M

MALTA

ECHOES OF PLATO’S ISLAND

The Prehistoric Society of Malta

2001

Before the invention of the telescope by Jan Lippersheim in 1608, Nicolaus Copernicus produced this map (1543) challenging the theory prevailing at the time that the world was at the centre of the universe — several ancient texts had then reached Europe from fallen Constantinople. Copernicus was supported in his hypothesis by the observations of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler in 1609, when Galileo built his own telescope and also confirmed Copernicus through his observations of the solar system.

Photograph by Anton Mifsud

MALTA

ECHOES OF PLATO’S ISLAND

Anton Mifsud Simon Mifsud

Chris Agius Sultana Charles Savona Ventura

The Prehistoric Society of Malta

2001

MALTA: ECHOES OF PLATO’S ISLAND Anton Mifsud, Simon Mifsud, Chris Agius Sultana, Charles Savona Ventura ISBN No. 99932-15-02-3. First published by the Prehistoric Society of Malta, July 2000. Second Edition, September 2001, revised by Anton Mifsud. © The Prehistoric Society of Malta. Except when stated otherwise, line drawings by Tabitha Mifsud, photography and full text by Anton Mifsud. Cover design by Tabitha Mifsud and Proprint Co. Ltd. Underwater photography by Chris Agius Sultana. All rights reserved. No part of this volume may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means with the prior permission of the Prehistoric Society of Malta. (E-mail - antonmif@synapse.net.mt). Printed by Proprint Co. Ltd., Shepherds Street, Mosta, MST 08, Malta. Sole distributor — The Prehistoric Society of Malta (e-mail - tesscam@maltanet.net.mt).

To Maria, Michaela and Zea

Preface to the first edition The present theme of Plato’s Island was initiated by one of Malta’s senior archaeologists, definitely not a diehard archaeologist, and presently the Head of Archaeology and Classics at the University of Malta. During his lecture at the Medical School on St. Luke’s Day, 1998, Anthony Bonanno made mention of Giorgio Grongnet, the architect of the Mosta Dome, and one of the chief proponents for the identification of Plato’s island in the Maltese islands — Grongnet had dedicated the greater part of his life to the solution of this problem, and his manuscript is still to be found at the National Library in Valletta. He had unfortunately lost his credibility when he attempted to sustain his hypothesis through a forged inscription, a circumstance which he himself freely admitted. It was also during 1998 that I was actually conducting research in order to disprove this very hypothesis as then being resuscitated by Chris Agius Sultana from Rabat. The outcome was a reversal of my original intention in liaison with my fellow authors. Which category of archaeologist – scholar of antiquities – is best suited to deal with the main theme of this publication? Is it the professional, the quack or the amateur? The professional archaeologist is not necessarily fully qualified to dictate an exclusive interpretation of accumulated data, for archaeology embraces a multitude of disciplines, and the professional archaeologist’s exclusivity lies solely with his license to dig and to report faithfully upon what he has destroyed. (My personal preference for a truly professional archaeologist outside of the Maltese Islands is Paul Bahn. He makes archaeology intensely interesting, and is honest enough to admit a soft spot for Indiana Jones). One category of professional archaeologist who qualifies for a key role in such an investigation on Plato’s Island is the specialized underwater archaeologist who is well equipped for the job. Advances in underwater technology have been responsible in recent times for the discovery of ancient sites lost by submersion, and for operations upon the Titanic and the Kursk. This brings us to the diehard archaeologist, the graduate in archaeological studies who raises an eyebrow, or both, at the mere mention of Plato’s Island, and who immediately betrays his prejudice by refusing to consider any evidence linked with this theme. He would have to insist that the Russian submarine was a collective burial site because a large quantity of bodies was discovered inside it, in the same way that the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is still assumed to represent a collective burial site on the same grounds. Genuine scholarship requires no added weight of authority, and the efforts of quack archaeologists are not worthy of consideration — a quack is strictly a person who claims a doctoral qualification when he has none. Prehistoric interpretation is open to all scholars with sufficient gray matter in their skulls to exclude personal bias in favour of logical processes. The theme of Plato’s Island is ideally dealt with by the genuine amateurs of archaeology, particularly those scholars who have no personal interests in gain or promotion through the hypotheses they formulate. It is this last category that we have attempted to emulate.

Preface to the second edition

This early second edition has been occasioned through the rapid exhaustion of the first. It has been made possible through the collaboration of a number of friends, chief among whom I would like to include Edwin Lanfranco, Geraldine Camilleri, Joan Marler and Linda Eneix. Abigail has once more read the final draft. At the turn of the millennium, Atlantis has been included in the "traditional" works of archaeology, albeit in a disparaging context, where the attempts of genuine amateurs to identify Plato's island are denigrated in a most unscholarly manner. The bi-monthly Americal journal Archaeology and the textbook by the same name have both neglected to disguise their bias when dealing with the theme. Thus both publications have attempted to pontificate from their mythical ivory towers by emarginating amateur archaeologists in general to an-"other", a "pseudo-", "on the fringe" and a dowright fraudulent category of archaeology of the Piltdown type; the self-styled true professional archaeologists are assumed to be themselves, the "searchers," with a self-awarded exclusive right to the interpretation of archaeological data. (It is as if the culprit for the Piltdown forgery has been identified, and Woodward Smith of the British Museum exonerated from any participation in the fraud). But truly remarkable are the comments relating to the opinion of the "scientist" in these matters, for the authors seem to ignore the fact that most "searchers" or so-called "professional" archaeologists lack the required quantum of basic scientific knowledge, whether this is anatomy, biology, botany, physiology, pathology, bacteriology, forensics, physics or chemistry - one lecture on radiocarbon dating is hardly satisfactory to professionalize a graduate in archaeological studies. On the other hand, the contrary is true for most amateurs. Three of the four authors of this publication are scientists who are fully accredited also in the United Kingdom. Less than a century ago one sole Maltese scientist in the same discipline, Temi Zammit, proved his archaeological worth by challenging even Arthur Evans over Tarxien, and Zammit's dating of Tarxien has remained unchanged although also challenged later by Arthur's namesake, John D. History repeats itself, and once again the amateur researcher will topple the professed searcher over. The evidence for our hypothesis on Plato's Island is being presented not to the searchers' establishment for any form of approval, but to a jury of readers for their final decision. A. M.

Table of Contents

Preface vi

List of illustrations ix Introduction 1

The Twentieth Century 1 An assessment of the megalithic structures 1

The ancient texts 2 The Egyptian Priests 2

The library of Alexandria 2 The antiquity of sources in the texts 4

Severe losses of ancient texts 4 Corruption of texts 4

Politics and prehistory 6 Discoveries confirming the texts 6

Solon and Psonchis in Sais 8 Fact or Fiction 10

Acceptance of Plato’s story 12 Similar cataclysms in historical accounts 12 The search for Plato’s island 12

Malta as a remnant of Plato’s island 14 Criteria for qualification 16

1. A larger landmass in antiquity 16 (a) Early antiquity 16

The early scholars 16 Bathemetry in the nineteenth century 16

Fossil remains 18 Stratigraphy 18

(b) Later antiquity 18 The ancient geographers 18 Cart ruts 24 Biogeographic index 26

2. Floral, faunal and anthropological links with the Pelagian islands and North Africa during the prehistoric period 26

Podarcis 26 Anthropological links 28

Cultural links with the countries dominated by Plato’s island 28 Links with ancient Tyrrhenia 28

Links with ancient Egypt 28 Links with ancient Libia 30

3. Tectono-seismic profile of the Maltese islands 32 Tilting 34

4. Catastrophic events on Malta 36 The flood in ancient cultures 36

Torrential flooding events 36 Human victims of flooding events in the late Neolithic 38

Land submergence and subsidence 40 Submerged temples 42

Land movements on Malta during the Holocene 44 Volcanic activity on Malta 44

5. The Chronology 46 Absolute dating 46

Relative dating 46 Radiocarbon dating 46

6. Features on Malta compatible with Plato’s description 48 Geography 48

The western ocean 48 The Straits of Heracles 48

Plato’s relative geography 52 Cultural and physical features 52

Cultural features 52 Physical features – cart ruts 52

Physical features – temples 54 7. Other ancients texts confirming the geographical position of Plato’s Atlantika 56

