The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the...

9

Transcript of The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the...

Page 1: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription
Page 2: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription
Page 3: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

Fig. l The Ch restion Inscripnon: The sJiglu[ t· faded partS are rhe only origina l pam of dle inscription. The reH is rhe fmit of th e reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription W~ .~

o riginall)'at theJcsufr College in Va lIeua. It go t' broken after this co ll ege was tako:n overby Grand Master Pinro in 17GB. (Photo: Daniel Ci lia)

The Proserpina Temple and the History of its Chrestion Inscription

Simon Mercieca lis['!' ~ln J cb rifi tS the in lclOnation \urrul,lnding chis fOimcd inscriprion

If there is one Roman remain found in Malca chac has

intrigued many scholars, chls is che C hrescion Inscdpcio n.

Interest in rhis inscription was prompred by the desire ro

know the exac t meaningofits Latin wordingand the legal

implications chat these words could have for the general

historyofMaica during Roman times.

A few monchs before he died on 1" April20 14, Rev.

DrJoseph Busurtil handed me some p'pers, which he had

written but never found the (ime to publish . For thls reason, I

have scarred editing them co make their publication pOSSible.

The Chresrion rnscription is the subject of one of them.

Busuttil had rranslated this inscription and dated it after

27BC. His English translarion is as follows, but the las[words

in the btackets ate my addition:

33· TreasuresofMalra 6 1,Chrisun:lS2014

Simon Mercieca isa French­trained historian who specializ.csindem<>gGlphic and behavioural history. He isaSenioI Lecrurer at the Depanmemof Hisrorywirhin the Faculty ofArrs:lrme Un(versiry of Malta, and coordinator oft.he Contemporary Mediterr;'illean. Srudics Course;\( the same f.aculry.

Page 4: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

Chrestion the freedman of Augustus, procuracor of

rhe islands of Mel ira and Gaulos rescored the columns

together with the gables and the walls of the temple

ofProserpina which was in grave danger of collapsing

through old age; at the same time he also gilded the

pillar [of the statue].

Rev. Dr Busuttil had made this translation followed by a

etailed analysis, which is going co be the subject of a separare

:udy co be published in the next issue of this publication.

S A G I DI

DISSE TAZIO '.1 ACCADEMICHE

PuliblicaTnente ktfe NELLA

NOBILE ACCADEMIA ETRUSCA

Dell' antichiffima Citia di Cor tona.

I N ROMA MD CCXXXV. A fpefe de' 7'agliarini Mercanti-Librari a CPafquino.

• Nella Stamperia del EernabO. )( CO" JitC1Jza d~' SIJperJ6rl .

34 . Treasures ofMalca 61, Chrisrmas 2014

Fig. 2

The fromispicce of rhe book Saggi diDissertazioni AccademiclJe Pubblicamente LeLLe nella No bile

Accademia Etmsca (Rome, 1735), in which Giuseppe Claudio Guyor published rhe letrer of the Maltese sch.olar [Th.omas~·i[leJ Ignazio Consranzo.

This was written when he was still reaching Classics a[

the University of Malta. In the meantime, four important

publications about Roman Ivialca appeared which refer [Q

this inscription:

• The first is by Anthony Bonanno, Matta Romana,

published in 1992, wherein the author bemoans the

fragmentary state of chis inscription, 'dunque di non

Jude intopretazione'. J

• In che second, Anthony Pace reproduced a black

and white phocograph of this inscription in the

frontispiece ofhis book.Nlelit. & Gaul (1995) but

makes no reference [Q its his[Qry.

• In the third, Horace Vella translated for the first

time this inscriprion into Malrese.2

• In the fourth, Bonanno rewrns [Q che text in

his book.Nlatta, Phoenician) Punic andRoman

published in 2005. This rime, Bonanno places the

inscription within the wider framework of Roman

Nfalta but wi th great caution states [hat Chrestion

'seems to be an exam pIe' of a personal agent of

the Roman Emperor known as 'procurator'. Ie

commemorates a certain Chrestion's generosity

towards the temple ofProserpina. According to

Bonanno, the lasr sentenCe of this inscription is not

clear and has been read variously as 'at the same time

he gilded the pillar'. Bonanno righdy asks: 'which

pillar?' Bonanno thinks that the Larin word 'pita'

refers to [he fact char Chrestion 'also gilded the cult

starue'.3 In my opinion, [his word 'pila' could easily

refer to rhe statue's pedestaL

In the light of these observations, Busuttil's work assumes

great importance for [he history of Mal ca. Noc only does he

give us a learned opinion as to the correct interpretation of the

text but more importantly, he places [he inscription within

irs correct hisrorical context solving, in the process, riddles

re lared to the h isto r y 0 f M al ta during Ro man ti m es.

