Golgotha (Martyrdom)

The place

The golgotha or martyrdom is a Colline outside Jerusalem on which the Roman S crucifiaient condemned. Golgotha is the Greek form for the word Araméen " gulgota " meaning Cranium. Its name surely comes from the presence of Ossement S and craniums. It may be also that the top of the hill had the shape of a cranium. One gives him other names such as Calvaire in Latin or Kraniou Topos Τοπος) in Greek.

Archaeological excavations

According to the excavations carried out in the Basilica of the the Holy Sepulchre by the Franciscain Virgilio Corbo in the years 1960, of the traces of sizes of stone and culture were put at the day. They clearly showed a use of the Mount of the Golgotha before its mention in the New Testament. Out of the city, the place was used as career of stone " malaki" as of the VIII E. Thereafter, with I er, the cavities were covered with ground and the fur place transformed into garden. It is the garden of Golgotha about which the Gospels speak. In addition, of the traces of cultures were found in the cave of the Invention of the Cross. In same time, a whole network of sepulchral caves was built in the west of the career. The tombs were dug in high vertical rock faces; among these last one finds called according to the use the " fall from Joseph d' Arimathie".

Let us note that to 35 m of the sepulchre, a large Monolithe Calcaire (the v. diagram n°2, A) had been insulated in the middle of the careers. Current dimensions of the block are impressive: its total height makes on average 11 m, including 4,50 m sontau-top of the ground of the church (the v. diagram n°2, B). From irregular form, its diameter varies between 5 and 7m. At the time of Christ, it was partly covered by the remains with the careers as well as the ground brought naturally by the erosive activity: Only its round upper part was visible then. Its top with the strange shape of a “cranium” and is at the level of the ground of the current vault of Golgotha (V. Diagram n°2, C). A study of the block Calcaire made it possible to make research on the cave which it contains and whose opening is at the level of the ground of the church (V. Diagram n°2, D). It is a relatively large natural cavity whose walls are irregular and very rough. A natural anfractuosity divides the block of the top to the vault of the cave.

Golgotha in the Gospels

The martyrdom is evoked in all the Gospels of New Testament:

Matthieu (27: 33): Arrivés at the place named Golgotha, which means place of the cranium .
Marc (15: 22): And they led Jesus to the place named Golgotha, which means place of the cranium .
Luc (23: 33) When they had arrived at the place called cranium, they it crucifièrent there.
Jean (19: 17) They thus took Jesus; he left carrying his cross and came to the place known as of cranium, which is said in Hebrew Golgotha .

The new will describes the martyrdom like a place close to Jerusalem (Jean 19:20), outside the ramparts (Hebrew 13:12) in accordance with the Jewish tradition. It is the place where Jesus was crucifié but also where it would have been buried after his execution. Currently (2006), the church is in the town of Jerusalem, but the the Holy Sepulchre was probably still outside at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus.
The historians are overall of agreement to admit that the church is well the place of the tomb of Christ. Archaeological research seems to show that fall it from Jesus had been dug in a excentré rock solid mass compared to the career. The owner, Joseph d' Arimathie had started to prepare a family burial at this place. This new tomb consisted of a low and narrow entry, closed by a large stone. With the end, a driving hall with the funerary room was. Only one bench had been cut in the rock at the Northern side on the right of the entry but it is extremely possible that Joseph d' Arimathie had imagined to carry out two other benches on the west coasts and South to supplement family sécpulture. The crucifixon of Jesus probably had upset his projects and it made this tomb, its place of burial. At present, she is venerated and recognized by the Christians as being the place where its body rested and ressuscita. Today, E tomb is locked up in a marble building.

It is on Golgotha that the Roman Emperor Constantin Large the built the church of the the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus with approximately of 326 - 335. It is also the place where the tomb of Jesus and the true cross would have been discovered by Helene in 326, the mother of Constantin. It is the principal holy place of the Christianisme and one of the principal sanctuaries of Holy Land.

In 1885, Charles Gordon suggested another place for the Martyrdom, the Jardin of the Tomb, located at the north of Holy Sepulchre in the surroundings of the Door of Damas and dating from the period of the Byzantine Empire. That would correspond to the description of Jean (19: 41): " However there was a garden with the place where it had been crucifié, and in this garden a tomb neuf" . In the garden, one can find a rock escarpé which contains two large cavities which they resemble curiously in eyes of death's-head.

Religious representations and traditions

Frequently paintings representing the crucifixion of Jesus carry the title of martyrdom. It is also allotted to certain religious buildings in top of natural headlands or on artificial hills built by believers. The term is also used for certain cemeteries, especially those pertaining to the religion Catholique. It is also employed to define an excessively painful task, practically insurmountable, in reference to the rise of the Christ on Golgotha, the days of its Crucifixion.

Religious history

The religious tradition considers that it is the place where Adam was born, where he sinned and where its body was hidden. Melchisédech, king de Jérusalem at the time of Abraham, would have deposited cranium of Adam in the martyrdom. The descendants of Noah would have bequeathed this invaluable relic to him.

Golgotha, or martyrdom, represents the place of crucifixion of Jesus and both Larrons. Some advance that at the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus, one would have discovered cranium of Adam, buried in this same place. A Christian tradition thinks that the sacrifice of Christ, by the spirit, the real presence of the bones contained in a cave, and the contact of the streaming blood of Crucifié, would have forgiven the original sin for which Adam was responsible, carrying out of this fact the safety of humanity.

The mystic Catherine Emmerich would have had visions of Golgotha.

Anecdote

The religious art (paintings, sculptures etc) often represent craniums in order to point out this history. One often finds under the Crucifix and the cross a death's-head.

See too

Crucifixion
Sacri Monti

External bonds

the site of the Mounts Crowned, Martyrdoms and Complex dévotionnels European

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