Aramaic, Gulgaltha , Hebrew Gulgoleth . (See CALVARY, Latin) Greek (Luke 23:33) Cranion , "a skull"; "Calvary" is from Vulgate The "place" of our Lord's crucifixion and burial, not called in the Gospels a mount, as it is now commonly. "In the place where He was crucified was a garden, and in the garden a new sepulchre, ... hewn in stone wherein never man before was laid" (Luke 23:53; John 19:41).
The stone or rock perhaps suggested the notion of a hill. Moreover, the derivation of Golgotha (not "a place of skulls," but "of a skull," Matthew 27:33) implies a bald, round, skull-like mound or hillock, not a mount literally, but spiritually entitled to the name as being that sacred elevation to which our lifted up Lord would draw all hearts (John 12:32).
"Without the gate" (Hebrews 13:12); "nigh to the city" (John 19:20); near a thoroughfare where "they that passed by reviled Him" (Matthew 27:39), and where "Simon a Cyrenian who passed by, coming out of the country," was compelled to bear His cross (Mark 15:21). Ellicott thinks the arguments in favor of its proximity to the present traditional site preponderate; the nearness of the assumed site to that of Herod's palace is important. (But (See JERUSALEM,) The explorations of Capt. Warren favor a site N. of Jerusalem.