Gol´goth a

(“ the place of a skull ”), a small elevated spot north-west of Jerusalem, where criminals were executed. Used in poetry to signify a battle-field or place of great slaughter. Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, Or memorize another Golgotha. Shakespeare, Macbeth , act i. sc. 2. (1606). ⁂ In the University of Cambridge, the dons’ gallery in Great St. Mary’s is called “Golgotha” because the heads of the colleges sit there. Golgotha ( The City ), Temple Bar, London; so called because the heads of traitors, etc., used at one time to be exposed there after decapitation. This was not done from any notion of punishment, but simply to advertise the fact as a warning to evil-doers. Temple Bar was taken away from the Strand in 1878.