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Għar Għerduf Catacombs
The Għar Għerduf catacombs at Ta' KerÄ‹em, also known as Għar Gerduf, are the only surviving early Christian catacombs or paleochristian hypogea in Gozo, Malta. Għar Għerduf is a unique Roman burial site in Gozo, which has for centuries attracted the attention of scholars interested in Maltese archaeology. The site was visited by erudite visitors who often included a description of the place as they did for Ä gantija and the Xagħra Stone Circle. History The catacombs are dug into the Globigerina Limestone, on the western slope of Lunzjata Valley. The probable first mention of the site was made by the Maltese historian Giovanni Francesco Abela, who described the site as a cave which was one of the many , that is, crypts of ancient cemeteries''.'' The complex has suffered extensive damage, due to widespread quarrying during the nineteenth century, with Vassallo dating the mutilation to the 1870s. The site, however, had been in a poor state of conservation for centuries: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catacombs
Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire. Etymology and history The first place to be referred to as ''catacombs'' was the system of underground tombs between the 2nd and 3rd milestones of the Appian Way in Rome, where the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul, among others, were said to have been buried. The name of that place in Late Latin was ''catacumbas'' (feminine nominative plural; the singular is ''catacumba'') — a word of obscure origin, possibly deriving from a proper name or a derivation of the Greek phrase ''cata cumbas'', "below the quarries". The word referred originally only to the Roman catacombs, but was extended by the 19th century to refer to any subterranean receptacle of the dead, as in the 18th-century Paris catacombs. The ancient Christians carved the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giovanni Francesco Abela
Giovanni Francesco Abela (1582–1655) was a Maltese noble who in the early 17th century wrote an important work on Malta, ''Della Descrittione di Malta isola nel Mare Siciliano: con le sue antichità , ed altre notizie'', "description of Malta, island in the Sicilian sea, with its antiquities, and other information". Early life Abela was born in Valletta to Marco Abela and Benarda Vella whose great great grandfather was Barone di Pietra Lunga and whose ancestors ruled Malta on more than one occasion and were part of the royal family of Spain. Works Malta illustrated is still an important source of first-hand information on a number of subjects of Melitensia, such as folklore, placenames, the Maltese language, history of Malta and archaeology. His description of the Maltese Islands was translated into Latin by G.A. Seinero in 1725, Latin being the universal language of science and culture of that time. This translation was incorporated in Johann Georg Graevius Thesaurus a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbatija Tad-Dejr
The Abbatija Tad-Dejr hypogeal complex is a paleochristian burial site in Rabat, Malta. Although much smaller in size than those of Rome, the catacombs in Malta, especially the ones in Rabat, are among the most important early Christian burial sites south of Rome. The site is managed by Heritage Malta and is currently closed for conservation. History The early catacombs comprised a singular shaft and chamber tombs dug from the vertical face of a quarry. Between the fourth and the ninth centuries AD, four larger complexes were added. The most important of the four small catacombs is the largest one; with its rows of carefully placed baldacchino tombs, it is possibly one of the few catacombs that saw some sort of pre-planning during excavations. Baldacchino tombs are often considered to be the richest out of the array of tomb types found in Maltese catacombs; at least three such tombs in this complex are heavily decorated with reliefs. In the post-Roman period, the largest cat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ħaġar Qim
ĦaÄ¡ar Qim (; "Standing/Worshipping Stones") is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ä gantija phase (3600–3200 BC). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces." In 1992 UNESCO recognized ĦaÄ¡ar Qim and four other Maltese megalithic structures as World Heritage Sites. V. Gordon Childe, Professor of Prehistoric European Archeology and director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London from 1946-1957 visited ĦaÄ¡ar Qim. He wrote, "I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one." ĦaÄ¡ar Qim's builders used globigerina limestone in the temple's construction. As a result of this, the temple has suffered from severe weathering and surface flaking o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mnajdra
Mnajdra () is a megalithic temple complex found on the southern coast of the Mediterranean island of Malta. Mnajdra is approximately from the ĦaÄ¡ar Qim megalithic complex. Mnajdra was built around the fourth millennium BCE; the Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces." In 1992, UNESCO recognized the Mnajdra complex and four other Maltese megalithic structures as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In 2009, work was completed on a protective tent. Design Mnajdra is made of coralline limestone, which is much harder than the soft globigerina limestone of ĦaÄ¡ar Qim. The main structural systems used in the temples are corbelling with smaller stones, and post and lintel construction using large slabs of limestone. The cloverleaf plan of Mnajdra appears more regular than that of Ħagar Qim, and seems reminiscent of the earlier complex at Ä gantija. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Times Of Malta
