ABSTRACT
Jesus was crucified outside the walls, but close enough to the city to provide a public spectacle. All four evangelists name the site the ‘Place of a Skull’, and all save Luke give its Aramaic name ‘Golgotha’. Although the name is sometimes explained in reference to the shape of the hill on which Jesus died, none of the gospels refers to a hill. A later tradition links the name with Adam’s skull, which was said to be buried there; in one version of the legend, Christ’s blood trickled down to the skull and so redeemed Adam and the whole race.2
