 21. ISBN 0-199-26577-1.
- ^ a b Hesemann, Michael (1999). Die Jesus-Tafel. Freiburg, p. 170. ISBN 3-451-27092-7. (German)
- ^ {{Hesemann 1999, p. 170: "Von der Stadt aus muß er tatsächlich wie eine Schädelkuppe ausgesehen haben," and page 190: a sketch; and page 172: a sketch of the geological findings by C. Katsimbinis, 1976: "der Felsblock ist zu 1/8 unterhalb des Kirchenbodens, verbreitert sich dort auf etwa 6,40 Meter und verläuft weiter in die Tiefe"; and page 192, a sketch by Corbo, 1980: Golgotha is distant 10 meters outside from the southwest corner of the Martyrion-basilica
- ^ Hesemann 1999, p. 172
- ^ St. Cyril of Jerusalem, page 51, note 313
- ^ Cyril, Catechetical Lectures, year 347, lecture X, page 160, note 1221
- ^ Iteneraria Egeriae
- ^ Letter To The Presbyter Faustus, by Eucherius. "What is reported, about the site of the city Jerusalem and also of Judaea"; Epistola Ad Faustum Presbyterum. "Eucherii, Quae fertur, de situ Hierusolimitanae urbis atque ipsius Iudaeae. " Corpus Scriptorum Eccles. Latinorum XXXIX Itinera Hierosolymitana, Saeculi IIII–VIII, P. Geyer, 1898
- ^ Dan Bahat in German television ZDF, April 11, 2007
- ^ Amherst, N. , 1754, Terræ filius: or the secret history of the university of Oxford 1721–22
External links
- Golgotha (Calvary) Hill-Photo: white stones, here visible right and left in the underground
- The Hill of Calvary (Golgotha) shown in its original state
- Location of Golgotha
- How Golgotha looks in the art and reality — FotoTagger Galleries
Dictionary
calvary
-noun
- A life-size representation of the Crucifixion on a piece of raised ground
- A series of representations of Christ’s Passion in a church
Calvary
-proper noun
- The hill outside Jerusalem which is traditionally held to be the location of the crucifixion of Jesus.
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