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Melite (ancient city)

Coordinates:35°53′N14°24′E/ 35.883°N 14.400°E/35.883; 14.400
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This article is about the Punico-Roman city in Malta. For other uses, seeMelite (disambiguation)andMelita (disambiguation).
Melite
Ruins of theDomus Romana,one of the few visible remains of Melite
Melite (ancient city) is located in Malta
Melite (ancient city)
Shown within Malta
LocationMalta
RegionNorthern Region
Coordinates35°53′N14°24′E/ 35.883°N 14.400°E/35.883; 14.400
Areac.0.32 km2(0.12 sq mi)
History
BuilderPhoenicians,Carthaginians,RomansandByzantines
Materialmainlylimestoneandmarble
Foundedc.8th or 7th century BC
Abandoned870 AD
Site notes
ConditionLargely destroyed, a few remains survive
Melite was located on the site of modernMdina(bottom) andRabat(top)

Melite(Greek:Μελίτη,Melítē) orMelita(Latin) was an ancient city located on the site of present-dayMdinaandRabat,Malta.It started out as aBronze Agesettlement, which developed into a city calledAnn(Phoenician:‎𐤀𐤍𐤍‎,ʾnn) under thePhoeniciansand became the administrative centre of the island.[1]The cityfellto theRoman Republicin 218 BC, and it remained part of theRomanand later theByzantine Empireuntil 870 AD, when it wascaptured and destroyedby theAghlabids.The city was then rebuilt and renamed Medina, giving rise to the present name Mdina. It remained Malta's capital city until 1530.

Only a few vestiges of the Punico-Roman city have survived. The most substantial are the ruins of theDomus Romana,in which a number of well-preserved mosaics and statues have been found. Sparse remains of other buildings and parts of the city walls have been excavated, but no visible remains of the city's numerous temples, churches and other public buildings survive.

History[edit]

Prehistory[edit]

Melite was located on a strategically important plateau on high ground in the western part of the island of Malta. The site had been inhabited since prehistory, and by theBronze Ageit was a place of refuge since it was naturally defensible.[2]

Phoenician colony[edit]

ThePhoeniciansfounded the city of Ann[3][4]soon after they colonized the island, which shared its name,[5]around the 8th century BC.[6]A number of Punic tombs have been found in Rabat, in the area that would have been outside the walls of Ann.[7]

Roman city[edit]

Coins found on site

Roman rule in Malta was established in the early stages of theSecond Punic War.In 218 BC, Roman consulTiberius Sempronius Longussailed with his fleet from Sicily to Ann, and the Carthaginian commanderHamilcarsurrendered without offering much resistance.The Greek and Roman names for the island had been taken from its chief port at Maleth, present-dayCospicuaon theGrand Harbor.[5]With the island integrated into theRoman provinceofSicilia,its center of administration became known as Melita as well. The city was regarded as a haven, far from the politics of Rome.[8]

Statues of EmperorClaudiusand his daughterClaudia Antoniafound at the Domus Romana[9][10]

During the early Roman occupation, Melita had the status of afoederata civitaslike other cities in Sicilia such as Messana (modernMessina) and Tauromenium (modernTaormina). Its inhabitants were regarded associiand not as conquered people, so they retained their laws and had the right to mint their own coins. Although the Latin language and Roman religion were introduced, Punic culture and language survived in Malta until at least the 1st century AD. Eventually, Melita was given the status ofmunicipium,being granted the same rights as other Roman cities.[11]

According to theActs of the Apostles,Paul the Apostlewas shipwrecked on Malta inAD 60,greeted by its governorPublius,and miraculously cured the governor's sick father before leaving.[12]Christian legendholds that the population of Malta then converted toChristianity,with Publius becomingBishop of Maltaand thenBishop of Athensbefore beingmartyredin 112.[13][14][15]

Remains of a Roman building, used for the building of the church, now at theWignacourt Museum

Little is known about the city's layout since very few remains have survived. It was surrounded by thick walls and a ditch, with a number of cemeteries located outside the walls. According to tradition, theMdina Cathedralwas built on the site of the governor's residence, where Saint Paul cured Publius' father.[16]A theatre was located in the city, and aTemple of Apollostood nearby. The temple had a tetrastyleportico,and a wall forming part of its podium still exists beneath present-day Villegaignon Street.[17]

ATemple of Proserpinastood on the hill ofMtarfa,outside the walls of Melita. Only a fragment of a marble column and parts of a Punic cornice remain from this temple, but its existence is known from the Chrestion inscription, an inscription discovered in 1613 recording that the temple was renovated during the reign ofAugustus.[18]A statue ofSaint Nicholasnow stands on the site of the temple.[19]

Later history[edit]

Main article:Mdina

The Maltese Islands were incorporated into theByzantine provinceofSicilyby 535. Melite remained the administrative center of the island, but little is known about Byzantine period in the city. They might have built aretrenchmentwhich reduced Melite to the size of present-day Mdina, one-third of the size of the Punico-Roman city. The retrenchment was probably built in around the 8th century to counter theincreasing Muslim threat,although it might have been built later on in around the 11th century by the Arabs. Regardless when the retrenchment was built, the new walls were most likely built out of stones taken from demolished buildings of the ancient city.[2]

Sarcophagus and limestone tombstones from a Muslim cemetery established in the 11th century on the ruins of theDomus Romana

Melite wascaptured and destroyedby theAghlabidsin 870. According toAl-Himyarī,at the time the city was ruled by the Byzantine governor Amros (probably Ambrosios). The duration of the siege is not known, but it must have lasted for a couple of weeks or possibly some months. The Aghlabid force was led by an engineer Halaf al-Hādim, who lost his life in the fighting. A newwali,Sawāda Ibn Muḥammad, was then sent from Sicily to continue the siege. After some time, Melite fell to the invaders, and the inhabitants were massacred, the city was destroyed and its churches were looted. Marble from Melite's churches was used to build the castle ofSoussein modern-dayTunisia.[20]

According to Al-Himyarī's account, the island remained almost uninhabited until it was resettled in around 1048 or 1049 by a Muslim community and their slaves, who built a settlement called Medina on the site of Melite, making it "a finer place than it was before." The Byzantinesattempted to retake the cityin around 1053–54, but were repelled by the defenders.[20]However, archaeological evidence suggests that the city was already a thriving Muslim settlement by the beginning of the 11th century, so Al-Himyarī's account might be unreliable in this aspect.[21]

The city of Medina, later calledMdinainMaltese,remained the capital city of Malta throughout the medieval period until 1530, when theOrder of St. Johnestablished their seat inBirgu.The city was subsequently known asCittà Vecchia(Old City) orCittà Notabile(Noble City). It was extensively rebuilt over the centuries, with the last major building project occurring in 1720s, when its fortifications were upgraded and many public buildings were built.[22]

Remains[edit]

Theperistylemosaic of theDomus Romana
Roman cornice found at Ġnien is-Sultan in Rabat, considered to be one of the most elaborate Roman remains in Malta

According toGiovanni Francesco Abela,many architectural fragments from Melite were still visible in Mdina in the mid-17th century. From the late 17th to the 19th centuries, some marble columns and other remains from the temples of Apollo[23]and Proserpina,[24]and other buildings from Melite, were taken and sculpted into decorative elements for various houses and churches, includingSt. Paul's Cathedralin Mdina,St. Paul's Grottoin Rabat and theFranciscan Church of St Mary of Jesus,theChurch of the Holy Souls,Auberge d'Italie[25]and theCastellaniain Valletta.[26]

Very few remains of Melite still exist today, and no significant ruins of the city's temples, basilicas or triumphal arches have survived.[27]The most substantial remnant is theDomus Romana,a townhouse dating back to the 1st century BC and which was abandoned in the 2nd century AD. An Islamic cemetery was established on its ruins in the 11th century, and the site was discovered accidentally in 1881. Subsequent excavations revealed the foundations of the house, including well-preserved mosaics and statues.[28]The remains of the domus are now open to the public as a museum run byHeritage Malta.[29]

Reuse of a Roman column, part of the façade ofPalazzo Falson

The remains of a city gate or tower within the walls of Melite were discovered in Saqqajja in modern Rabat, about 5 m (16 ft) below the current street level. Parts of the city's 700 m (2,300 ft)-long ditch have survived under present-day St. Rita Street and theChurch of St. Paul.[30]The lower foundations of some Punico-Roman ramparts, consisting of rusticatedashlarblocks three courses high stillin situ,were unearthed in 2010 in excavations near the Magazine Curtain in the western part of Mdina.[31]The only other remains of the ancient walls are Punico-Roman masonry blocks which were reused in the medieval period. These include a wall aroundGreeks Gate,and some stones which were discovered in excavations at Inguanez Street and theXara Palace.[32]