Ogygia 56 Malta or Crete 56

Chaldean links 58 Conclusion 58

Summary 58 Endnotes 60

References 64 Plates 73

Index 84

List of illustrations

Figures

Figure 1. The ancient texts 3 Figure 2. The antiquity of sources for the ancient texts 5 Figure 3. Corruption of the texts 5 Figure 4. Revival of the ancient authors 7 Figure 5. Mythology transformed into history 7 Figure 6. The story on the temple walls 9 Figure 7. Features of Plato’s Island 11 Figure 8. The Parthenon 11 Figure 9. Graham’s Island 13 Figure 10. The search for Plato’s island 15 Figure 11. Deodat de Dolomieu 17 Figure 12. The Central Mediterranean sea floor 19 Figure 13. Ptolemy’s maps confirmed after seventeen centuries 21 Figure 14. Ptolemy’s maps of the Maltese Islands 22 Figure 15. A wider latitude for Malta 23 Figure 16. The extensive networks of cart ruts 25 Figure 17. The Maltese wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis 27 Figure 18. Links with ancient Egypt 29 Figure 19. Links with ancient North Africa 31 Figure 20. Tectono-seismic profiles of the Central Mediterranean 33 Figure 21. The Pantelleria Rift and Tilting 35 Figure 22. Major flooding events in the Mediterranean 37 Figure 23. Alluvial nature of human remains in the hypogea 39 Figure 24. Maltese human remains in alluvial events 41 Figure 25. Submerged prehistoric man-made structures 43 Figure 26. Land displacements in recent times 45 Figure 27. Radiocarbon dates for prehistoric Malta 47 Figure 28. Landmasses between Libia and Sicily 49 Figure 29. Small islands 50 Figure 30. The Straits of Heracles and the western ocean 51 Figure 31. Cult of the Bull 53 Figure 32. They built many temples to their gods 55 Figure 33. Malta or Thera 57 Figure 34. Links with Babylon and King Ninus 59

Plates

Plate 1. Poseidon and the dolphin 73 Plate 2. Secondary sources for the ancient texts 74 Plate 3. Volcanic ash at Mriehel 75 Plate 4. George Zammit Maempel and the distribution of volcanic ash areas 76 Plate 5. Elevation of sea level associated with Mediterranean seismic events 77 Plate 6. Aerial views of submerged features 78 Plate 7. Cart ruts on elevated areas – interrupted by land movement 79 Plate 8. Vestiges of cart ruts leading to the sea 80 Plate 9. Disappearing cart ruts 81 Plate 10. Submerged man-made structures at St. George’s Creek 82 Plate 11. The INA and ITV 83

ix

1

MALTA: ECHOES OF PLATO’S ISLAND

Introduction

The most ancient architectural civilisation

on the planet is represented by a megalithic

culture which flourished for a thousand

years between 3600/3500 and 2600/2500BC,

and which was concentrated on the tiny

Maltese archipelago in the Central

Mediterranean. The radiocarbon dates have

said so.1 The dates have also indicated

that, just after its sudden termination

around 2600/2500BC, the pyramidal form of

megalithic culture appeared in Egypt.

The small size of the Maltese archipelago of

today militates against the prominent

archaeological position it assumes. Its

megalithic monuments, decorative art and

statuary are the remarkable survivors of its

civilisation.2 The temples of Malta never

fail to amaze all nationalities, except for the

native Maltese. Yet how could such a small

surface area produce a civilisation

antedating the Egyptian one by a thousand

years?3 Equally enigmatic are the

circumstances of its sudden and abrupt

termination, followed by a complete break

in the archaeological record, and

represented by ―several feet of fine sand,

containing no stones or broken fragments of

rock and no traces of any Bronze Age pottery

or metal, clearly showing that this layer had

been deposited by centuries of wind and

rain, untouched by the hand of man‖4.

Although several hypotheses have been put

forward to explain its sudden and complete

elimination, such as famine, plague,

warfare and over-exploitation of natural

resources,5 a more satisfactory

interpretation in this regard is still

wanting.

The twentieth century

Problems with Maltese prehistory were

sparked off at the turn of the century with

Albert Mayr (1901), who identified the

megalithic structures on Malta and Gozo as

prehistoric rather than Phoenician. Malta‘s

prehistory was carried back from 1500 to

3000 BC. Merely a few years previously

Arthur Evans had established Bronze Age

Crete as the cradle of Mediterranean

civilisation. Mayr had barely shaken the

Cretan cradle in the Aegean when a series

of archaeological discoveries in Malta

completely reversed it. Three sites at

Tarxien established a new order in

Mediterranean prehistoric archaeology.

The Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, the Tarxien

temples and the Tarxien Cemetery site

delineated a new sequence, where art in

architecture was first manifest in Neolithic

Malta at around 3000BC6; calibrated

radiocarbon dating has since pinpointed the

Tarxien date to 3100BC7.

An assessment of the megalithic

structures

The megalithic structures of the Maltese

islands were already known abroad as

temples in the sixteenth century, such as by

Nostradamus8. Quintinus described the

megalithic temple at Grand Harbour which

is now lost, but which was also confirmed by

later visitors. 9

Maltese megalithic architecture developed

in insularity, as an isolated phenomenon,

without any parallels elsewhere on earth,

and with no known external source of

inspiration. These unique constructions,

the world‘s most impressive prehistoric

monuments, appeared before the temples of

the eastern Mediterranean and also before

the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.

―Neolithic Malta … developed, in its

insularity, in its own most original

manner‖.10 ―No significant parallels are at

present known to the temples, the carving,

the statuettes, or the pottery … they remain

an isolated phenomenon in prehistoric

Europe‖.11 ―Archaeologists have not ceased

to scour the Mediterranean from the Levant

to Spain in search of the culture from which

Malta drew its inspiration‖.12

―It should now be clear to all serious and

unbiased students of megaliths that these

structures of great stones came into existence

in many separate societies: Malta…‖13 ―It is

now not possible to derive the (Maltese)

temples from outside, and the spirals prove

older than those of Mycenae … The world‘s

most impressive prehistoric monuments …

The great stone monuments of Malta, and

the finds that go with them, have long

presented difficulties to the archaeologist …

the tree-ring calibration … sets aside

entirely the traditional links with the

Aegean‖.14

Malta:

2

―The temples of Malta are actually older

than the temples of the eastern

Mediterranean, older even than the

pyramids. Therefore, even though they knew

nothing of writing, wheeled transport or the

use of metal, the Neolithic inhabitants of

Malta must have been sufficiently

sophisticated in their own social

organisation to construct these

extraordinary monuments without external

help‖.15

Trump described the Maltese temples as

―site-orientated spatial systems of cyclopean

or orthostatic masonry‖.16 An architectural

assessment defines them as a ―series of

unique constructions that to this day testify

to the skill, ingenuity and sublimated

ambitions of these early inhabitants of the

Maltese islands‖.17

The ancient texts

People have been writing stories for a very

long time. Almost invariably with the

ancient authors, supernatural beings were

invoked as active participants in their early

prehistoric past. God of the Israelites

created the universe and picked them out as

the chosen race; he punished them for their

transgressions, and aided them in the wars

against their enemies. Other civilisations

too had their unseen god who influenced

human lives in a supernatural manner. In

a material world such ancient texts, tinged

as they are with the supernatural, would be

frowned upon with good reason, particularly

when they fail to measure up to scientific

methods. The main error with the ancient

texts has been their absolute chronology; in

Genesis, for example, on the one hand

Adam had lived for nine centuries, and on

the other, the world had been created a

mere four millennia before Christ. The

archaeology of the lands of the Bible,

however, tends to confirm the events

recorded in it. And the recently discovered

Dead Sea scrolls of Qumran (1947, 1956)

have confirmed both the Greek version of

the ancient Hebrew texts (Septuagint:

Alexandria 3rd century BC) and the Latin

one (Vulgate of St. Jerome, 3rd century AD).

Unfortunately however, although not

always accurate, the ―imperfectly preserved‖

ancient text of Manetho has always been

the professional archaeologist‘s mainstay of

ancient Egyptian chronology.

Manetho was an Egyptian priest who wrote

in the third century BC, and his subject

matter was the history and religion of

ancient Egypt. As is usually the norm with

ancient texts, the writings of Manetho have

reached us only through ―fragmentary and

often distorted quotations‖ by Josephus and

the Christian chronographers, Africanus

and Eusebius. Both the Jews18 and the

early Christians19 modified Manetho‘s text

to suit their religious and political

inclinations.20 The Jews amended the

sections which associated their lineage with

the leper communities. The modifications

made by the Christians were aimed at

synchronising the Egyptian accounts with

the Biblical chronography.21

Nevertheless these surviving fragments of

Manetho‘s text have been constantly

utilised by archaeologists to build up the

succession of Egyptian kings where the

archaeological evidence was inconclusive,

and Manetho's division of the rulers of

Egypt into 30 dynasties is still accepted tale

quale.

The Egyptian priests

The priests in ancient Egypt were in an

ideal position to render an account of its

ancient history. There was unlimited

access to ancient documentary evidence in

the form of inscriptions on the temple walls,

clay tablets and texts of papyrus. The

Egyptian priests were well versed in Greek,

and were able to produce good and reliable

historical accounts.

Before the conquest and Hellenization of

Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC,

Greek scholars visited Egypt and obtained

information on its ancient history from the

experts themselves, the priests living on the

fertile Delta of the Nile.

The library of Alexandria

From the 3rd century BC, shortly after the

Greek conquest of Egypt, the library of

Alexandria became the outstanding centre

of Greek culture. It was the most celebrated

repository of the ancient texts in antiquity.

The institution was intended from the very

start as a great international school and

library. Ptolemy I founded the Museum, or

Shrine to the Muses, which included the

library itself and a school. A strong Jewish

presence in Alexandria was a significant

feature at the time, and thus the library

also became the largest centre for Jewish

scholarship in the ancient world.

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

3

The library of Alexandria was instituted in the third century before Christ.

It housed over half a million texts, mostly in Greek, representing the

knowledge of antiquity. It survived several waves of destruction, before its

contents were transferred to other centres such as at Constantinople.

Since the third century before Christ ancient

scholars studied the scrolls in the Alexandrine

library and included them in their own writings,

thus helping to preserve the original contents

through these secondary sources.

Figure 1. The ancient texts

Malta:

4

The library served as a repository for every

Greek work of the classical period that was

then available, and eventually housed more

than half a million volumes. The institution

was directed by great scholars such as

Callimachus, who utilised their time in the

library conducting valuable research. Thus,

although several of the ancient documents

were subsequently lost, their contents have

been preserved in secondary sources — in

the records of those scholars who

researched them in antiquity and in more

recent times.

The antiquity of sources in the texts

A Turkish admiral at Constantinople

compiled the Piri Reis map in 1513. It

depicts regions now lying in the South Pole

which have since been covered, before 4,000

BC, by a mile thick layer of ice; these

regions were officially discovered in 1818.

The Piri Reis map had been compiled from

earlier compilations of maps and texts in

the library of Alexandria, by authors dating

to the fourth century BC and earlier, but

who had themselves compiled their work

from earlier documents. A seismic profile of

the ice cap in question was carried out in

1949 by the Swedish-British Antarctic

expedition, and the United States Air Force

has reviewed their readings and confirmed

the accuracy of the Piri Reis map.22

Whatever process was involved in its

creation, there can be no doubt that the Piri

Reis map confirms the authenticity and

antiquity of the sources in the Alexandrine

texts.

Severe losses of ancient texts

The ancient texts have suffered the same

vicissitudes of time and prejudice as

archaeological specimens have. Most of the

writings of the ancient authors have been

lost, since other ancient authors whose

texts have survived refer to several others

now no longer extant.

The great library of Alexandria survived a

fire by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, and suffered

great losses during the civil war under

Aurelian in the late third century AD.

In the reign of Theodosius I, between 379-

395 AD, violence by Christian elements

against pagan sites was widespread

through the empire. Iconoclasm was diffuse

and the sacred precincts were ―purged by

fire.‖23 The daughter library in Alexandria

was destroyed by fire in 391 AD, this time

by Christian elements under Theophilus. In

412AD Cyril succeeded his uncle

Theophilus as Patriarch of Christianity.

Cyril's order that all Jews be expelled from

Alexandria was objected to by the Roman

prefect Orestes, and Cyril‘s monks

murdered Orestes. They also murdered

Hypatia, the daughter of the

mathematician Theon, the last keeper of

the Alexandria library. As a Neoplatonist

philosopher and astronomer, Hypatia was

treated as a witch and burnt alive by Cyril‘s

monks.24 The library itself was ransacked of

all objects of value and then burnt.

Amru the Moslem conquered Alexandria in

642 AD, and several thousands of ancient

texts in the library were utilised as fuel to

heat up the public baths; the supply lasted

six months.

The texts which survived the several

holocausts in the library of Alexandria were

eventually transferred to other centres of

learning, notably Constantinople. During

the 11th to 12th centuries AD there was a

revival of the ancient texts through Latin

translations from the original Greek and

Arabic. 25 And when the Venetians seized

Constantinople in 1204, several more of

these documents became available once

more through their dissemination by the

victors.

Barbarian invasions have on several

occasions destroyed Greek and Roman

manuscripts in their wake; a few popes as

well, such as Gregory, destroyed classical

literature in order to minimise distractions

in the laity. Similarly, in the New World,

practically all the Mayan ancient texts of

Yucatan were destroyed by Bishop Landa.26

Corruption of texts

The ancient texts continued to be more or

less available, predominantly in secondary

sources, up to the present time. There had

been, however, significant modifications in

the versions of these texts during the

Renaissance. Three instances which have a

direct bearing on the present theme are the

works of Lucanus, Ptolemy and Pliny the

Elder. A comparison of the versions of

Lucanus‘ Pharsalia – the Civil War is a

particular case in point, where the location

of the straits of Heracles is omitted in the

recent versions.27 In Ptolemy, the

translation by Müller (1883) is different

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

5

Figure 2. Antiquity of sources for the ancient texts.

The Piri Reis map was discovered in 1929 in the Topkapi, Constantinople, the

depository of the ancient texts after their dispersal from Alexandria in the 8th

century AD. It was drawn in 1513AD — spherical trigonometry as applied to

maps was ‗discovered‘ in Europe at the turn of the 18th century AD. Antarctica

was ‗discovered‘ in 1818, and its outline beneath the ice (as it appears already on

the Piri Reis map) was confirmed by seismic profile in 1949.

Figure 3. Corruption of the ancient texts

The ancient texts were subjected to the whims and prejudices of several ‗scholars.‘ The

Italian Ludovico Domenichi (left) corrupted the content of the ancient texts by incorrect

translation. The chaplain of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Fra Giuseppe Vella

(right), falsified documents in an attempt to attenuate the Arab presence in Sicily and

Malta.

Malta:

6

from the four earlier versions (1490, 1520,

1540 and 1574),28 in some of the readings of

latitude for the Maltese islands. And

whereas the original Pliny (Book 7: 56)

mentions the military encounter between

the Athenians and the Atlanteans as the

first documented battle, and that the

weapons used were wooden sticks hardened

with fire because of a lack of the knowledge

of iron, this detail is omitted in the more

recent versions.29

Attempts at distortion of ancient documents

have complicated the issue even further. In

the local scenario, there is the classical

instance of falsification of ‗Arabic‘

documents by the Abate Giuseppe Vella,

Chaplain of the Sacred Order of Jerusalem

in Palermo in the late eighteenth century.

The prevalence of prejudice over logic in

such instances is further manifest by the

attitude of the authorities towards this

forgery. Notwithstanding the exposure, the

Abate‘s action was then considered to have

been a ―beneficial imposture‖.30

Politics and prehistory

Unfortunately prehistoric interpretation

has often been tarnished on political

grounds. ―There was a long dispute whether

it (Malta) was in Europe or Africa, but the

British Parliament at last ended the matter

by declaring it to be in Europe‖.31 ―Though

Malta is classed with Europe, it boasts that

honour more from an act of the British

parliament, passed in its ‗omnipotence,‘

than from any intrinsic claims of the island

itself, to that distinction. It lies to the south

of the whole maritime frontier of Algiers, as

well as of most of the shores of Tunis and

Morocco. Ptolemy32 places Malta, with

sufficient reason, in Africa; and the earlier

geographers chiefly adopted the same

classification‖.33 The early Christian church

also acknowledged the situation that Malta

formed part of the group of islands on the

African Pelagian block.34 Politically, it has

also been linked to North Africa for a short

while — in the sixteenth century, Malta

formed with Tripoli the joint domain of the

Knights of St. John.

During the last war, the British

administration investigated the Maltese

links with Africa, in a confidential dossier of

the Colonial Office (1941-3), under the title

of ―Information re Continent in which Malta

is situated.‖ Britain was at war with Italy,

and the Italian affiliations of several

Maltese had featured significantly during

the same war. The contents of the dossier

were never published, and were ―destroyed

under statute‖ in 1973.35 Distortion of

archaeological evidence in Malta and other

Mediterranean islands has featured also in

recent years.36

Discoveries confirming the texts

The ancient scholars such as Thales

(585BC), Pythagoras (500BC), Aristarchus

(280BC), Eratosthenes of Cyrene (240BC)

and Hipparchus (150BC) had investigated

astronomy; physics had been studied by

Aristotle (350BC), Plato (400BC) and

Democritus (440BC). After their dispersal

in the seventh century AD, the ancient

texts were practically ignored right up to

the fifteenth century AD. It was shortly

after the capture of Constantinople, in

1454, that Greek scholars such as

Bessarione, Crisolora and Calcondila once

again acquainted Europe with Greek

literature, and the contents of several more

of the ancient Greek texts made their

appearance amongst the scholars of Europe.

Literary works, which were based on these

ancient texts, started to appear in the late

fifteenth century, and these are particularly

useful as secondary sources of original texts

which have since been lost.

European scholars who had access to these

ancient documents included Galileo,

Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci and

Nostradamus. Copernicus (1543) confirmed

that the earth moved round the sun. When

Galileo supported Copernicus, Rome

excommunicated the former in defence of

Genesis. It then became necessary for

scholars such as Nostradamus and

Leonardo da Vinci to write in code.37

The ancient texts were still considered to be

largely mythological in nature until

Heinrich Schliemann‘s discovery of Homer‘s

Troy and Mycenae in the 1870‘s. Arthur

Evans picked up Schliemann‘s trail and

discovered the land of Minos in Crete; their

joint discoveries transformed the purely

mythological dimension of the ancient texts

into a more historical one.

Other discoveries followed as a result of

exploration rather than excavation.

Burckhardt confirmed the ancient texts of

Eusebius and Eratosthenes when he

discovered the ‗rose-red city‘ of Petra in

Jordan in 1812. And the maps of the

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

7

Figure 4. Revival of the ancient authors. With the return of the ancient texts from Constantinople to Europe, there

was a revival in scientific matters. Copernicus (left) and Galileo (right)

showed that the world was not at the centre of the universe. Galileo was

excommunicated for his hypothesis, which he was eventually obliged to

renounce.

