J. R. B.
The evidence of locality to be gathered from the gospel statements as to the place of the crucifixion and tomb of our Lord is as follows: If the judg ment hall of Pilate was at the northwest angle of the Harem area, where the house of the Turk ish pasha stands, then the soldiers would lead Jesus out in a northwest direction to be crucified.
The combination of statements shows that it lay just outside the city walls. The original place was where criminals were executed, and the modern argument is that' the hill with the openings on the south very strikingly resembles a human skull. The Romans were accustomed to execute their criminals in a conspicuous place. "And when they were come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a skull," there they crucified him. A skull-shaped hill outside the city walls, near .the city, near a rock-hewn sepulcher which was in a garden, and near some frequented road, are the facts furnishing the data of the problem. If the traditional site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher stands is rejected as not answer ing these conditions, another spot, a hill a little northeast of the Damascus gate, becomes most prominent. Skull Hill was originally a part of the Mount Moriah ridge, extending northward from it in a short and narrow spur. It con tained white limestone. Here a quarry was opened, probably as early as the building of Solo mon's temple. An excavation was made right through the hill, separating Skull Hill from the south ridge, leaving a rounded knoll on the north. The hill is now quite bare; not a tree or shrub exists on it. The hillock is rounded on all sides but the south, where the yellow cliff is pierced by two small caves high up on the sides, which look in the distance like the eye sockets of a hu man skull. The hill is certainly outside the most northern wall existing in the days of Herod, or what is known as the second wall. Again ; it is near a frequented road which may have been the present Nablus road from the Damascus gate, or a military road from Castle Antonio to Cxsarea, which Dr. Merrill says ran north of the hill, and infers that the place of the execution would be near it. Edward L. Wilson made a thorough study of the place, and has left his record thus: "A few rods northeast of the Damascus gate the wall rests partly upon the natural rock. Be neath is the old-time quarry known as the "Cot ton Grotto." On the opposite side of the road is "the grotto of Jeremiah." Farther, on the left, is a hill, the face of which, with the horrid semblance of deep-sunken eyes and broken visage, looks like a human skull. Its locality and surrounding fea tures have led modern explorers to accept it as Calvary. It is without the gates. It commands an extensive view of the city, and of the whole way to the summit of Olivet. The populace as sembled on two sides of the city could see an execution on this hill." A garden was near tbe scene of the crucifixion, and a new sepulcher in that garden. In the west ern face of Skull Hill is a large tomb, one also in the northwest, and one a little further off of large proportions. Again, the Jews now residing at Jerusalem affirm that this hill is the place where Christ was crucified, and their tradition may be as valuable as the claim for the long accepted site within the city.
(2) Opinion of Bishop S. M. Merrill. Bishop S. M. Merrill, after making a careful study of the locality on the ground, says: "From reading the Scriptures, and from reasonable con jecture as to what the authorities would or would not do in the matter of public executions, we incline to the belief that the three crosses were planted farther from the heart of the city than is the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and that it must have been outside of the wall, and north from the Damascus gate. Of course, if the topography or physical conditions in that direction were out of harmony with the facts and the phe nomena in the narratives, this would be baseless conjecture. But, instead of being out of har mony, they are exactly in harmony, and in some respects answer to the narratives better than any other locality. Here has ever been a public road;
here are the requisite distance and space; and here the garden, the rock-cut tombs, and the skull shaped hill. On the right hand side of the road, going north from the Damascus gate, there is a ridge or an uneven elevation of ground overlook ing the Damascus road on one side, and the Ked ron valley on the other side; and out on this ridge beyond the grotto of Jeremiah, which is in the west side of this ridge, is a hill, or elevation of ground, which is considerably higher than the ridge; and on the lower ground, between the road and this hill, is the site of an ancient gar den (still used as a garden,) and extending to the base of the hill ; and in the base of the hill itself, facing the garden, are rocks with ancient excavations of tombs, not well preserved. One could not better describe the shape of this hill than by comparing it to a human skull sitting on a level space. NVhether it was ever designated as the "place of a skull" or not is now unknown; and the same is true of every other spot which has been supposed to be the Calvary. We have a "Mourn: Calvary" in our hymns and songs, but, of course, there has never been any such moun tain, unless this little skull-shaped hill out near the Damascus road was such. The preponder ance of testimony, it seems to me, favors this lo cality as the place of the crucifixion—not that the crosses stood on the top of this hill, but near by on the lotv ground, between the hill and the road, and outside of the garden. If this is cor rect', then the burial place was in some of the un known excavations along the side of this hill or ridge." But however strong the arguments for the site outside the north wall, there still remains the old. old claim that reaches back to tbe days of Con stantine, when it tvas said: "Not the least doubt was entertained where the sepulcher was situ ated." And this historical argument in its favor has not as yet been set aside. Modern opinions are about equally divided. Strong efforts have been made of late to determine what the early fa thers said about the site of Calvary, but they are generally silent. If the old theory is continued, then a new and undeveloped plan of the wall must be presented in a light that will harmonize with the facts of scripture, which the old site does not, and never has in view of any known location of the walls of Jerusalem. (The Story of Jesus. by Rev. John O. Foster, A. M. 1804.) (3) Opinion of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Chas. Warren.
Gen. C. Warren in IIastings' Bib. Diet. sums up the case as follows: "There are many argu ments in favor of the traditional site of Golgotha, but, until it can be ascertained whether it is within or without the city wall of the time of Christ, the whole question must still remain in doubt. The road from the tower of Antonia lead ing into the old road from the city to Jaffa would probably have passed close to the site, and on this road, outside the Jaffa gate, public executions have taken place in quite recent years, up to )868. There are rock-cut tombs in the immediate neigh borhood, including that of the Holy Sepulcher.
"During recent years several sites to the north of the city have been suggested as the site of Golgotha, in order, apparently, to comply with the view that the place of execution should be situated on the north side of the city (Lev. i :to, It) ; but. though this may have been necessary for the Jewish place of stoning, there is nothing to indicate that the place of crucifixion during the Roman occupation was located according to Jewish ritual, or that it was identical with the place of stoning.
"A knoll above 'Jeremiah's grotto' has been suggested by Otto Thenius in 1849 (followed by General Gordon, Colonel Conder, and others) as the genuine Calvary', on the ground principally that It is the place of stoning according to mod ern Jewish tradition."