Roman remains atPalazzo Castellettiin Rabat

Sections of a Roman road, cisterns, canals and other archaeological remains were discovered beneathPalazzo Castellettiin Rabat.[33]Some inscriptions, column capitals and other architectural remains from ancient Melite have also been found, and these are now preserved at the Domus Romana museum and theCathedral Museumin Mdina,[27]or in private collections.[34]Parts of the podium of the Temple of Apollo were discovered in 2002.[17]The remains of other ancient buildings, as well as pottery, coins or other artifacts from the Bronze Age or Punico-Roman period, are still occasionally discovered in excavations or during construction projects in Mdina or Rabat.[8][19]

A small statue of the Egyptian goddessIsisand an elaborate cornice were also found in Rabat.[35]

Manycatacombs,together with a number of both Punic and Roman tombs, are found in Rabat. These were originally located just outside the walls of Melite.[36]The catacombs of the period also include those of a Jewish community.[37]

Legacy[edit]

A highly conjectural map of Melite(1647)

The city of Melite shared its name with themain island of Maltaand subsequently theentire country.

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Wilson, R. (12 July 2020)."Places: 462310 (Melita)".Pleiades.RetrievedJuly 12,2020.
  2. ^abSpiteri 2004–2007,pp. 3–4
  3. ^Filigheddu (2006).
  4. ^Cullican (1992).
  5. ^abVella (2023).
  6. ^Cassar (2000),pp. 53–54.
  7. ^Said-Zammit (2006),p. 39.
  8. ^abSagona 2015,pp. 264–266
  9. ^p. 12.
  10. ^"Il-Muzew ta l-Antikitajiet Rumani (The Museum of Roman Antiquities)"(PDF)(in Maltese).Retrieved2024-02-08.
  11. ^Said-Zammit 2006,pp. 44–46
  12. ^Acts 28:1–10
  13. ^"Latin Saints of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Rome".Orthodox England.Archived fromthe originalon 26 March 2016.
  14. ^"Orthodox Malta".Orthodox England.Archived fromthe originalon 7 March 2016.
  15. ^Traill, Henry Duff (1891)."The Picturesque Mediterranean"(PDF).from University of California: Cassell. pp. 53–54.
  16. ^Gaul 2007,p. 172
  17. ^abTesta, Michael (19 March 2002)."New find at Mdina most important so far in old capital".Times of Malta.Archived fromthe originalon 13 April 2016.
  18. ^Cardona 2008–2009,pp. 40–41
  19. ^abSagona 2015,p. 285
  20. ^abBrincat 1995,pp. 15–17
  21. ^Blouet 2007,p. 41
  22. ^De Lucca 1979,pp. 21–25
  23. ^MacGill 1839,p. 95
  24. ^MacGill 1839,pp. 104–105
  25. ^MacGill 1839,p. 63
  26. ^Cardona 2008–2009,pp. 42–43
  27. ^abBonanno 1984,pp. 7–9
  28. ^Depasquale & Cardona 2005,p. 3
  29. ^"Domvs Romana".Heritage Malta.Archived fromthe originalon 5 January 2015.
  30. ^Sagona 2015,p. 273
  31. ^"Remains of Punic Rampart Wall Discovered at Mdina".MilitaryArchitecture.5 May 2010. Archived fromthe originalon 30 December 2014.
  32. ^Spiteri 2004–2007,p. 10
  33. ^Vella, Fiona (23 April 2014)."Noble stones".Times of Malta.Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.
  34. ^Cardona 2008–2009,p. 47
  35. ^Sagona 2015, p. 273
  36. ^Vassallo, Bernard (29 September 2013)."21 catacombs and tombs outside Melita's walls".Times of Malta.Archived fromthe originalon 12 January 2014.
  37. ^Buhagiar, Mario (2011). "The Jewish catacombs of Roman Melite".The Antiquaries Journal.91:73–100.doi:10.1017/S0003581511000126.S2CID162938587.

Bibliography[edit]

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