Figure 5. Mythology transformed into history. The archaeological discoveries towards the end of the nineteenth century showed that

the texts of the ancient authors were not myths but fact. Heinrich Schliemann (arrowed

in left photograph) poses in front of the Lion gate at Mycenae — Schliemann had also

discovered Homer‘s Troy. The photograph on the right shows the excavation on Crete

under Arthur Evans, which uncovered the land of Minos and the palace of Knossos.

Malta:

8

ancient geographers such as Claudius

Ptolemy have also been confirmed in this

way — in 1888 Henry Morton Stanley

discovered the Ruwenzori mountain range

in Central Africa, and this has been

identified with Ptolemy‘s Mountains of the

Moon, the source of the Nile in Central

Africa. Some ancient geographers remain

unknown, as in the instance of the Piri Reis

map, already referred to above.

The accounts of the ancient authors have

been thoroughly researched in recent years,

and several extinct sites have been

identified, if only in part.38 One of the very

recent (1998) is based on the account given

by Strabo of ancient Alexandria. In

conditions of poor visibility underwater,

over an area of 27 hectares, Franck

Goddio‘s team have uncovered the

submerged Antirhodos island, the site of

Cleopatra‘s palace; this lay under layers of

thick silt and a one-metre crust of

calcareous deposit, at a depth of five to six

metres beneath the surface of Alexandria

bay, not far from the modern city‘s

shoreline.39 In the meantime, the Tower of

Babel has been reported as identified in

Pontus, in the Black Sea, as described by

some ancient Aramaic Biblical texts.40 The

Black Sea is also the site of the most recent

discovery associated with the descriptions

by the ancient authors (Strabo, Arrian and

Aristotle)— the sunken city of Phasis, the

destination of Jason and the Argonauts.41

The sunken site par excellance is the island

described by Plato in the fourth century

before Christ. In 1939 the Director of the

Department of Antiquities in Greece,

Spyridon Marinatos, picked up Arthur

Evans‘ trail and identified the island of

Thera-Santorini in the Aegean Sea with

Plato‘s Island. In 1977, Marinatos was

supported by James W. Mavor, the naval

engineer who designed the Alvin, the

research submarine of the Woodshole

Oceanographic Institute. The Thera

hypothesis has enjoyed the greatest

popularity to date. The theme of Plato‘s

Island had originated in Egypt.

Solon and Psonchis in Säis

Solon was an Athenian of royal lineage, well

known for his poetry and verse. According

to Plutarch,42 he flourished around 600BC.

Because of his fair-mindedness and

integrity, which earned him the trust of all

the Athenian social classes, he was given

full administrative powers over Athens

around 594 BC. Through this office Solon

was successful in implementing major

changes to improve the political,

administrative and social structures of the

nation.43

Solon had travelled widely. In 590 BC he

left Athens for ten years and visited Säis in

Egypt, ―on the Canopian shore, by the Nile‘s

deep mouth‖; there he conversed with the

wise men of Säis, particularly with

Psonchis, the most learned of the Egyptian

high priests, upon points of philosophy and

history. According to Clement of

Alexandria, Psonchis had instructed

Pythagoras in the science of the Egyptians.

Solon also visited Heliopolis and conversed

with the priest Psenopbis.44

The ancient Greeks had lost most of their

records in a major flood45. In fact, Psonchis

thus addressed himself to Solon — ―You

have no antiquity in history, and no history

of antiquity.‖46

It was a different situation in ancient

Egypt, as Psonchis explained to Solon.

―Whatever happened either in your country

or in ours, or in any other region of which

we are informed, if any action which is

noble or great, or in any other way

remarkable has taken place, all that has

been written down of old, is preserved in our

temples; whereas your people and the others

are but newly equipped, every time, with

letters and all such arts as civilised states

require … when the flood comes … it leaves

none of you but the unlettered and the

uncultured … with no knowledge of what

happened in olden times in this land and in

your own‖.47 Psonchis then proceeded to

outline the most remarkable event in the

prehistory of the ancient Athenians, when

they had led the military forces of the

eastern Mediterranean against those of

Atlantika in the west. The defeat of the

Atlantean forces was immediately followed

by a cataclysmic disaster, which submerged

Atlantika beneath the waves for all time.48

―In comparison of what then was, there are

remaining in small islands only the bones of

the wasted body … the mere skeleton of the

country being left.‖49 Psonchis also gave

Solon several details about Atlantika before

its submergence.

The civilisation of Atlantika had been

established for a millennium in advance of

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Plato and his disciple Krantor also saw the columns of the Egyptian temple on which was preserved the story of Atlantika (Proclus 76: 1-10; Plato Timaeus 23 A4).

Plato (Munich) Solon

Psonchis to Solon 600 BC

Plato and Krantor confirm the story on the columns of the temple of Neith at Säis in Egypt.

Solon’s manuscript Atlantikos to Plato.

Figure 6. The story on the temple walls 9

Malta:

10

the Egyptian one.50 It had lain close to the

straits of Heracles in the western ocean.51

―Atlantika was the way to other islands, and

from these you might pass to the whole of

the opposite continent which surrounded the

true ocean; for this sea which is within the

Straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having

a narrow entrance, but that other is a real

sea, and the surrounding land may be most

truly called a boundless continent‖.52

The Atlanteans, or Atlantoi, had built

impressive temples to their gods.53 They

built triremes in their shipyards,54 and had

developed an intricate network of channels

over the rocky terrain in order to transport

their water and goods across the country.55

They performed bull sacrifice.56 They were

successful in their military ventures, and

had subjected the lands of ancient Libia and

Egypt, and the western Mediterranean as

far as the Tyrrhenian Sea;57 their empire

excelled that of Libia and Asia put

together.58

On his return to Athens, Solon put the

details of Psonchis‘ account to writing in the

manuscript Atlantikos. This text has since

been lost, but its contents reached his great

grandson, Plato, a scholar, thinker and

historian like himself, and one of the

profoundest minds of the ancient world.

―Solon intended to use the story of Atlantika

for his poem … my great grandfather

Dropidas had the original writing, which is

still in my possession, and was carefully

studied by me when I was a child‖.59

Plato was born in Athens in 427BC. Family

connections brought him into contact with

Socrates, one of the world‘s greatest

thinkers, and a decisive influence on Plato.

Socrates left no written records, and it was

through Plato that most of the former‘s

teachings were brought down the

generations to modern times. After the

death of Socrates, Plato travelled

extensively. In 395BC he visited Egypt

together with Krantor, one of his disciples,

and together they confirmed Solon‘s account

with the Egyptian priests Pateneit, Ochalpi

and Ethimon, respectively at Säis,

Heliopolis and Sebennytus in Northern

Egypt. They also saw the columns on which

was preserved the story of Atlantika.60 Back

in Athens Plato put the episode in writing

once again in his Timaeus and Critias, both

of which have survived, and have thus

furnished mankind with a unique

description of the lost island of Atlantika.

Around 387BC Plato founded his Academy,

an institution devoted to the pursuit of

philosophy and scientific research; the most

notable student in the Academy was the

philosopher Aristotle.

Fact or fiction

Ironically Aristotle is practically the only

ancient author who treated the story of his

tutor as fictitious. This must have been a

purely subjective view. Another of Plato‘s

disciples, Krantor, was more objective, for

he visited Egypt himself and actually saw

the story of Atlantika still engraved on the

temple walls. Proclus (410-485AD) wrote in

his Comments on Plato‘s Timaeus61 that the

first commentator on the work of Plato was

Krantor. According to the latter, Plato had

not invented the story (and Plato himself

had insisted that the story was true62) but

had copied it from the Egyptian institution.

As a proof Plato referred to the Egyptian

priest who said that those items are

chiselled into the columns and preserved till

the present day.63 Strabo (67 BC –23 AD)

declared in his Geographia that he fully

agreed with Plato that the story was not

fiction.64 And at the time of Ammianus

Marcellinus (330-400AD), a noble Greek of

Antioch, the story of Plato‘s Island was still

considered in Alexandria to have been a

historical fact.65

And it may have been equally so in Athens.

The Parthenon was the chief temple of the

Greek goddess Athena on the hill of the

Acropolis at Athens. It was built between

447 and 438 BC. Just under the ceiling of

the portico, a continuous, low-relief frieze

decorates the top of the outer wall of the

cella of the Parthenon;66 some of the friezes

have been transferred to the British

Museum. Although it is traditionally

interpreted as a procession, David Pinnegar

has reviewed the entire frieze as one whole,

and has concluded that the Parthenon

represents a ‗Council of gods‘, and was built

to commemorate Athena and Hephaestus

for championing the victory of the

Athenians over the Atlanteans. The frieze

also confirms, according to Pinnegar, that

the story of Atlantika was common

knowledge among the Athenians of the

time, and that they accepted it as the

truth.67 Solon had brought the story to

Athens in 590 BC.

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

11

Figure 7. Features on Plato’s Island

Tarxien temples on Malta — they built impressive temples to their

gods, and their shipyards were busy building boats (engravings on

slabs at Tarxien temple).