Page 5: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

Fig.3 Ludov;co MUTatori's transcription of rhe Chresdon Inscription.ltwas published in Volume 3 of his book, Novus Thesaurus Velerum (Milan. 1739).

According to a study carried oue in the second half of

the eighteenth century by GiuseppeJacopo Tescaferrata,

this inscription was discovered by Petro Budo. The first

person, however, to reproduce this cablet was Giorgio

Gualtieri in a publication that appeared in Rome. 4 It is

not dear in what condition itwas found. Most probably,

it was discovered shattered after peasants til! ing their land

scattered the fragments. s

Giovanni Francesco Abela speCifies [hat the inscription

was found on the Mtarfahill, a few metres away from where

other ruins of the temple ofProserpina were lying: these were

in [he precincts of me Church ofSt Michael next to the fief

known as 'al giardino ditto deL Re'.6 Abela also locates the exact

position of this Temple on the map ofMdina and its environs

that he included in his book. But he was far more interested in

the fragments of this inscription, which he picked up for his

museum-home at Marsa.

The next task was its transcription and to account

for [he words or letters that had gone missing by then.

The inscrip(ion had been transcribed by both Burlo and

Gualtieri, bUt Abela was not happy with these transcriptions

and interpretations and ended up seeking me advice of a

certain Don Pietro Carrera, reputed to be an outstanding

Latinisc.7 The inscription was in such a bad state mat there

were even problems deciphering a number of words. BUt as

Joseph Busuttil affirms, the work was good on the whole,

even if mere was a word or fragment missing and could not

be reconstituted. Instead the missingeextwas indicated by

Abela through a series of diacritic symbols. Another word was

speHed incorreccly: 'Fastidiis' (meaning loathing) should have

been 'fostigiis' (meaning gables) .

There was a debate whether the firsc words on the

inscription were one or two separate words. If read as one

word, it stood for a person, the subjecc of this paper, Chrescion

Augustus (as Gualtieri insisced), bur if they were separace, as

Carrera recommended, they stood for two separace persons;

Chrestion and the Emperor Augustus. Unfortunarely, none

of the original pares with the leners and/ onvords has come

down to us chat could help elucidaee furrher.

Abela's reproduction was to become che aUthoritative

eext regard ing this inscription for a II future scholars. Ie was at

this poine thac anomer important scholar of Maltese classical

history comes in; rhis was Tommaso Constanzo. Consrancius

restored che broken tablet and as was the custom at me time,

added a shore note stating that he, 'Thomas Conscancius

puc together rhe anciem fragmems which were broken in

many pieces and filled the missing words using old drafts for

I?as- MLVnL G BOGRA PH I·e A.

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35· TreasuresofMalra 61, Ch(istmas201 4

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Page 6: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

fucure memory'. However, it is not clear whether Tommaso

Cons(anzo put the surviving marble pieces together before

or afte.r Abela published his work.8 LikeAbela, Constanzo

used [he diacritic signs ro indicate the missingpiece of (his

inscription. Ie is this restored inscription by Conscanzo, which

ends up at Abela's home at lvfarsa.

Tommaso Constanzowas born in Val1ectaon 1608,

(he son of che physician Giuseppe Costanzo and Speranza

Garibo.9 More imporcandy, he is the same Don Ignazio

Tommaso Constanzo, who later on in (he century appears

as Canon of the Cacl1edral Chapter of Malta and a.dviser to

the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Malta. Furthermore,

Ignazio Tommaso Constanzo was an important advocate,

became a Prelate, or to be more exacc, appointed co the

Prelatura di San Pancrazio in Rome. He had a personal

interest in arc and was che person who paid for the

decoration of the Cathedral vauh:. 10 Saverio Ignazio Mifsud

states chat chis Ignazio Conscanzo was the author of a

manuscript work. I I The final confirmation chat Ignazio

Constanzo and Tommaso Constanzo were one and the same

person. is given by Amonio Bulifon. Bulifon published a

letter by Canon Ignazio Cooscanzo, dated 1694, wherein

the la([er discusses his archaeological excavations at Ghar

Sarka 12 and the twO Cippi that were in Abela's collection.1.l

This confirms Ignazio Tommaso Constanzo's imerest in

:lassical antiquity.J4

36· TreasurtsofMa\r;). 61,Chrisrmas20l4

Fjg.4

The Cippus from rhe Temple ofTas-Silg.lr was published by Giuseppe Claudio Guyot in rhe

bookSaggi ... , p . 25 . The cippi were discovered at Marsaxlokkafter 1647 :wd Abela rook them to

decorare (he emrance corridor oEhis villa at Marsa.