The ''Times of Malta'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Malta. Founded in 1935, by Lord and Lady Strickland and Lord Strickland's daughter Mabel, it is the oldest daily newspaper still in circulation in Malta. It has the widest circulation of any Maltese newspaper. The newspaper is published by Allied Newspapers Limited, which is owned by the Strickland Foundation, a charitable trust established by Mabel Strickland in 1979 to control the majority of the company. History The history of ''The Times'' of Malta is linked with that of its publishing house, Allied Newspapers Limited. This institution has a history going back to the 1920s, when it pioneered journalism and the printing industry in Malta. It all started with the publication, by Gerald Strickland, of Malta's first evening newspaper in Maltese, ''Il-Progress''. This was a four-page daily with its own printing offices in what was then 10A, Strada Reale, Valletta. The name "Progress" is retained to this day by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of Malta
Malta has been inhabited since 6400 BC initially by Mesolithic hunter gatherers, who were replaced by Early European Farmers, Neolithic farmers from Sicily around 5400 BC. These farmers practiced mixed farming after clearing most of the existing conifer forest that dominated the islands, but their agricultural methods degraded the soil until the islands became uninhabitable. The islands were repopulated around 3850 BC by a civilization that at its peak built the Megalithic Temples of Malta, Megalithic Temples, which today are among the oldest surviving buildings in the world. Their civilization collapsed in around 2350 BC; the islands were repopulated by Bronze Age warriors soon afterwards. Malta's prehistory ends in around 700 BC, when the islands were colonized by the Phoenicians. They ruled the islands until they Capture of Malta (218 BC), fell in 218 BC to the Roman Republic. The island was acquired by the Eastern Romans or Byzantine Empire, Byzantines in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Carthage
Ancient Carthage ( ; , ) was an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state, and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, Carthage reached its height in the fourth century BC as one of the largest ''metropoleis'' in the world.George Modelski, ''World Cities: –3000 to 2000'', Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. . Figures in main tables are preferentially cited. Part of former estimates can be read at Evolutionary World Politics Homepage Archived 2008-12-28 at the Wayback Machine It was the centre of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power led by the Punic people who dominated the ancient western and central Mediterranean Sea. Following the Punic Wars, Carthage was Siege of Carthage (Third Punic War), destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, who later rebuilt Roman Carthage, the city lavishly. Carthage Phoenician settlement of No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenicia
Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian coast. They developed a Maritime history, maritime civilization which expanded and contracted throughout history, with the core of their culture stretching from Arwad in modern Syria to Mount Carmel. The Phoenicians extended their cultural influence through trade and colonization throughout the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to the Iberian Peninsula, evidenced by thousands of Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions, Phoenician inscriptions. The Phoenicians directly succeeded the Bronze Age Canaanites, continuing their cultural traditions after the decline of most major Mediterranean basin cultures in the Late Bronze Age collapse and into the Iron Age without interruption. They called themselves Canaanites and referred to their land as Canaan, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Malta
Malta (, ''Melétēs'') was ruled by the Byzantine Empire, from the time of the Gothic_War_(535%E2%80%93554)#Conquest_of_Sicily_and_Dalmatia, Byzantine conquest of Sicily in 535-6 to 869-870, when the islands were occupied by Arabs. Evidence for the three centuries of Byzantine rule in Malta is very limited, and at times ambiguous. Historians theorise that Byzantine Malta was exposed to the same phenomena affecting the Mediterranean Sea, Central Mediterranean, namely a considerable influx of Greeks, Greek settlers and Culture of Greece, Hellenic culture, administrative changes brought about by the reorganisation of Sicily along the lines of a Theme (Byzantine district), Byzantine theme, and significant naval activity in the Mediterranean following the rise of Islam. Byzantine sources are scant on the Maltese islands, although a handful of records group them together as the Gaudomelete (, ''Gaudomelétē''), a term that first appears in the Pseudepigrapha, pseudoepigraphical Act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victoria, Gozo
Victoria (, meaning "the city Victoria"), also known among the native Maltese as Rabat (which is the name of the old town centre) or by its title Città Victoria, is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit of Malta, and the main town on Gozo. Victoria has a total population of 6,901 (as of March 2014), and is the most populous settlement in Gozo. The area around the town, situated on a hill near the centre of the island, has been settled since Neolithic times. Victoria is the name given on 10 June 1887 by the British government on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, at the request of Pietro Pace, Pietro Monsignor Pace, Diocese of Gozo, Bishop of Gozo. Many Gozitans, mainly older Gozitans, still often refer to it by the name Rabat. It is usually known as Rabat, Gozo to distinguish it from the town of Rabat, Malta, Rabat on the Malta (island), main island of Malta. Architectural heritage *The Cittadella (Gozo), Cittadella, including: **Cathedral of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