Figure 8. The Parthenon in Athens

Pinnegar believes that the frieze represents a council of the gods,

and that the Parthenon was built to commemorate the victory of

the ancient Athenians over the Atlanteans.

Malta:

12

Socrates (469-399 BC) flourished during the

building of the Parthenon, and his

comments to Critias in relation to Solon‘s

story was that ―this story will be admirably

suited to the festival of the goddess which is

now being held, because of its connection

with her (Athena had founded both Athens

and Egypt68). And the fact that it is no

invented fable but genuine history is all-

important.‖69 Socrates did not commit

himself to writing, except through his pupil,

Plato (427-347 BC). Since Plato was born

after the Parthenon was finished, it is more

than likely that Socrates informed Plato

about the Parthenon and its purpose, and

that Plato subsequently went over to Egypt

with Krantor to confirm the story of Solon‘s

Atlantikos on the walls of the Egyptian

temples.

Acceptance of Plato’s story

Most of the other ancient authors, whether

Greek, Roman or Christian, accepted the

existence, sublime status and eventual

submergence of Atlantika as outlined by

Plato. The list of these ancient historians

who quoted Plato‘s account as genuine is

significant, and includes, in chronological

order, Thucylides (460-400 BC), Apollodoros

(2nd cent. BC), Timagenes (1st cent. BC),

Strabo (1st cent. BC), Diodorus Siculus (1st

cent. BC), Philo Judaeus (20 BC – 40 AD),

Pliny (61 – 113 AD), Pomponius Mela (1st

cent. AD), Plutarch (46-120 AD), Tertullian

(160-220 AD), Arnobius Afer (3rd cent. AD),

Marcellinus (330-395 AD), and Kosmas

Indikopleustes (6th cent. AD). 70

Similar cataclysms in historical

accounts

Several instances are recorded of natural

occurrences involving phenomena similar to

those on Plato‘s island. On Santorini in the

Aegean a volcanic eruption in 1500BC

destroyed thirty-two square miles of land

surface rising a thousand feet above sea

level; its force was three times that on

Krakatoa in 1883.

In more recent times, similar events have

likewise been recorded. In Jamaica, an

earthquake in 1692 sank the greater part of

Port Royal into the sea. In 1775, an

earthquake shook Lisbon, killing 60,000

persons in several minutes and lowering the

level of the quay and docks to six hundred

feet below sea level.

In 1808, a volcano in San Jorge (Azores)

rose to several thousand feet. In 1811,

another volcanic island, Sambrina (Azores),

rose and later sank. The islands of Corvo

and Flores in Azores, mapped since 1351,

constantly changed their shape, with large

parts of Corvo having disappeared into the

sea. In the Fernando Noronha group of

islands, volcanic activity in 1931 erupted

two new islands, which later sank again. In

the Salvage islands, near Madeira, small

volcanic islands appeared in 1944.71

The island of Surtsey erupted through an

undersea volcanic eruption off the

southwestern coast of Iceland in 1963.

Other islands erupted near the Azores in

the 18th and 19th centuries and disappeared

after years or merely after a few days.72

Closer to the Maltese islands, Graham‘s

island surfaced through volcanic eruption in

July 1831 between Malta, Pantelleria and

Sicily, and disappeared once again the

following December. It had attained a

circumference of 3240 feet and a height of

107 above sea level, and it ―emitted vast

volumes of smoke, ashes and scoriae‖.73

An opuscolo published in Malta reports the

story of Paolo Diacono,74 who, when writing

about the period 352-366 AD, reports that

―there was a generalised earthquake on

earth, and the waters rushed out of their

normal limits, and many islands around

Sicily, and many cities and peoples were

inundated by the waves; and it was at this

time that at Cape San Dimitri, in the island

of Gozo, close to Malta, several places were

swallowed up, so that today, when the

waters are calm, one can still see several

houses, and the vestiges of places lying

under the water. Besides, in several

maritime sites around the Island of Malta,

one could see deep cart ruts in the rock,

which extended for long distances into the

sea.‖75 This account has since been

corrupted into the locally well known legend

of San Dimitri. Similar inundations at this

time, the late 4th century AD, also occurred

elsewhere in the Mediterranean, as is

attested by the recent discovery of

Cleopatra‘s palace in Alexandria harbour.76

The search for Plato’s island

More than 5,000 publications exist on

Plato‘s island alone. Although the most

popular hypothesis favoured the island of

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

13

Fig. 9 Graham’s Island

Graham‘s Island as surveyed by Dr. John Davy, senior medical officer

with the British forces in Malta (1832). In July 1831, the island surfaced

through volcanic activity between Malta, Pantelleria and Sicily, and

then disappeared once again beneath the surface the following

December.

Malta:

14

Thera (Thera-Santorini) in the Aegean, the

opinion of serious scholars is that the site

was in the Mediterranean, with North

Africa obtaining the majority of proponents

(15), followed by the Holy Land (9),

Tartessos / Southern Spain (9) and Crete or

Thera (9). Next in line is another

Mediterranean island, including Malta (6).77

Initially the Atlantic Ocean seemed to be

the most logical place to search in, and

several theories were put forward since the

discovery of the New World, such as by

Bacon in 1614, Kircher in 1655, and

Donnelly in 1882. Geological evidence

deriving from plate tectonics has, however,

disproved the possibility that the Atlantic

Ocean could be the site of Plato‘s island.78

The search was then transferred to the

Mediterranean, with Marinatos and Mavor

placing Plato‘s island in the Cretan Island

of Thera. Galanopoulos and Bacon have also

located Plato‘s Island in the Eastern

Mediterranean, but they too have offered no

adequate explanation for the location of the

straits of Heracles.79

In dealing with the megalithic constructions

of Europe and the Mediterranean, Mavor

erroneously asserts that theirs was

universally a funerary function, and that

they were contemporary with Minoan

Crete, whence they derived.80 This has long

been disproved, particularly with regard to

the megalithic structures on the Maltese

islands.81

Recent geological evidence from Santorini

has not confirmed the Thera-Santorini

theory.82 Furthermore, this hypothesis is

presently losing favour, after analysis of

volcanic ash has shown that the island was

destroyed at least 150 years before the

collapse of the palaces on Crete, showing

that the Minoan eruption significantly

preceded the decline of the Cretan

civilisation.83

In recent years, Peter James (1995) has

identified Plato‘s Island with the Turkish

city of Tantalis, which was described by

Pliny as having been destroyed by an

earthquake. However, James has

overlooked a crucial element in Pliny‘s

account of Atlantika. Pliny affirmed that

the battle in question had been fought with

wooden sticks hardened with fire, since the

knowledge of iron was lacking.84 The battle

was not fought with bronze weapons, so

that the submergence of Atlantika occurred

before the Bronze Age; it took place during

the preceding period, the Stone Age. Yet

both the Theran (Marinatos and Mavor)

and Turkish (James) hypotheses date the

battle, between Athenians and Atlanteans,

and the ensuing destruction of Atlantika, to

the Bronze Age at approximately 1500BC.

Thus this extract from Pliny excludes both

hypotheses for Bronze Age Thera and

Tantalis.

Furthermore, James saw the essential

elements of Plato‘s story as lying in the

association of Plato‘s Island with Egypt and

Athens, and this posed him with the major

problem to his own hypothesis. Nor was he

able to identify a megalithic culture which

was a thousand years earlier than that of

Egypt.85 The only option is Malta.

Malta as a remnant of Plato’s island

Malta has been proposed as a remnant of

Plato‘s island since at least 1525,86 a few

decades after the ‗return‘ of the ancient

texts to Europe from Constantinople. After

a silent period during the time of the

Knights of St. John (1530-1798), a

resurgence occurred during the British

period (1815-1964). In the nineteenth

century, the names of Grongnet87 (1854),

Borzesi (1830) and Godwin (1880) were

associated with Plato‘s Island in Malta, and

in 1910, Dr J. J. Borg re-proposed the

hypothesis on the basis of the Maltese

prehistoric flora. ―The tradition of the

submerged Atlantis to which many ancient

writers refer, and which when deprived of

its legendary character will be found to

apply to the submerged land between Malta

and Africa ... It is the duty of local

archaeologists to try to unravel this legend

and to separate the real from the unreal;

and I am confident that the solution of this

mystery will throw much light on the

significance of the prehistoric monuments in

Malta and other countries bordering the

Mediterranean‖.88 Fifty years later, a

captain in the Royal Navy, Eric Brockman

commented thus ―upon this western edge of

the islands, the megaliths of Hagar Qim

and Mnajdra, and that lonely survival of

the lost continent, the islet of Filfla …

solitary in a silver sea, remnant of a great

expanse of hill and valley which once

stretched unbroken towards what was to be

Carthage, the Atlas, and the great lakes of

the Sahara‖.89

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The Maltese architect, Giorgio Grongnet, researched for several decades on Plato’s Island and concluded (1854) that its remnants are the Maltese Islands.

Jules Verne (1870) included Atlantis in his 20,000 leagues under the Sea, and associated it with Thera-Santorini in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ignatius Donnelly’s publication on Atlantis (1882) was well received world wide. He hypothesized for Plato’s Island in the Atlantic Ocean.

