Jesus taken from the old cistern

Jesus taken from the old cistern. J-J Tissot

From The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, by J-J Tissot (1897)

According to an old Greek tradition, this is what happened between the arrival at Calvary and the Crucifixion on a certain spot now enclosed within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and there venerated by the Christian believer.  Some of the escort of the Saviour where engaged in preparing the wood for the Cross, whilst others put the pieces together and placed in the right position the cord for raising the instrument of death when the Victim should be bound to it.  Whilst all this was going on in the very restricted space at the disposal of the executioners, it was only natural that the guards should have cleared the ground as much as possible and are put the prisoners out of the way for the time being.  Jesus, says the tradition referred to above, was therefore removed to an old excavation in the rock, rather like the cistern of a well, situated a few paces off, on the northwest of the platform of Calvary.
The archers pushed Him roughly along making Him fall on His knees more than once in the short distance, and then flinging Him into the cave all bleeding and bruised.  There, His feet were passed through two holes in a stone and fastened together with a chain, and thus bound the Sufferer was left in the pit with a guard on watch.  The two thieves, still bound to the cross beams of their respective crosses, had to lie on the ground, for in that position they were less likely to be able to make any attempt at escape.
The preparations meanwhile went briskly forward, and when they were on the point of completion, the soldiers went to fetch the chief Victim and drew Him forth from the pit to lead Him to the platform of Golgotha.  "As He took the last few painful steps to what was to be the scene of His Crucifixion," says Anne Catherine Emmerich, "the archers never ceased to rain blows and outrages upon Him.  The people standing by and seeing what was going on, also insulted Him, whilst the Roman soldiers, cold and indifferent as was their custom, contented themselves with nearly maintaining order."

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam