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olgotha

Smith's Bible Dictionary

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Smith Bible Dictionary
• olgotha
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• Olgotha

Gol'gotha. (skull). The Hebrew name of the spot at which our Lord was crucified. Matthew 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17. By these three evangelists, it is interpreted to mean the "place of a skull". Two explanations of the name are given:

(1) that it was a spot where executions ordinarily took place, and therefore, abounded in skulls; or

(2) it may come from the look or form of the spot itself, bald, round and skull-like, and therefore, a mound or hillock, in accordance with the common phrase - for which there is no direct authority - "Mount Calvary." Whichever of these is the correct explanation, Golgotha seems to have been a known spot.