A historical complex at St. Agatha - Rabat

Within St. Agatha's Historical Complex, one can discover various important sites: the catacombs containing different types of tombs, agape tables and frescoes; the crypt with its important medieval frescoes; the alabaster statue depicting the martyrdom of the saint; crosses of Dedication; the historical Church of 1504 and enlarged in 1670 and wherein is kept the historical marble statue which was placed on the walls of the city of Mdina on July 20th 1551, during one of frequent attacks by the Arab corsairs on the island. Nearby stands a small Museum with various collections of fossils, prehistoric remains, minerals, pottery and many other things of interest and beauty.peer-reviewe

Erich Becker and Malta Sotteranea - exposing the achievements of a dark horse of Christian archaeology

Becker's 1913 publication Malta Sotterranea, Studien zur altchristlichen und jiidischen Sepulkralkunst- studies of Malta's early Christian and Jewish sepulchral art- is a work often quoted and sometimes even copied by authors writing on Malta's catacombs and Late Antiquity. Its value was recognised by many scholars, but to date very few have managed to fully grasp and understand it. Certainly, one does not need to understand much German to realise that his study was exceptionally thorough and methodical. But one needs to master German and German grammar perfectly in order to follow his line of reasoning - which is why many remarkable conclusions and discoveries in Malta Sotterranea were at best ignored, or at worst wrongly quoted or totally misunderstood. Ironically, it is thanks to the latter that his book never slipped into oblivion.peer-reviewe

Apocalyptic Beauty

A potent and formative text for a theological aesthetics faithful to the God revealed in the Scriptures is the Apocalypse of John (Revelation). An apocalyptic viewpoint is beautiful inasmuch as it observes the whole from within the part of time/space and inasmuch as the apocalyptic vision provides considerable unity of diverse theological themes with various expansions and enhancements, hence mimicking the very function of theological beauty to communicate the whole (God) in the part (here, in space-time). This essay traces major themes throughout Scripture, utilizing inter-textual interpretation en route, and seeks to clarify the Book of Revelation\u27s role in recapitulation, consummation, and consolation (i.e. beauty). Commenting on how the Apocalypse meets the criteria for being theologically beautiful, this essay then seeks to show how this role of beauty--and in particular, consolation--attracted the early Christian devotees visiting/dwelling-in the catacombs (A.D. 150-500) to make the Apocalypse of John one of the major contributors to their artwork

Robots for Exploration, Digital Preservation and Visualization of Archeological Sites

Monitoring and conservation of archaeological sites are important activities necessary to prevent damage or to perform restoration on cultural heritage. Standard techniques, like mapping and digitizing, are typically used to document the status of such sites. While these task are normally accomplished manually by humans, this is not possible when dealing with hard-to-access areas. For example, due to the possibility of structural collapses, underground tunnels like catacombs are considered highly unstable environments. Moreover, they are full of radioactive gas radon that limits the presence of people only for few minutes. The progress recently made in the artificial intelligence and robotics field opened new possibilities for mobile robots to be used in locations where humans are not allowed to enter. The ROVINA project aims at developing autonomous mobile robots to make faster, cheaper and safer the monitoring of archaeological sites. ROVINA will be evaluated on the catacombs of Priscilla (in Rome) and S. Gennaro (in Naples)

A possibly Christian burial of the late Roman period discovered in a quarry at Ta' Sannat, Gozo

According to the Museum Annual Report for the years 1928-9, the Police Occurrences Register for the period 20/12/1928- 9/4/1929, and Public Works correspondence for the period 5/9/1928 - 3/4/1929, a burial was discovered in a quarry at Ta' Sannat on 7th January 1929. The report of the discovery was initially received by Mr Edward Borg Cardona, the District Engineer Public Works Department (Gozo). Together with Supt. E. Galea, he immediately visited the site and gave instructions to halt works and for the site to also submitted to the Director of Museums. The burial yielded a small jar, an oenochoe (wine-jug), and a red clay lamp close to a heap of human bones. This is probably what was seen by Prof. Terni Zammit, the Archaeology section curator, when six days later (on 13th January), accompanied by Mr Edward Borg Cardona, he examined the site and the finds that had been lifted from the tomb.peer-reviewe

Observations on the linguistic epigraphic choice in late antique inscriptions from Malta

The aim of this paper is to reconsider the Maltese epigraphic material from a linguistic point of view, with an attempt to point out what the specific linguistic choice means within the epigraphic context. Analysing the epigraphic data, it is possible to suppose that in late antiquity the Greek-speaking community in Malta was linked to a Jewish community maybe coming from abroad. Furthermore, a parallel can be established with the south-eastern area in Sicily, where there is evidence for the presence of Jewish burial places in Christian necropoleis, with the preponderance of Greek used as epigraphic language. The choice of Greek for the funerary inscriptions from Malta does not tend to be arbitrary, and might indicate the persistent use of the original language of an immigrant community.peer-reviewe

What is 'Jewish' about Jewish art? Art and identity on late ancient sarcophagi from Rome

A paper delivered at in the 2017 Colloquia of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Considers how a group of sarcophagi from the Jewish catacombs of Rome reflect on the subject of Jewish art and Jewish patrons in Late Antiquity