HAUPT— GOLGOTHA. 241 



it was used as a place of public execution in the Roman period , 

 cf. the blood-ban of the Fehmic courts on the Red Earth of West- 

 phalia (EB^^ 10, 237^), The two explanations of the name Field 

 of Blood (Aram, haqdl-dcma ; AV Aceldama; RV Akeldama) given 

 in Matt. 27, 8 and Acts i, 19 represent later legends. Matt. 27, 10 

 is based on a misinterpretation of a line of the Maccabean poem in 

 Zech. II, 13 (misattributed to Jeremiah) where we must read el- 

 hay-yagdr, into the treasury (Peshita: bcth-gazsd) instead of el-hay- 

 yoger, to the potter. Heb. yagdr, treasury, is a by form of ogdr, 

 from wagar = nagar, just as we have in Aramaic: yegdr and ogdr, 

 heap of stones. The traditional site of Aceldama (see cut RB 232) 

 is on a level overhanging the Valley of Hinnom on the northeastern 

 slope of the Hill of Evil Counsel, where Caiaphas is said to have 

 taken counsel with the chief priests and elders of the people against 

 Jesus to put Him to death (Matt. 26, 3 ; 27, i ; John 11, 49). The 

 soil of this place is supposed to quickly consume dead bodies ; 270 

 shiploads are said to have been taken to form the Cimetero dei 

 Tedeschi, south of St. Peter's, in Rome, and 53 to the Campo Santo 

 in Pisa (DB i, 59''). 



The Targum uses qilqiltd (=::Syr. qiqdltd) for Heb. ashpoth 

 (i Sam. 2, 18; Ps. 113, 7) or barsith (Jer. 19, 2). This is the 

 original form of the name Golgotha which represents a simplified 

 pronunciation of golgoltd, just as we say fugleman for flugleman 

 = German Fliigelmann. In Syriac we find Gdgoltd instead of Gol- 

 gotha. This name is interpreted as The Skull (Aram, gulgultd, 

 Heb. gidgolth, Arab, gdlgalatun, now pronounced jdljalah). Ac- 

 cording to a pre-Christian legend, which we find e.g., in the Ethiopia 

 Synaxaria, Noah sent his son Shem (accompanied by Melchizedek; 

 cf. JOSR 2, 79) to bury the body of Adam in the center of the 

 earth which is Calvary (Ethiop. Qardnyo; Dillm. Chrest. 16). Lat. 

 calvaria means skidl, brain-pan. During the Crucifixion the blood 

 of Christ trickled down on the body of Adam and restored him to 

 life (DB 2, 226"^). The skull and the bones at the base of a crucifix 

 represent the skull and the bones of Adam (RE^ 7, 52, 25). St. 

 Augustine says, The physician was raised over the patient (RB 540, 

 * *). Some think that the name Golgotha was derived from the 