Galanopoulos supports Marinatos and Mavor in placing Atlantis in the Eastern Mediterranean on Thera-Santorini.

Figure 10. The Search for Plato’s Island 15

Malta:

16

In 1989 Attard presented his research on

Plato‘s Island in Malta in the novel The

Atlantis Inheritance.

Criteria for qualification

According to Plato, what remained of

Atlantika were a few small islands.90 The

other small islands close to the Maltese are

Pantelleria and the Pelagian group. In

order to substantiate the hypothesis that

these central Mediterranean islands

represent the remnants of Plato‘s island, a

number of basic questions require to be

addressed.

1. Is there any evidence that the

Maltese islands once constituted a

significantly larger landmass?

2. Are there any links in life forms

between the individual central

Mediterranean islands?

3. Is the seismo-tectonic profile of the

central Mediterranean islands

compatible with such a cataclysmic

event as described by Plato?

4. Has there been any evidence of

significant land displacements

during the presence of man in

Malta?

5. Does the relative chronology of

Plato‘s description fit the dates for

the end of the Temple period in

Malta?

6. Are there features on the Maltese

Islands which conform to those

described by Plato?

7. Are there any secondary sources of

relevant ancient texts which have

been ignored?

1. A larger landmass in antiquity

A - Early antiquity

The present surface area and configuration

of the Maltese islands is by far too small to

have permitted the accumulation of the

large volumes of water necessary to carve

out the extensive valleys and deep ravines

cutting their surface en route to the coast.

Furthermore the presence of similar valleys

beneath the present sea level along the

northeastern coast of the archipelago91

indicates a surface tilt since their

formation.

Several scholars from diverse disciplines

have clearly indicated that the Maltese

islands were significantly larger in their

surface area during prehistoric times.

The early scholars

The French geologist, Knight Commander

of the Order, Deodat de Dolomieu, whose

name is still associated with the Dolomite

Alps, was one of the first persons to record

the observation that the present surface

area of the Maltese islands is not sufficient

to account for the extensive valley

formations such as Wied il-Ghasel, Wied il-

Ghasri and Wied ix-Xlendi, amongst others.

The creation of such deep and precipitous

valleys would have required a very

extensive land surface to hold the waters

which dug them out over the millennia.

From the nature of the extensive fracture

lines along the southern shorelines of the

Maltese islands, Dolomieu concluded that

they must represent the remains of an

ancient mountain. Moreover, the north-

north-east inclination of the beds indicated

extensive and sudden land submergence in

the south.92 Dolomieu‘s observations were

validated by other scholars, such as the

voyager Commendateur Saint-Priest93 and

Houel.94

The clay, which had been deposited into the

fissures and crevices over Malta‘s land

surface, was considered to be extraneous to

the islands. ―Another circumstance to be

observed is, that in the hollows and vertical

clefts dispersed over Malta and its sister

isles, large quantities of a peculiar clay, both

gray and red, are often discovered. This

substance, deposited in heaps, is evidently

no native of the isles themselves. It is a

puzzle with geologists.‖95

After his visit to Malta in 1828, the

American scholar, Andrew Bigelow, was

already starting to question the opinion

prevailing at the time, that Plato‘s island

lay in the Atlantic. ―What is truly

extraordinary is, that the relative position of

these three (Maltese) islands, the analogy of

their substances, and almost uniform

resemblance in the arrangement, dip and

inclination of their respective strata, can

leave no doubt in reflecting minds that they

all were once united; and in fact, that they

are only fragments of a vast insular mass

the remainder of which has been carried

away by some mighty inundation. … the

rocks which edge the coasts are the obvious

remains of the portion which has been

destroyed.‖ 96

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The French geologist, Deodat de Dolomieu, Knight Commander of the Order of St. John, was the first to point out that the present surface of the Maltese Islands is not sufficient to have accumulated the waters which have dug out its massive valleys. Dolomieu also attributed the fracture lines along the southwestern shorelines to the previous presence of a much larger landmass towards the South. Furthermore, the downward inclination of the geological layers towards the Northeast (as above at Dwejra in Gozo, and below at Cirkewwa in Malta) clearly indicates an extensive and sudden land submergence towards the South.

Figure 11. Deodat de Dolomieu. 17

Malta:

18

Bathymetry in the nineteenth century

The British Navy under Admirals Smyth

and Spratt carried out surveys of the sea

floor around the Maltese Islands, and these

bathymetric studies confirmed that

relatively shallow ridges of the sea floor still

connect Malta to the North African

shoreline. These features are reminiscent of

the shoals described by Plato, although they

would have had to be much shallower then.

According to Smyth, an elevation of sea

level by 250 fathoms would connect the

islands with Sicily, Italy and Tripoli

through narrow strips of land or ridges,

broken by two narrow channels

approximately five miles broad.97 The

recent study by Glomar Challenger of the

Mediterranean Sea floor has confirmed the

findings of Admiral Smyth.98

The hypothesis of submergence and flooding

of the Maltese islands had also been raised

by Captain Spratt to explain the pell-mell

arrangement of the fossil mammalian

remains discovered in the Maltese caverns.

Fossil remains in Malta show the

―connexion of Malta with Europe and Africa

by land that must have existed to serve as a

highway of migration between them, but

which has since subsided beneath the

Mediterranean. These submerged lands are

really now indicated by the bank called the

Adventure Bank discovered by Admiral

Smyth, between Tunis and the northwest

part of Sicily. … and also by another bank

… as a well-defined, but more deeply

submerged, ridge, connecting the south-

eastern end of Malta with Tripoli, and

which I have named the Medina Bank.‖99

Fossil remains

The major research carried out on these

fossil remains was by the army surgeon and

naturalist, Arthur Leith Adams, in the

1870‘s. Speaking to the inaugural assembly

of the Maltese Archaeological Society in

1866, Leith Adams stressed that the

present size of the Maltese islands was

―perfectly inadequate for the maintenance of

the fauna just named‖ (hippopotamus and

elephant), and that an extension of the

southern regions of the Maltese islands

must have been present during the

Pleistocene.1 Leith Adams then proposed a

1 The Pleistocene period extends between

approximately 1.6 million and 10,000 years ago.

submergence of the ―post-Miocene land‖,

followed by an upheaval of parts of it, and

this as evidenced by the ―shattered

conditions of the strata‖ and by the Graham

Island episode.100

―I agree with Dr Falconer [the British

palaeontologist working in the Sicilian

caverns] (Palaeontological Memoirs, 2: 301)

that at this time ‗there must have been

continuity of land between Sicily and Malta,

and Sicily and Cape Bon,‘ at all events, that

Africa, Malta, and Italy were then united.‖

The hypothesis for an African source of

elephant and hippopotamus during the

Pleistocene is no longer acceptable to the

majority of palaeontologists.

However, the vast numbers of fossils

discovered in Malta clearly indicated that

―in order to have maintained so numerous a

fauna, there must have been a greater

lateral extension of both islands.‖101

Stratigraphy

George Sinclair, a civil engineer in the

service of the British Admiralty in Malta,

corroborated these statements in 1924. He

examined both the interior and the exterior

stratifications of Ghar Dalam, and

correlated these with the depression of sea

levels and land elevations in the

Mediterranean since the Palaeolithic

period.2 He concluded that, in between the

various periods of submergence of the

Maltese islands, a land bridge was in

existence with Africa during the middle

Palaeolithic period.102

B - Later antiquity

Evidence also exists for a larger Maltese

landmass during its occupation by humans.

Some medieval maps do not speak of Malta

but of a certain Gaulometin or Galonia leta,

and combine Malta and Gozo into one big

island.103 Malta was formally placed on the

European map with the coming of the Order

of St John in 1530.

The ancient geographers

A southern extension of the Maltese islands

in historic times is recorded in the annals of

Claudius Ptolemy (fl. 121-151 AD), the

2 The period when stone tools were unpolished,

approximately before 10, 000BP. (BP denotes ‗before

the present time‘).

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

19

The Maltese islands (transparent horizontal arrow) are shown at the top of a mountain on

one side of the Pantelleria Rift (transparent vertical arrow). The Pelagian Islands (white

horizontal arrow) lie on the other side of the Rift. (Photograph of the Central Mediterranean sea

bed, courtesy of Marie Tharpe of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory).

Figure 12. The Central Mediterranean Sea Floor

Bathymetric studies of the Mediterranean sea floor were carried out by Captain Spratt in the

middle of the nineteenth century (above left). Martin Morana (1987) has adapted these

readings and prepared a simplified bathymetric map (above right).

