Golgota

The sacrifice of the Red Heifer was of utmost importance for the Israelite nation. Nobody was permitted to enter the inner court or the temple without first undergoing the seven-day cleansing procedure involving the living water mixed with the ashes of the Red Heifer. Whoever was not sprinkled the third and seventh day with the purification water and then completely immersed on the seventh day after washing their clothes would be refused entrance by the temple gate keepers to pass into the holy part of the temple grounds, excluding them from the Passover sacrifice or any of the other sacrifices as mentioned in the book of Leviticus. What does God wish to tell us through this very strange statute?

Nakon novih izdanja hrvatske drame na francuskome u izdanju naklade Prozor i u prijevodu Nicolasa Raljevića (Dubrovačka trilogija Ive Vojnovića i Gospoda Glembajevi M. Krleže), uskoro iz tiska u istoj izdavačkoj kući izlazi i Krležina Golgota, i ona u Raljevićevom prijevodu. Tako je agilni Nicolas Raljević postao najplodniji prevoditelj hrvatske drame, ujedno i drame s cijeloga jugoslavenskog kulturnog prostora.

The article focuses on Jerusalem landscape with its mountains and the way they were invested with the symbolic value in the course of history. Jerusalem mountains are both the geographical feature of the region and the metaphor. The history of Jerusalem naturally depends on the presence of heights and lowlands. In that respect Jerusalem is no different from any other city of antiquity. However, in the biblical consciousness the mountain are associated with the sacred history of the people, they are its witnesses and participants. Up untill present the mountains play an important role not only in the appearance of the city, but in its  political development (the new mountains – Scopus and mount Herzl are good examples of that). The important feature of Jerusalem mountains is the synthesis of nature and architecture.
Thus, King David founded Jerusalem as a city where the majestic structures of Jebusee (the fortress of Zion) could now witness the greatness of the city and of the king. Architecture was seen as worthy of turning Zion into God,s dwelling place.
The status of the Temple Mount was determined by the construction of the Temple by Solomon. The name Zion was now applied to the Temple mount. During the Second Temple period the Temple mount was seen as a place of important biblical events. Thus the Chronicles had identified the Temple mount with the Mount Moriah, where the Sacrifice of Isaac took place. It was also seen as a place where the foundation stone of the creation can be seen within the Temple.
Architecture continued to play an important role. Thus, the legitimacy of the Hasmonean government was asserted through the destruction of an alien fortress Akra, which controlled the Temple Mount and the new sanctification of the Temple Mount. Finally, the gigantic platform made by King Herod during the reconstruction of the Temple so radically altered the phisical landscape of the city, that its platform was now seen as the focus of pilgrimage., where Jews flocked on holidays and residents of the empire came look at the rituals of the Jews. Despite the tragic events of the turn of the century and the destruction of the Temple, the Jerusalem Mountains in no way change their role in the semantic topography of the city.
Christians had inherited that concept of the mountain as the focus of the sacred history. Although the Gospels never refer to Golgotha as a mountain, by the time of Constantine it was identified with a mountain. Soon it was seen as a new Temple Mount, where the history of the chosen people found its completion.