Calvary

the place of a skull

or, as it is called in Hebrew, _Golgotha_, “a skull,” or “place of skulls,” supposed to be thus denominated from the similitude it bore to the figure of a skull or man’s head, or from its being a place of burial. It was a small eminence or hill to the north of Mount Sion, and to the west of old Jerusalem, upon which our Lord was crucified. The ancient summit of Calvary has been much altered, by reducing its level in some parts, and raising it in others, in order to bring it within the area of a large and irregular building, called “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” which now occupies its site.