Golgotha

Golgotha is the named place of the crucifixion. Mark and John each give the name with its translation, and each pairs the foreign-language place-name with the same English gloss: "The place of a skull."

The Place of a Skull

In Mark the arrival is recorded plainly: "And they bring him to the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull" (Mk 15:22). The verse holds the foreign place-name alongside its translation in a single clause — the name is given, and the meaning is given immediately so the reader cannot miss it.

John records the same arrival from the inverse angle, leading with the English gloss and ending with the foreign name: "and he went out, bearing the cross for himself, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha" (Jn 19:17). The verse adds the detail that Jesus carries the cross himself, and identifies the source-language as Hebrew. Between Mark and John, then, Golgotha is fixed as the place where Jesus is brought, where he carries his cross, and which both evangelists pause to name in two languages.