 Ruins of theDomus Romana, one of the few visible remains of Melite | |
  Melite Shown within Malta | |
| Location | Malta |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Region |
| Coordinates | 35°53′7″N14°24′0″E / 35.88528°N 14.40000°E /35.88528; 14.40000 |
| Area | c. 0.32 km2 (0.12 sq mi) |
| History | |
| Builder | Phoenicians,Carthaginians,Romans andByzantines |
| Material | mainlylimestone andmarble |
| Founded | c. 8th or 7th century BC |
| Abandoned | 870 AD |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | Largely destroyed or built over, a few remains survive |
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Melite (Ancient Greek:Μελίτη,Melítē) orMelita (Latin) was an ancient city located on the site of present-dayMdina andRabat inMalta. It started out as aBronze Age settlement, which developed into a city calledAnn (Phoenician:𐤀𐤍𐤍,ʾnn) under thePhoenicians and became the administrative centre of the island.[1] The cityfell to theRoman Republic in 218 BC, and it remained part of theRoman and later theByzantine Empire until 870 AD, when it wascaptured and destroyed by 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.
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 Age it was a place of refuge since it was naturally defensible.[2]
ThePhoenicians founded the city of Ann[3][4][page needed] 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 rule in Malta was established in the early stages of theSecond Punic War. In 218 BC, Roman consulTiberius Sempronius Longus sailed 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-dayCospicua on theGrand Harbor.[5] With the island integrated into theRoman province ofSicilia, its center of administration became known as Melita as well. The city was regarded as a haven, far from the politics of Rome.[8]
During the early Roman occupation, Melita had the status of afoederata civitas like other cities in Sicilia such as Messana (modernMessina) and Tauromenium (modernTaormina). Its inhabitants were regarded associi and 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 Apostle was shipwrecked on Malta inAD 60, greeted by its governorPublius, and miraculously cured the governor's sick father before leaving.[12]Christian legend holds that the population of Malta then converted toChristianity, with Publius becomingBishop of Malta and thenBishop of Athens before beingmartyred in 112.[13][14][15]
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 Cathedral was 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 Apollo stood nearby. The temple had a tetrastyleportico, and a wall forming part of its podium still exists beneath present-day Villegaignon Street.[17]
ATemple of Proserpina stood 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 Nicholas now stands on the site of the temple.[19]
The Maltese Islands were incorporated into theByzantine province ofSicily by 535. Melite remained the administrative center of the island, but little is known about Byzantine period in the city. They might have built aretrenchment which 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]
Melite wascaptured and destroyed by theAghlabids in 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 ofSousse in 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 city in 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 calledMdina inMaltese, remained the capital city of Malta throughout the medieval period until 1530, when theOrder of St. John established 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]
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 Cathedral in Mdina,St. Paul's Grotto in Rabat and theFranciscan Church of St Mary of Jesus, theChurch of the Holy Souls,Auberge d'Italie[25] and theCastellania in 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]
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 rusticatedashlar blocks 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]
Sections of a Roman road, cisterns, canals and other archaeological remains were discovered beneathPalazzo Castelletti in 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 Museum in 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 goddessIsis and 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]
The city of Melite shared its name with themain island of Malta and subsequently theentire country.
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