Malta:

20

renowned ancient geographer,

mathematician and astronomer of

Alexandria. Astronomy was not his strong

point, and his ―Ptolemaic system‖, where

the earth was considered to be at the centre

of the universe, was eventually proved

incorrect. As geographer, however, Ptolemy

had revolutionised geography through the

tabulation of latitudes and longitudes in the

maps which he produced. He had unlimited

access to the ancient documents in the

Alexandrine library, and his research

included the Mediterranean and the

Maltese islands. Although his readings

outside the Mediterranean were sometimes

erroneous, his Mediterranean latitudes in

particular were significantly accurate. Since

he assigned 500 stadia104 for one degree of

latitude, his errors in this parameter were

slight.105 When studying Ovid‘s comments

on Cosyra being close to Malta, Ptolemy

explained this by stating that Cosyra was

the ancient name for Chemmona (Comino

island), which was, and is, approximately

three miles to the west of Malta, and that it

could be reached in the space of fifteen

minutes, presumably by sail rather than by

oar. ―Videtur Cosyra a Melita distare per

unum quadrantem horae, a Melita occidente

versus. Ergo ut spatium unius quadrantis

est milliar. ita non est alia nisi quam hodie

vocatur Chemmona, quae est nonnisi a

Melita 3 milliar. circiter. Ideo Ovidius ait

Melitam nimium vicinam Cosyrae.‖106

Together with other ancient geographers,

Ptolemy listed the Maltese islands with the

African pelagos islands.107

Ptolemy‘s trustworthiness in geographical

matters has been shown through his map of

the Nile sources in Central Africa. At

approximately 150 AD, Ptolemy published a

map of the Nile together with its sources in

three lakes at the base of the ‗Mountains of

the Moon‘ in Central Africa.108 The sources

of the Nile were still being sought by

European explorers in the nineteenth

century, and for a time it was believed that

these had been sorted out by the discoveries

of John Speke, James Grant and Samuel

Baker in the 1860‘s. Ptolemy‘s map with the

Nile sources at the base of the ‗Mountains of

the Moon‘ was scoffed at by geographers of

the nineteenth century, but it was

eventually confirmed as correct in 1888 by

the greatest African explorer of all time, the

Welshman Henry Morton Stanley.109 The

source of Ptolemy‘s information is not

known with certainty, although the Syrian

geographer, Marinus of Tyre, related the

story of the Greek Diogenes who carried out

such an expedition in the middle of the first

century AD.110 Diogenes started his

expedition inland from Rhapta,111 on the

east African coast. After a voyage of 25 days

he reached two vast lakes of fresh water at

the base of a snow-capped mountain chain

which provided the water to the lakes

through the melting ice, and thus the

waters of the sources of the Nile. Whatever

were the sources of Ptolemy‘s map, it is

correct, in the same way that the Piri Reis

map is.

Ptolemy gave readings of latitudes which

demonstrate that the expanse of the

Maltese Islands extended significantly

southward in ancient times. He included

two co-ordinates of latitude for the Maltese

Islands which today fall well to the south of

the Maltese Islands; one is to the south of

Gozo and the other even further south of

Malta. Ventura explained this phenomenon

by attributing errors to Ptolemy‘s co-

ordinates. However, this is most unlikely

with Ptolemy, who gave very accurate

results for nearby Sicily,112 and whose

geography enjoyed renown for well into the

fifteenth century.113 By the end of the

nineteenth century, Ptolemy‘s geographical

details were still being confirmed.

In the Maltese context, the Gozitan

historian, Agius De Soldanis, commented on

Ptolemy‘s location for Gozo ―nel grado

trigesimo settimo, un terzo di un quarto di

piu in longitudine, in latitudine nel

trigesimo quarto e due terzi.‖ De Soldanis

compared this with the figures then

considered to have been made by the ―most

accurate geographer, Regio Guglielmo‖, in

order to point out the insignificance of the

differences in readings.114

Ptolemy‘s co-ordinates for the Maltese

islands have been calibrated by Ventura,

and in his first calibration, that for

longitude,115 all the readings fall on the

islands or to the south of them. In order to

transfer the points falling in the sea on to

land, Ventura then re-calibrated for

rotation and for latitude. However, Ventura

arbitrarily selected one of the more recent

version of Ptolemy‘s work, that by Müller

(1883), rather than the four earlier versions

(1490, 1520, 1540 and 1574),116 which

followed closely on the return of the ancient

texts to Europe. All these earlier versions

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Claudius Ptolemy (fl. 121-151 AD), renowned astronomer, mathematician and geographer of Alexandria, with unlimited access to the ancient texts in the Alexandrine library.

Ptolemy’s sources produced this map of the ultimate Nile sources in the Lunae Montes (Mountains of the Moon) in Central Africa, ‘discovered’ more than sixteen centuries later.

Henry Morton Stanley traced and found the lost Dr Livingstone in Africa, but his main feat was the elucidation of the Nile sources, and his discovery of Ptolemy’s Lunae Montes in 1888.

Original photograph of the ice-capped Ruwenzori mountain range in Central Africa, ‘discovered’ by Stanley in 1888, and identified with Ptolemy’s ‘Mountains of the Moon’ and the sources of the White Nile.

Figure 13. Ptolemy’s maps confirmed 21

Echoes of Plato’s Island

An early world map by Ptolemy (Ulm 1482 in Hapgood 1966 – above) shows a large unidentified island in the Central Mediterranean (arrowed). Ptolemy (1540) also depicted graphically the zone of battle between the Romans and Punics (left) and the zone of shipwrecks (below), the latter presumably associated with the shoals described by Plato. The pelagos nomenclature to the Maltese and Pelagian islands is also seen, and the town of Achola, a colony of the Maltese Islands, also appears on the North African coast (arrowed — below, left).

Ptolemy was an armchair geographer who obtained his data from the ancient library of Alexandria. These data were then adapted to the maps in his Geographike Hyphegesis. The apparent discrepancy between the fine details in the various Tabulae (Mundi, Aphricae and Europae) — some of the Maltese promontories are represented as islands — are attributable to the various editors of his work who modified it regularly from time to time.

Tabula Europae VII

Tabula Aphricae II

Figure 14. The Central Mediterranean in Ptolemy’s maps 22

Echoes of Plato’s island

Ventura has calibrated the co-ordinates which Ptolemy gave for the Maltese Islands. The diagram above (1988: 262, figure 4) represents Ventura’s results after correction for longitude, and it can be seen that all the readings fall on the islands, or to the south of them. No reading falls to the North of the archipelago. Readings G and H fall to the south respectively of Gozo and Malta. Furthermore, point H reaches ten minutes further to the south according to at least four more ancient versions of Ptolemy than the one used by Ventura. (See text pp. 20 et seq.). Thus Ptolemy’s co-ordinates, derived from the ancient authors of Alexandria, confirm a larger expanse of the Maltese islands towards the South.

Reproduced through the kind permission of Frank Ventura

Figure 15. A wider latitude for the Maltese islands 23

Malta:

24

had in fact given a latitude for the temple of

Hercules117 ten minutes further to the South.

Ptolemy‘s map for the Maltese islands, as

shown in his Tabula Europae VII, confirms

the lower latitude of Hercules‘ temple.118

Using the figure for latitude given by the

four earlier versions, there is no way that

the temple can be placed on land, even after

Ventura‘s second calibration for rotation

and latitude.

The crucial point remains that Ptolemy

gave co-ordinates for Malta which extended

over twenty minutes of latitude (between

34º 45‘ and 34º 25‘). He was therefore

attributing a maximum latitude width for

Malta alone of at least 30.82 kilometres.119

This measurement today is approximately

21.5 kilometres, so that it is evident that in

the ancient sources researched by Ptolemy,

the Maltese islands still extended

southward significantly more than today.120

Ventura‘s calibrated positions for longitude

also demonstrate the three sites which can

be confirmed,121 namely the site of Calypso‘s

abode in the peninsula of Mellieha

(Chersonesos),122 Quintinus‘s temple in

Grand harbour,123 and the temple of

Proserpine at Mtarfa.124

Cart ruts

Before their gradual disappearance over the

past few decades, the cart-ruts had been

repeatedly, and validly, associated with an

extension of Malta‘s landmass. ‖In several

maritime sites around the Island of Malta,

one could see deep cart ruts in the rock,

which extended for long distances into the

sea.‖125 ―Some serious disruptions and

subsidings have taken place on the island …

near the coast … an extraordinary

subsidence … must have occurred on the

coast not far from the pleasure grounds of

Boschetto … on the southern side of which

vestiges of wheels have cut into the rock, and

may be traced to the sea … and the ruts may

be perceived under the water at a great

distance, and to a great depth; indeed, as far

as the eye can possibly distinguish any thing

through the waves. This circumstance gives

every reason to suppose that the ground

must have sunk very considerably in this

spot.‖126

Dr. Davy observed cart-ruts between Marfa

and Wied il-Qammieh in northwest Malta,

and from their interrupted nature at the

edge of the cliffs, inevitably concluded that

the Maltese islands had once been

significantly larger in size during the

presence of man in Malta.127

Under the sub-title Indications of a greater

modern extension of the Islands, Leith

Adams thus commented on the cart-ruts at

Marfa and Fomm ir-Rih Bay. ―They run to

the edge of a sea-cliff some 80 to 100 feet

high, under which detached masses are

lying about, thus also showing an extensive

disappearance of the coast since the cart-

ruts were formed‖.128 In the meantime,

during an earthquake in February 1861,

―several old fissures had been widened, and

tottering cliffs on the south coast tumbled

down‖.129 To this day, slices of Maltese

landscape await collapse into the sea, and

the temple at Xrobb il-Ghagin has been lost

in this manner.