It was this rescored tabler that Jacques Spon saw when,

accompanied by Monsieur Galland, they visited Malta a few

years after Abela's death. He was interested in gathering as much

information as possible on Malta's classical remains since he was

planninga publication. about ancient antiquities. Eventually, h.e

ended up publishing two books, both carrying references to rhis

inscription. In the first. he attested that some marble remains

dating back co Roman and Greek times could be seen in the

Grand lvlaster's garden. No doubr he must have been referring

to Abela's house, known as Casa di San Giacomo at Marsa. This

house with irs biggardens was bequeathed to the Order of Saint

John IS bur its 'usufruct' was passed to theJesuits. Nevertheless,

me Knights Hospitaller seem (Q have taken their time to

implement Abela's wishes. In all probability che Grand Master

must have been making use of this residence outside Valiecca

before handing it over to the Jesuits.

When reading these ancienc Greek and Roman

inscriptions, Spon relied on Abela's and Gualtieri's

publications but had also consulred a manuscript, which

contained inscriptions recorded by Abela and Gllaltieri. 16

In his next publication, Spon published the text of the

Chrestion inscription. I ?

This late seventeenth-century assiduous interest in

Chrescion's inscription caught the attention of Grand

Master Caraffa (ruled between ~680-1690) who ordered the

recycling of scone and marble from the Tern pIe ofProserpina

to be used for making baroque trophies and sculptUred coats

of arms for the embellishment of the fa~ade of the Auberge

d'ltalie. ls

Ac the turn of the eighteenth century, this inscription

was studied by two illustrious European scholars; Ludovico

Murarori 19 and Sebastiano Paoli. 20 Their main interest

was co reproduce the Latin text. Howeve(, Paoli goes (hree

seeps further:

• FirSt, he was interested in juxcaposing the

inscription wich the cype of admin istration Malca

had during Roman rule.

Page 7: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

Fig.S The Dissertnzione or study by Giuseppe Claudio GuyOt de Marne (1735).

Secondly, he furnished his imerpre[ation of the

Latin word which Abela or Carrera could not

account for in the inscription, and wrote that it

was 'cofiaps'.21

• Thirdly, Paoli informs [he readers as to its

whereabouts. In 1730, rhe inscription was

decorating the garden of Abela's vitia, which was

now in rhe hands of theJesujt Fathers?:?' This means

that in the meantime, the Jesuits had come inco

possession of Abela's house wirh all its coments of

anciem memorabilia.23 Paoli stated that what he

transcribed was what he had seen on inspecting the

Chrestion inscription. However, the wording of

the inscription was not reproduced correctly in his

publication, as a whole line was left our. 24

The fact that the Jesuits were in possession of Abela's

ancient artefacts is again reconfirmed by Giuseppe Claudio

Guyot in 1735. GuYOt reaffirmed what Constanzo had stated

to Bulifon abour the two famous cippiwith Greek and Punic

inscriprions and that these were in [he Jesuits' possession. 2)

The inscription was then stUdied by Jacques Philippe

d'Orville and Pietro Burmanno,26 Gabriele Lancillorco

Castelli,27Prancesco Agius De Soidanis2R and Giuseppe Jacopo

Testaferrata. Of all these scholars, Tesraferrata is rhe most

important. Ignazio Saverio Mifsud encouraged Testaferrata to

write about the history ofits discovery, bu t more importantly

to place itwithin the concen of Malta's Roman history besides

giving a full transcription, including the reconstiwrion of the

word not deciphered by Abela . In a letter sem to Testaferrata

by FrancescusAgius (De Soldanis) from hishome in Nadur,

one gets co know that Agius held the work ofTestaferrata in

highesteem.29 Moreover, Testaferrataadds that by his time,

the inscripcion was being housed at the J emit's college (presenr

day University) in Vallerca:'o This means that in between the

publication of Paoli and Testaferrata, the Jesuits had transferred

Abela's museum co Valletta.

