Golgotha

All four Gospels name the place where Jesus was crucified, though not all in the same way. Matthew, Mark and John call it Golgotha, “a place of a skull,” and John adds that this is how the Hebrew word reads. Luke gives the name Calvary instead. John says Jesus went there “bearing his cross,” and Luke notes that two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. The Gospels do not describe the hill itself, only what happened on it. Christians have taught about the meaning of that day in different ways. Start with John 19:16-30.

4 verses

Matthew

Matthew 27:33

And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,

Mark

Mark 15:22

And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.

Luke

Luke 23:33

And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

John

John 19:17

And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

The common name of the spot where Jesus was crucified. It is interpreted by the evangelists as meaning “the place of a skull” (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17). This name represents in Greek letters the Aramaic word Gulgaltha, which is the Hebrew Gulgoleth (Num. 1:2; 1 Chr. 23:3, 24; 2 Kings 9:35), meaning “a skull.” It is identical with the word Calvary (q.v.). It was a little knoll rounded like a bare skull. It is obvious from the evangelists that it was some well-known spot outside the gate (comp. Heb. 13:12), and near the city (Luke 23:26), containing a “garden” (John 19:41), and on a thoroughfare leading into the country. Hence it is an untenable idea that it is embraced within the present “Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” The hillock above Jeremiah’s Grotto, to the north of the city, is in all probability the true site of Calvary. The skull-like appearance of the rock in the southern precipice of the hillock is very remarkable.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(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.

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Easton's Bible Dictionary and Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.