Durham E-Theses Religious Landscapes and Identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean Context: 700 B.C. - A.D. 500 AZZOPARDI, GEORGE How to cite: AZZOPARDI, GEORGE (2014) Religious Landscapes and Identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean Context: 700 B.C. - A.D. 500, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10642/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Religious Landscapes and Identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean Context: 700 B.C. – A.D. 500 - George Azzopardi - Abstract Maltese religious practices in Classical antiquity are an area of research that has been neglected by scholars, particularly in recent years, in contrast to religious practices of the prehistoric periods. This has created a lacuna in Maltese archaeology that this thesis seeks to address. In doing so, the approach adopted in this thesis diverges from earlier accounts based largely on artefacts and sites divorced from their associated landscape. Instead, the approach pursued here focuses on the landscape context of religious practices of the Maltese islands. An important contribution of this thesis is the deliberately broad definition of religious phenomena in the Maltese islands to include aspects of private religion and rural religious contexts. This aim is achieved through a multidisciplinary, comparative, and interpretative approach that is widely adopted throughout the core of the thesis comprising five integrated case studies. To facilitate a better understanding and interpretation of the religious phenomenon in the Maltese islands, the thesis evaluates the case studies within the religious context of the wider Mediterranean region. Aided by syntheses and analyses of the data, this study examines ‘sacralised’ landscapes often re-worked to accommodate hybrid cults. It also identifies the religious identity(ies) of the Maltese communities as they are shaped by their different concerns or motives and as they manifest themselves in urban and in rural contexts, defines the nature of their religious practices, and establishes their character vis-à-vis other Mediterranean religious cultures. Relying on a wider set of data sources and adopting a more holistic approach, the thesis builds up a comprehensive picture of ancient Maltese religious culture and identity that, while reflecting the religious scenario of the wider Mediterranean region, was characteristically Maltese in a hybridised form. The thesis, therefore, provides a case study that may contribute towards knowledge on religious cultures and identities in the Mediterranean in general and amongst island communities in particular. __________________________________________ Religious Landscapes and Identities of the Maltese Islands in a Mediterranean Context: 700 B.C. – A.D. 500 ______________________________________ George Azzopardi Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Archaeology Durham University 2014 Table of Contents Table of Contents..................................................................................................................i Index of Figures.............................................................................................................. ......v Index of Tables....................................................................................................................i x Statement of Copyright...................................................................................................... ..x Acknowledgements...................................................................................................... ....xi Chapter 1: Introduction.......................................................................................................1 1.1 – Aims ……………………………………………………………………................1 1.2 – Background to the Maltese islands: a brief geographical and historical profile………………………………………………………………………..........3 1.3 – Why this study? ………………………………………………………..................9.. 1.4 – Research context …………………………………………...........................1.....10... 1.5 – Data set ……………………………………………………………….................13 1.6 – Research methodology and approach ……………………...................................15. 1.7 – Thesis outline ……………………………………………....................................16 Chapter 2: The Making of a Sacred Landscape ……………………………................18 2.1 – Aims of chapter ……………………………….....................................................18 2.2 – Defining landscape ……………………………………………………................18 2.3 – Islandscapes and seascapes ……………………..................................................22. 2.4 – Settlements’ landscapes and settlements in landscapes ………...........................24. 2.5 – Colonisers and colonized ……………………......................................................27 2.6 – Geographical and human landscapes of the Mediterranean ……..........................30 2.7 – Sacred landscapes and places …………………....................................................34 2.8 – Choosing holy places …………………................................................................38 2.9 – Religious monuments as symbolic representations …………...............................41 2.10 – Religious monuments as memorial representations …….....................................44 2.11 – Sacred spaces with maritime connections ……………........................................45 2.12 – Summary ……………………………………......................................................49 Chapter 3: Religious Behaviour, Expression, and Experience …….............................52 3.1 – Aims and method of chapter …………………….................................................52 3.2 – Religion: towards a definition ………………………...........................................53 3.3 – Religion and its material forms ……………….....................................................55 3.4 – Religion, identity, and hybridity ………………...................................................59 3.5 – Ritual and cult: meaning, expression, and performance ……................................64 3.6 – Material symbols and iconography ……………....................................................70 3.7 – Power and ritual …………………….....................................................................71 3.8 – Ritual deposition ………………………................................................................74 i 3.9 – Ritual experience and engagement …………….....................................................78 3.10 – Fertility-related cults …………………………...................................................79 3.11 – More cults related to the rural world ……............................................................87 3.12 – Maritime cults …………….................................................................................92 3.13 – Divinities with maritime attributes …………......................................................93 3.14 – The ‘divine’ character of ships ……………........................................................95 3.15 – Magic, superstition, and religion ……………......................................................99 3.16 – Summary ……………………............................................................................102 Chapter 4: Maltese Sacred Sites and Ritual Activities: Five Case Studies …………………………...................................................104 4.1 – Maltese cult sites: an introduction ………………................................................104 4.1.1 – Tas-Silġ: A Ritual Focus in the South-East Region ……..................................106 4.1.2 – Tas-Silġ and its environs: geographical extent and topographical features ………………………………………..................................................107 4.1.3 – Continuous human presence and activity in the territory around Tas-Silġ: the evidence ………………...................................................1 09 4.1.4 – Cave occupation ……………............................................................................110 4.1.5 – From caves to built structures …………..........................................................111 4.1.6 – Subsistence organisation ………......................................................................111 4.1.7 – Burials and other elements as indicators of nearby settlements …....................117 4.1.8 – Activities centred on religious buildings ………...............................................11 8 4.1.9 – Communication systems ……..........................................................................119 4.1.10 – Maritime interaction and trade ………...........................................................120 4.1.11 – The Tas-Silġ Sanctuary site: evidence of continuous occupation …..............121 4.1.12 – Interest in the Tas-Silġ site: a brief historical outline ….................................12 1 4.1.13 – Earliest known occupation at Tas-Silġ ………...............................................124 4.1.14 – New generations, new ideas,