Calvary

Traditional site of Golgotha in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Calvary (Latin: Calvariae or Calvariae locus) or Golgotha (Biblical Greek: Γολγοθᾶ, romanized: Golgothâ) was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified.[1]

Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. The exact location of Calvary has been traditionally associated with a place now enclosed within one of the southern chapels of the multidenominational Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a site said to have been recognized by the Roman empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, during her visit to the Holy Land in 325.

Other locations have been suggested: in the 19th century, Protestant scholars proposed a different location near the Garden Tomb on Green Hill (now "Skull Hill") about 500 m (1,600 ft) north of the traditional site and historian Joan Taylor has more recently proposed a location about 175 m (574 ft) to its south-southeast.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Calvary" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.