The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built over the spot of Jesus’ crucifixion at Golgotha in 335 A.D., but disagreements arose centuries later about the location’s authenticity.
Mark 15:20, Matthew 27:31 and John 19:17 describe a site outside the city walls of Jerusalem.
However, critics claim the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built inside the busy city walls, so could not have been the accurate location.
First-century historian Josephus, in “The Jewish War” (5.146), described the location of a northern wall for Jerusalem that would have put the Church of the Holy Sepulchre correctly outside the city walls.
This Second Wall has not been found, but archaeologists Marcel Serr and Dieter Vieweger uncovered a stone quarry underneath the nearby Church of the Redeemer, whose slope indicates the elusive Second Wall must be east of the Churches, putting them outside the first-century city walls.
Further evidence was found in first-century traces of gardens or fields as described by Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26 and John 19:41 surrounding the crucifixion site.
The more archaeologists dig, the more Biblical proofs confirmed. Happy Easter!
Source: Biblical Archaeology Society
Map above from Josephus’ “The Jewish War”, translated by H. St. J. Thackeray, M.A. (Books 1-3), 1927.
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