According to the Gospels, place where Jesus was crucified near what was then the wall of Jerusalem. To this day the exact location is not known. St. Helena, mother of Constantine, found what is commonly believed to be a chunk of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified circa 326 (a.d., of course).

In Latin Calvary literally means "a skull", which brings us to Golgotha in Hebrew.

Calvary
Edwin Arlington Robinson

Friendless and faint, with martyred steps and slow,
Faint for the flesh, but for the spirit free,
Stung by the mob that came to see the show,
The Master toiled along to Calvary;
We gibed him, as he went, with houndish glee,
Till his dimmed eyes for us did overflow;
We cursed his vengeless hands thrice wretchedly, --
And this was nineteen hundred years ago.

But after nineteen hundred years the shame
Still clings, and we have not made good the loss
That outraged faith has entered in his name.
Ah, when shall come love's courage to be strong!
Tell me, O Lord -- tell me, O Lord, how long
Are we to keep Christ writhing on the cross!

Cal"va*ry (?), n. [L. calvaria a bare skull, fr. calva the scalp without hair. fr. calvus bald; cf. F. calvaire.]

1.

The place where Christ was crucified, on a small hill outside of Jerusalem.

Luke xxiii. 33.

⇒ The Latin calvaria is a translation of the Greek of the Evangelists, which is an interpretation of the Hebrew Golgotha.

Dr. W. Smith.

2.

A representation of the crucifixion, consisting of three crosses with the figures of Christ and the thieves, often as large as life, and sometimes surrounded by figures of other personages who were present at the crucifixion.

3. Her.

A cross, set upon three steps; -- more properly called cross calvary.

 

© Webster 1913.

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