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The meaning of Golgotha

As a Demon customer, I had the option of choosing my own name for my node. As you can tell from the URL, I named mine Golgotha. Since this generally produces blank looks when I tell it to people, I thought an explanation was called for here.

At the time I joined Demon, all node names had to be between four and eight characters in length, and couldn't have been used before. This limited my options somewhat. Some years ago, I read a novel called Golgotha, by John Gardner. This is now out of print, but I'd recommend reading it if you get the chance. Anyway, I enjoyed the book, so that was the primary reason for the choice. Also, my flatmate tells me that "Golgotha" is the Aramaic word for "place of the skull", which I think sounds pretty cool!

This is linked in to the main origin of the word. Golgotha is an alternate name for Calvary, the hill where Jesus was crucified. Some might therefore consider this choice of name to be sacrilegious, or in poor taste. My attitude is that what happened there was important, and shouldn't be forgotten, so this will serve as a reminder. You can find a deeper insight into my religious views here.

Afterword: I've now moved from Demon to UK Shells, who have a similar name restriction. However, as you can see, I've also registered Golgotha as my own domain name. I could have opted for something different, but I decided to stick with it, both for familiarity, and because of the reasons above.


This page was last updated on 2003-12-29 by John C. Kirk

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