2S

DISSER T AZIONE IIA. DEL COMMENDATORE

F. CIUSEPPE CLAUDIO GUYO'F DE MARNE LORENESE DELL' ORDlNE GERosqtlMlT ANO

S07JRA VN'INSCRIZIONE PVNICA, E G.RECA 4

i ss END 0 nell'l(ola. di Malta, \tcnnemi [aHa I orfervazione in lIna 'luaG fotterrata In(crizione ) che /lava oel Giardino-de1 Vicecancelliere Abela, dato poiin cullodia a'RR. PP. Ge(uiti, la qUlle elfcndo quafi tutta fepolta, tcnnemi il (uo fignifi­cato per gran tempo in,agitazione, fino a tanto

5~~1 ~YI che, effendoli da me can nOI) poea [atiga del I~::::!~~:!!!~;:::::..': tutto (coperta, ritrov.:I.i effere u·n'Infcrizione '.. - Punica, e GreG!.; 1:2 qualc non credendo da altri

pubblicata, giache ne pure il ropradctto Abela della medelima polfedi­tore ne ha faua menz:ione'; benehc molte In(crizioni, Monumcnti 1

Medaglie , ed .lItre Antichit:\ concernenti quell' I (ola riporti 1 hollima­to, che non t:1ra di[caro agli Eruditi ,~ (e io porro la medefrma (otto gli ocelli ,loro, e ipieghero intorno.ad e{[1 i miei [entimenti.

E' necclfario primieramente (;1perfi) che due filrono i Marmi nel (opudetto luogo ritrovati , :ul1beduc della mcddiOl:l forma, granden:l) ed Infcrizionc, il che mi £:1 giudicare, non clfere, queita memoria rcpol­craIe) rna piutofto Voto a <]ualche Tcmpio affilfo, overo Memoria per

. altm cagione polla in luogo pubbIico, in cui entrancloG, 0 nell' uleire) ,. 0 nelle par.ti laterali dell' ingrelro, 0 nel portico folfe quella memoria.

duplicata, accio phi f.1cilmente da' cmio{j leggere (j potelfc. In ognun.l a~unque ~i quefte In(criziolli ) di due forti o(fervanfi i caratteri, il rupe­rlore Punteo, e Greco I'in(eriore: oDde m'immaginai a prima villa 1

che quell' ultimo non folfe, che ulla tmduzione del Punico: ma confi­derando eUcre troppo prolilla per contenerli nella /Tare Greca, tanto piu, dIe nelle lingue Orientali, nOll (crivevanfi Ie vocali; cd in fine, perche 1a pllrola l:APAnIONor nella Punica non vi f.<trebbe, che una volta, dove rcpetuto loabbiamo nella Grcca ; cangiata opinione, credo nOll poterti altro argomentare, a tenore di quelh'lccO'nda Infcriz.ione ,

'~ ~-

Unforrunately, the marble tablet passed through bad

times after the expulsion of the Jesuit Society from Malra in

1767. Gio. Francesco Ciancar offers dues about what had

happened. He affirms that by the time of the pu blication

of his book in 1772, th is inscription had very few original

pieces of marble. This means thar the reconstruction made by

Constanzo was smashed and a number of pieces went missing.

In fact, Ciantar informs his readers that very few marble pieces

were [recovered byus' and the whole reconstitution was only

possible [following the publication and the study made by

him [Abela): so that with the passage of time nothingis lost,

because it had the tragedy of having fallen into the wrong

hands who carelessly preserved it'.J' To protect the inscription

from further aC[s of vandalism, Ciantar states that it began to

behoused 'at our museum'.32

At the turn of the nineteenth cemury, interest in the

inscription was rekindled by Onorato Bres. Bres accounts for

the new place of this inscription, and in so dOing, indirectly

informs us where Abela's collection, after the suppression

of the Jesui tS, had ended. After 1812, these artefacts were

exhibited in a room at the National Library in Valletta.33

In the second half of the nineteemh century, A.A.

