Crucifixion of Jesus

===Location===
[[File:Golgotha cross-section.svg|thumb|300px|A diagram of the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] and the historical site]]
The precise location of the crucifixion remains a matter of conjecture, but the biblical accounts indicate that it was outside the city walls of Jerusalem,<ref>{{bibleverse|Jn.|19:20}}, {{bibleverse|Heb.|13:12}}</ref> accessible to passers-by<ref>{{bibleverse|Mt.|27:39}}, {{bibleverse|Mk.|15:21,29–30}}</ref> and observable from some distance away.<ref>{{bibleverse|Mk.|15:40}}</ref> [[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]] identified its location only as being north of [[Mount Zion]],<ref>{{cite book |title=Onomasticon (Concerning the Place Names in Sacred Scripture) |author=Eusebius of Caesarea |author-link=Eusebius of Caesarea |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_onomasticon_02_trans.htm#G_THE_GOSPELS |access-date=April 10, 2008 |archive-date=July 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717203828/http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_onomasticon_02_trans.htm#G_THE_GOSPELS |url-status=live }}</ref> which is consistent with the two most popularly suggested sites of modern times.

[[Calvary]] as an English name for the place is derived from the Latin word for skull ({{lang|la|calvaria}}), which is used in the [[Vulgate]] translation of "place of a skull", the explanation given in all four Gospels of the Aramaic word ''Gûlgaltâ'' (transliterated into the [[Greek language|Greek]] as {{lang|el|Γολγοθᾶ}} (Golgotha)), which was the name of the place where Jesus was crucified.<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|27:33}}; {{bibleverse||Mark|15:22}}; {{bibleverse||Luke|23:33}}; {{bibleverse||John|19:17}}</ref> The text does not indicate why it was so designated, but several theories have been put forward. One is that as a place of public execution, Calvary may have been strewn with the skulls of abandoned victims (which would be contrary to Jewish burial traditions, but not Roman). Another is that Calvary is named after a nearby cemetery (which is consistent with both of the proposed modern sites). A third is that the name was derived from the physical contour, which would be more consistent with the singular use of the word, i.e., the place of "a skull". While often referred to as "Mount Calvary", it was more likely a small hill or rocky knoll.<ref>{{cite web |title=Letter to the Presbyter Faustus |author=Eucherius of Lyon |author-link=Eucherius of Lyon |url=http://homepages.luc.edu/~avande1/jerusalem/sources/eucherius.htm |quote=The three more frequented exit gates are one on the west, another on the east, and a third on the north. As you enter the city from the northern side, the first of the holy places due to the condition of the directions of the streets is to the church which is called the Martyrium, which was by Constantine with great reverence not long ago built up. Next, to the west one visits the connecting places Golgotha and the Anastasis; indeed the Anastasis is in the place of the resurrection, and 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. These are separated places outside of Mount Sion, where the failing rise of the place extended itself to the north. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613200112/http://homepages.luc.edu/~avande1/jerusalem/sources/eucherius.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2008 }}</ref>

The traditional site, inside what is now occupied by the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre|Church of the Holy Sepulcher]] in the [[Christian Quarter]] of the [[Old City (Jerusalem)|Old City]], has been attested since the 4th century. A second site (commonly referred to as Gordon's Calvary<ref>{{cite web|title=General Charles Gordon's Letters Discussing His Discovery of "Cavalry" in Jerusalem|url=https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/calvary-crucifixion-sites-identified/|work=SMF Primary Source Documents|publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation}}</ref>), located further north of the Old City near a place popularly called the [[Garden Tomb]], has been promoted since the 19th century.