The Roman Municipia of Malta and Gozo : : The Epigraphic Evidence.

• Superior document: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology Series ; v.103
• VerfasserIn: Azzopardi, George,
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : Archaeopress,, 2023.; ©2023.
• Year of Publication: 2023
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Archaeopress Roman Archaeology Series
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (172 pages)

How did the Maltese and Gozitans fare under Roman occupation? How were they treated by their new masters? And what did they do to appease them? Though based essentially on epigraphical evidence, this study seeks to address the above and other questions through an exercise in which epigraphy and the archaeological record supplement each other.

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents Page -- List of Figures -- Figure 82. A coin from Byblos showing a betyl in the middle of a sacred enclosure of an old shrine evidently dedicated to Hera. Dated to the early 3rd century AD, this coin gives testimony to the survival of aniconic cults in Roman imperial times. Source: -- Figure 81. Mtarfa hill (in Malta) outside the ancient urban centre and town of Melite. On the basis of inscription CIL, X, 7494 found there, the hill seems to have been the place where an old temple of Proserpina once stood. The photograph reproduced here -- Figure 80. The facade of the Auberge d'Italie in Merchants Street in Valletta adorned with the bust of Grandmaster Fra Gregorio Caraffa (reigned from 1680 to 1690) above the main door. It is claimed that marble from the temple of Proserpina on Mtarfa hill -- Figure 79. The inscription CIL, X, 7494 recording repairs and renovation works to an old temple of Proserpina by Chrestion, the procurator of the Maltese islands. It was found in fragments on Mtarfa hill, in Malta, in 1613. Photo © Daniel Cilia. -- Figure 78. Inscription CIL, X, 8318 commemorating the building (or rebuilding?) and consecration of what appears to have been a marble temple by ---- Claudius Iustus, patronus of the Maltese municipium and a local senate member. Today, it is on permanent -- Figure 77. The temple of Apollo in the town of Melite (today's Mdina and Rabat, in Malta). This hypothetically reconstructed 3-D elevation is based upon the description of the same temple in inscription CIL, X, 7495 which mentions the four columns and fla -- Figure 76. North-oriented aerial image of Mdina, in Malta. Around 1747, digging operations within a stretch extending from infront of the casa del Magistrato (1) to St Peter's monastery of the Benedictine nuns (2) yielded an inscribed pedestal carrying in.

Figure 75. Marble pedestal with inscription CIL, X, 7495 commemorating the building of a temple dedicated to Apollo by the Primus Melitensium. Currently, it forms part of the reserve collection at the National Archaeology Museum in Valletta, Malta. Photo: -- Figure 74. The statue from Gozo presumably representing Iulia Augusta in identification with Ceres. Detail showing what survives of the himation / palla (mantle). Pulled forward over the statue's (missing) right shoulder which it may have covered only par -- Figure 73. The statue from Gozo presumably representing Iulia Augusta in identification with Ceres. Detail showing the vertically-oriented break on both lateral and, especially, front faces below the (missing) right shoulder. Also shown is the flaked-off -- Figure 72. North-oriented aerial image of the Gozo Citadel showing the area (encircled) of today's Bernardo DeOpuo Street (1) which might have hosted some sort of a worshipping space (like a temple) where an imperial cult of Iulia Augusta identified with -- Figure 71. A fluted marble column shaft that was to be seen in a fine late Mediaeval townhouse (restored and rehabilitated in 1983 as a Folklore Museum) just across the street from the place where the inscribed stone CIL, X, 7501 was incorporated in what -- Figure 70. A marble column base incorporated as a wellhead to be seen in a fine late Mediaeval townhouse (restored and rehabilitated in 1983 as a Folklore Museum) just across the street from the place where the inscribed stone CIL, X, 7501 was incorporate -- Figure 69. The left side temple forming part of three temples standing next to each other in the capitol of Roman Sufetula (today, Sbeitla) in Tunisia. A niche, presumably intended for a cultic figure, can be seen in the centre on the rear wall of the tem.