Caruana refers to this inscription in two of his publications. In

his report on Phoenician and Roman Antiques published in

1882, he states [hat there were no ruins left of the Proserpina

Temple in the Mtarfa area. 34 In Frammento Critico, Caruana

37 . Treasures ofMalra 61, Christmas 2014

Page 8: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

}. Gutedrale qnlill) RuoulJ ek' S Pubb!io. ~. Palazzo 'del . Usc<wo I). S(:m;nario . . Jf. ~nvmto; {' Chiesa clel all-mine. S'. UISO del i~fpgislr(lt{j. (i. Armai(l . ,. JVwnustero di s: Rdro. K Ittfaz1:0 del Prinript:.. 9· (i}rill.

reproduces the text of me inscription. while pointing ou t

that 'the marble, fixed to the wall of the museum of the Public

Ubrary lacks some ofits fragments : but the Commendatore

Abela, who for many years had it as a whole at his museum of

S. Giacomo, had transcribed it'. 35

The current state of the tablet confirms this and

Ciantar's StOry. The inscri prion now has only eight small

38 . Treasures of Malta 61 , Christmas 2014

.. ".-

. ... __ :...-:.::-.

10. Cntta d:' S. !bela 1/. Ot:r iJ S. Ap')Qjtclo prrd,cuuC/.

. If}: Temple cu {'h5trpinct I

I fl. CCl1rxnto . c Om:.H{' di .5: 19c;,lmr .

. ' 11,.. S ii-anus,'c l It. Chlt,W, e (C·m/cntc dl S IV •. d, L('.j·Jj

j l(j. ec.1J(f{"~fu'lr C~~i-'S(t fje- ff Pon1ll}lCW11

i Ii. Site ,ul! (1J)1ll:t\.]j.~nflO d 1~1t1,'11f: I

bits of original marble, the rest is the re~cast made under

Ciantar's supervision between 1767 and 1772, in line with

Constanzo's modeL

Despite the fact that very few original fragments

survived, Abela's work began to receive international

accreditation, and the Chrestion inscription was included in

the authori tative series of Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum

Page 9: The prosperina temple and the history of its chrestion inscriptionThe reH is rhe fmit of the reconsrruction underraken on the initiarive of Count Gio. Antonio Cianrar. This inscription

opposite : Fig. 6

A reconstmcred site-map ofMdina and its environs as it was

supposed ro have appeared in Roman urnes. It was published by

Gio. Anconio Cianrar in his bookMaltaIlltutmta (I 772). (Photo: Danid Cilia)

(CIL) . These volumes scaned being published in 1862,

bringing together all [he inscriptions from the Classical

Age.::I6This inscription also found its place in cheseiection

made of the epigraphic corpus by Hermann Dessau in 1913.37

Busunil used ehese standard texts, as published in these two

authorieative works, as his source of analysis. These tWO latter

works however, did not include ehe woed 'coLLaps.' (which

Abela represented by diacritic symbols) proposed by Paoli and

Testaferrata amongorhers.

Thus, the study of this inscription is not only important

for ehe investigation ofMalra's classical period, but can ehrow

new lighc on what was happening in Malta both in [he field of

classical erudition and politics during early modern times.

Notes

Anthony Bonanno, Roman Malta, Malta Romllna: The Arthaeological Heritage o/the Maltese Islands (1992),69.

2 Horatio VclJa,Malta u Ghawdex fl-Era Klassika (Mal[a: PIN, 2002),70· 71. 3 Anrhony Bonanno. M,:;,/ta, Phoenician, Punic Ilnd Roman (MaJe:l. : Midsea

Books Lrd., 2005), 203. 4 Giorgio Gualcieri, Siciliae Obiacentit/Tn Insular[ um 1 et Bruttiorum

Antiqual' 7/zbulae cum AnimadverJi omib[ us 1 (Messina, 1624). 341. See

also G io. Francesco A bela, Della DesC1'ittione di .Maltalsola nel }.tIfiTe Siciliano: con Ie sue flntichita, I'd altre no/izie (Mab.: Paolo Bonacota.

1647),209. 5 JosephusJacobus Tesraferraca,De Epigraphe Templi ProJerpinae (Valletta.

1759),18. 6 Abela . op. cie., 209.

7 Ibid. , 207·208. 8 Tescaferraca. op. rir.. 17. 9 Parish Archives Vallecta, St Paul's, Baptismal Registm. Act 12, August 1608. 10 N(:uional ) L(ibrary oF) M(alra), Lib. 1142. no. 124. II Saverio 19nazio Mifsud, Bibiioteca Maltm (Mab, J 764), 412. 12 Anronio Bulifol1. Lettere j\1emombili, istor/che, Politiche, ed Erudite

(Napoli, 1697), Vol. 4,119. 13 Ibid ., J29. 14 NLM, Lib. 1142. no. 124. 15 Anrhony Bonanno. 'G iovanni Francesco Abela's Legacy co cheJesuit

J

College: Pl'occedingso/HL{/01J Week /983 (The Malea Historical Sociery,

1984), 27-38 . 16 Jacob Spon, Recherches Curieuses d'Anliquite Contmlles en P/WieuTS

Di.iurlatlOnJ sur de Medadles Bas-Relief statu.CJ, }.tIosaitjue.( et ImC/'iplions Antiques (Lyon: Thomas Amaulry, 1683),461-462.

17 Jacob Spon,Miscellanea Erudit;c AntiquiratiJ (Venice, 1679), 190-191. 18 Giovanni Antonio Cianrar,MttltalffllStrata (1772), Vol. 2. 570. 19 Ludovico Murarori. Novus Thesaurus Veterum fnscriptionllm in Pmecipius

earum tlem CoLlectionibllS Hl1e/tnus PmetermiSfal'llm, Vol . 3, MLVlII .

20 Sebastiano Paoli, Codice Diplomatico delSacro Militare arc/inc GerostJ/imitano (Lucca, 1737), 504.

21 Paoli wrore 'Fastoditiis' instead o ('ja.<tigiis , ; 'De' ins read of'Er' and

'lIl'tustatecollap.' inmad ofVET(ustate [in]) RViNAM. fN[min 1 ENTl[sl

22 Paoli, op. cic., 504. 23 Testaferrara. op. ciL, 16. 24 Unfo[(unaee/y, Paoli or his publisher skipped a line (minam

imminentibus) when reproducing rhe teX[ of [his inscription.

25 Giuseppe Claudio GuYOt. 'De Marne Dissercazione II ' in Saggi dt D issertazioniAaademichc Pubblicl1menle. Lette nellfl Nobile Accademia EtruSCI1 (Rome, 1735),25. The cippi were discovered at Marsaxlokk after

1647, and Abela [Oak them to decorate the enrrance corridorof his villa

aeMarsa.

26 Jacques Philippe d 'OrviJle and Pierro Burmanno, SiCIlIa: quibus Sidliae Vetel'is Rudera, AddiiisAntiquitatum Tabulis lflustl'lZntur: Edidit, ct Commentarium ad Numismata Siadtl (Amsterdam: Gerard Tidenberg), 492.

27 Gabriele Lancillorro Casce/Ii, Sidliac et Objflcentil~minsttlflmm J1:temm fnmiptitmumNova Collectio ProlegomeniJ (Palermo: T ipografia Regia, 1784).

28 Gio. Francesco Agius De. Soldanis, Chawdex bil.migjub ghall-Malti miYm Dun GUiepp Farrugia (Malta. 1936),83.

29 Testaferrac;}, op, cir., 5. 30 Ibid., 16. 31 Ciancar, op. ci[ .• 567. The follOwing te..xtwas added by Cianrar and is not

part of Abela's original texr: 'da not ricupcrtll dopo l'impresJione, e la memoria ehe'cgD nefice: I1ccioche' in progl'eJJO dt tempo aifato non pcrissero. poich'ebbere la di.<graziA d 'wert prima {apitllte aIle mani di dJi trascuro' di eomervflrfi'.

32 Ibid., 'ConserlJata nel iJostro mllSco '. 33 Onorato Bres,Malta Antica fllustrata (Rome, 1816),334. 34 A.A. Caruana, Report on the Phoeniciantltld Roman Antiques in the Croup

oJthe fslandsojMalta (Malta, 1882),88, 136. 3S A.A . Caruana, Frammento Critieo della Storin Fenicio-CartagineJc, Greco·

ROfI'Jana e Bisantina delle isole diMalta (Malta. 1899),289: 'il marmo, mltrato ne.llvfuseo dcLla PubblicaBibiioteca nJAnca di 1l1ctm~fi't1.mmenti: ma if comm. Abela chI' Fha avuto integro nei suo JvIuseo di S. Giacomo per molto tempo ciha tJ'tlSCritlv'.

36 CJL. 10, 7494.

37 Hermann Dessau.insaipliones Latinal'Seicctae, Vol. II (1 ) ( 1913), 122. No. 397 5.

39 . Treasures ofMa.lta 61. Chrisrmas 2014