Figure 68. Female statue. Villa of the Aviary, Park of the Roman villas, Carthage. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 67. Female statue. Byrsa Hill, Carthage. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 66. Female statue. Byrsa Hill, Carthage. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 65. Female statue. From the theatre at Segobriga (Spain). Late Tiberian epoch - Caligula's reign. Now, at the Museo de Cuenca, also in Spain. Photo: © José Miguel Noguera Celdrán. -- Figure 64. Female statue. From the theatre at Segobriga (Spain). Late Tiberian epoch - Caligula's reign. Now, at the Museo de Cuenca, also in Spain. Photo: © José Miguel Noguera Celdrán. -- Figure 63. Female statue. From the theatre at Segobriga (Spain). Late Tiberian epoch - Caligula's reign. Now, at the Museo de Cuenca, also in Spain. Photo: © José Miguel Noguera Celdrán. -- Figure 62. Agrippina the Elder. AD 41 - 54. Now, at the Archaeological Museum of Palermo. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 61. Urania. Musei Capitolini, Rome. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 60. Probably, a mother-goddess (restored), possibly Ceres. 1st - 2nd century AD. Uffizi Gallery, Firenze. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 59. Probably, Ceres. End of 1st - beginning of 2nd century AD. Uffizi Gallery, Firenze. Photo: hiveminer.com. -- Figure 58. Probably, Faustina II, wife of emperor Marcus Aurelius. From the tanks of the Odeon at Carthage. 2nd century AD. Now, at the Bardo Museum, Tunis. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 57. Female statue. Formerly, on Trajan's Arch, Merida (Spain). 2nd century AD. Now, at the Museum of Roman Art, Merida (Spain). Photo: The Author. -- Figure 56. Female statue. Vatican Museums. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 55. A deity or a deified imperial lady. From Porto Torres, Sardinia. End of 1st century AD. Now, at the Archaeological Museum of Sassari (Sardinia). Photo: The Author.

Figure 54. Artemis restored as a Muse. 1st century AD. Naples Archaeological Museum. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 53. Demeter of Cnidos seated. From Asia Minor (Turkey). Now, at the British Museum (London). Photo: sammlung.theologie.uni-halle.de. -- Figure 52. Livia Augusta as Ceres. From Greece. Now, at Stourhead House, Wiltshire, UK. Photo: © National Trust (UK) / David Cousins. -- Figure 51. Kore - Persephone restored as Urania, c. AD 120. Now, at the Vatican Museums. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 50. Kore type statue. End of 1st - beginning of 2nd century AD. Now, at the Archaeological Museum of Palermo. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 49. Livia / Iulia Augusta as Ceres Augusta. From Leptis Magna (possibly, from a theatre). Late Tiberian epoch. Now, in Tripoli National Museum. Source: Bartman 1999: 107(Fig.85). Photo: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Rome. -- Figure 48. Livia. From the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompei. 1st century BC - Tiberian epoch. Now, at the Antiquarium di Boscoreale. Photo: The Author. -- Figure 47. Kore (left) with Triptolemos and Demeter / Ceres on a votive relief from the Plutonion at Eleusis, c. 400 BC. Now, at the Archaeological Museum of Eleusis. Source: Farnell 1907: Plate XXVIIb (facing p. 266). -- Figure 46. The statue from Gozo presumably representing Iulia Augusta in identification with Ceres and the base with inscription CIL, X, 7501 marking a dedication to the mentioned Iulia Augusta in identification with Ceres. Left: surviving statue and insc -- Figure 45. A somewhat stylised veiled female bust adorned with a three-tiered necklace with what appear to be integrated (rather than hung) reels or pendants(?). This bust represents Isis in assimilation with Sothis and Demeter. Now, at the Vatican Museum.

Figure 44. Votive terracotta statuette holding a piglet, the favourite offering of the goddess Demeter. She also seems to wear a three-tiered necklace. c. 5th century BC. Private collection. Photo: Michel Lara. -- Figure 43. Seated goddess (Demeter) stylised statuettes of the 'kore' type from the sanctuary of the underworld divinities in Agrigento, Sicily. They are adorned with tiered necklaces with hung pendants. 520 - 500 BC. Now, at the Archaeological Museum of -- Figure 42. One of the coin issues of Cossyra (modern Pantelleria) found in Malta where it appears to have also circulated. The reverse side carried a symbol of Tanit whom the female head profile with pronounced earrings and a three-tiered necklace (withou -- Figure 41. An elaborate three-tiered necklace with several hung pendants adorns the statue shown in Figure 40. The lowermost tier of this necklace carries a series of ram-head pendants and, below this, there are what appear to be two doves facing each oth -- Figure 40. An almost stylised statue betraying what appears to be an Egyptian-style headdress but, more importantly, an 'Isis' knot. This statue may have represented either Demeter / Ceres in assimilation with Isis or Ashtarte / Tanit in assimilation with -- Figure 39. What seem to be two 'Tanit' symbols respectively topped by a Punic caduceus while flanking another central 'Tanit' symbol on a votive tablet from Carthage. These may represent Tanit Pen-Baal / Tanit Face (or Manifestation) of Baal as seems to b -- Figure 38. A 'Tanit' symbol shown painted in red on a ceramic sherd found in Area 3 at Tas-Silġ sanctuary in Marsaxlokk (Malta) during archaeological excavations undertaken there in 1964 by the Missione Archeologica Italiana a Malta. It is topped by what.

Figure 37. Two standards / symbols of Tanit mounted on a pole and flanking a caduceus on a sea vessel as shown on a sacrificial stela from Carthage and where they could have been thus mounted to receive worship by those on board. Source: Brody 1998: 134(F.