Castagna‘s description of cart-ruts on

Comino is interesting, because they were

not described later on by Zammit at the

turn of the century. Cart-ruts are still

disappearing to this day, particularly under

newly developed areas, such as at Mistra,

Manikata, Xemxija and Mtarfa. That cart

ruts also occurred on Comino and Filfla had

been registered by Emanuel Magri,130 the

first excavator of the Hal Saflieni

Hypogeum.131 Bradley quoted Magri‘s

report and concluded, in 1912, that a

landlink between the Hagar Qim-Mnajdra

terrain and Filfla had been present during

the presence of man.132 He also records

their presence at the Hagar Qim area,

where ―the ruts run over the precipitous

edge of the cliff towards Filfola.‖ Bradley

further confirmed that some ruts ran out

into the sea, such as at St. George‘s Bay as

well as in Gozo.133

The presence of cart-ruts on Filfla confirms

its link with the mainland before the

intervening terrain submerged. These ruts

have since been definitely wiped out

through relentless bombardment over the

past two centuries.134 The Malta Times of

October 7th 1898 reported that ―this lonely

and isolated rock has presented quite an

animated appearance during the week on

the occasion of the erection of a target for

canon-tube practice by the ships of the Fleet.

The work has been most successfully carried

out by HMS Scylla, Captain P.M. Scott,

whose ―Robinson Crusoe‖ parties have done

wonders in the somewhat novel character of

architects and builders.‖

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Aerial photograph published by Zammit in 1928 showing the network of cart-ruts as “the canals spreading straight and lengthwise across the plain” and the “transverse passages from one canal

into another.” (Plato Critias 11D, E).

The network of cart ruts south of Verdala Palace, from Zammit’s Malta 1952 (3rd ed.) Most of

these features have now disappeared.

Figure 16. The extensive networks of cart-ruts. 25

Malta:

26

Cart-ruts, in much smaller concentrations,

have been reported elsewhere, to the north

of Malta in the Mediterranean at

Marseilles, near Aosta in Italy, at

Agrigento, Syracuse and Trogilos Bay in

Sicily; they have also been reported on the

southern shores of the Mediterranean.135

Biogeographic Index

This index measures the likelihood of an

island being colonised, in relation to its size

and distance from the mainland.

Notwithstanding their very low

biogeographic index, a category C, and

despite their being the most remote islands

in the Mediterranean, both Pantelleria and

Lampedusa were occupied by humans by

the 6th millennium BC, and were exploited

well in advance of several category A

islands.136 Pantelleria provided the obsidian

for the earliest Neolithic Maltese, and

Stentinello pottery was found at

Lampedusa. This colonisation of

Lampedusa and Pantelleria occurred at a

time when maritime technology and

navigational knowledge were still too

primitive to have permitted it.137

The Maltese islands, Pantelleria and the

Pelagian islands possess the lowest

biogeographic indices in the Mediterranean,

0.03 to 0.1, and their early colonisation can

only make sense if they were much larger in

size; ideally if they were one land mass. As

if to confirm this theme, Patton includes

both Lampedusa and Pantelleria with the

Maltese Islands.138

2. Floral, faunal and

anthropological links with the

Pelagian islands and North Africa

during the prehistoric period

On the Maltese islands, a large variety of

life forms, whether these are plant, animal

or human, manifest significant similarities

with life forms on other areas on the

Pelagian block — Pantelleria, the Pelagian

islands and the North African coast.

The present floral assemblage of the

Maltese islands is similar to that of

Lampedusa.139 Jasonia glutinosa,

Hypericum aegypticum, Crucianella

rupestris and Filago gussonei are plants

peculiar to Lampedusa, Pantelleria and

Malta. Callitris quadrivalvis,

Enarthrocarpus pterocarpus, and Melitella

pusilla are peculiar to Malta and the

opposite North African coast.140 Callitris

and Hypericum are not eaten by birds, and

their seeds are not disseminated by the air-

borne route.141

The fossil herpetofauna of the Maltese

islands have also been the subject of

research vis-à-vis land-bridge connections of

the Maltese islands to the mainland.142

Pasa had already suggested in 1953 that

the Maltese islands were linked to Sicily,

North Africa and the Eastern

Mediterranean during the Pleistocene.143

The frog Discoglossus pictus has a western

Mediterranean distribution including

Northwest Africa, Malta and Sicily. The

locally extinct toads, Bufo bufo and Bufo

viridis, were discovered in Maltese

Pleistocene horizons, and their distribution

includes North and Northwest Africa and

Europe. The locally extinct tortoise, Testudo

graeca, has a similar distribution.144

According to Kotsakis, the ctenodactylid

Pellegrina panormensis may be taken as a

significant indication of an ancient link

with Africa during the Pleistocene. Both

Pellegrinia and Maltamys have been

interpreted as of African origin.145

An extremely rare land snail which is

endemic to Filfla is the Lampedusa

gattoi.146 There are also several more

Maltese endemic life forms with close

relatives on the Pelagian islands, especially

insects,147 but a particularly useful marker

is the wall lizard.

Podarcis

The wall lizard Podarcis is a very

satisfactory biogeographical marker during

the Holocene (~10,000 years ago) because of

its pattern of evolution over this period of

time. After the isolation of the central

Mediterranean islands at the start of the

Holocene, the Siculo-Maltese lizard (Lacerta

siculomelitensis) ‗differentiated‘ into a

different genus with several species.

Podarcis filfolensis is found only in the

Maltese and Pelagian islands (Linosa and

Lampione; there are no Podarcis on

Lampedusa). Conversely, Podarcis Sicula is

found in Sicily and Pantelleria, but not in

Malta and the Pelagian islands. Podarcis

tiliguerta is found only in Sardinia and

Corsica. The distribution trend of these

different species of wall lizard manifests an

individual species limitation to

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Viridis Tiliguerta Filfolensis Sicula Wagleriana Italy Italy Sicily Sicily Sicily

Pantelleria Sardinia Sardinia Corsica Corsica Maltese Is. Pelagic Is.

Table 1. Podarcis distribution profile

Podarcis filfolensis is limited in distribution to the area within the dotted line

The wall lizard Podarcis is a very satisfactory biogeographical marker during the Holocene (~10,000 years ago) because of its pattern of evolution over this period of time. After the isolation of the central Mediterranean islands at the start of the Holocene, the Siculo-Maltese lizard (Lacerta siculomelitensis) ‘differentiated’ into a different genus with several species. Podarcis filfolensis is found only in the Maltese and Pelagian islands. Conversely, Podarcis Sicula is found in Sicily and Pantelleria, but not in Malta and the Pelagian islands. Podarcis tiliguerta is found only in Sardinia and Corsica. The wall lizard is not a regular item of diet, and not one to be transported across the sea for breeding purposes. Neither has involuntary transfer across the sea seem to have had any part to play, for, although Maltese trade with Sicily, Lipari, Pantelleria and Lampedusa was extensively carried out during the Neolithic, this has not resulted in the introduction of P. filfolensis in any of these last-mentioned islands; nor have any of the Sicilian, Pantellerian and Aeolian species been introduced to Malta during these same trading activities. The Maltese and Pelagian Islands are clearly too separated from each other at the present time to reconcile the exclusive presence of filfolensis on their territory alone. The biogeographical profile of the wall lizard Podarcis indicates that the territory presently occupied by filfolensis was one landmass during the Holocene, and separate from Pantelleria through its rift valley, already existent during the late Miocene. With the gradual extension of the rift into the two parallel limbs pointing Southeast, the filfolensis territory fragmented into the various insular masses which have persisted to this day, and in which several insular sub-species have evolved.

Photograph by C. Savona Ventura

Figure 17. The Maltese wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis. 27

Malta:

28

neighbouring islands; the Maltese and

Pelagian Islands are clearly too separated

from each other at the present time. The

wall lizard is not a regular item of diet, and

not one to be transported across the sea for

breeding purposes. Neither has involuntary

transfer across the sea seem to have had

any part to play, for, although Maltese

trade with Sicily, Lipari, Pantelleria and

Lampedusa was extensively carried out

during the Neolithic, this has not resulted

in the introduction of P. filfolensis in any of

these last-mentioned islands; nor have any

of the Sicilian, Pantellerian and Aeolian

species been introduced to Malta during

these same trading activities.

Figure 17 shows the distribution of the

various species and insular sub-species of

Podarcis, an indication of its evolution in

relation to the gradual isolation of the

individual islands during the Holocene. The

distribution of the insular sub-species of P.

filfolensis is independent of latitude, insular

size and distance from nearest landmass,

and the territorial limits of individual

landmasses seem to be the sole determinant

of the presence of the particular sub-species

of filfolensis; the islet of St. Paul and the

General‘s Rock are a mere few metres from

the mainland, respectively Malta and Gozo,

and yet they harbour a sub-species which is

different from that on the mainland.

The biogeographical profile of the wall

lizard Podarcis thus indicates that the

territory presently occupied by filfolensis

was one landmass during the Holocene, and

separate from Pantelleria through its rift

valley, already existent during the late

Miocene. With the gradual extension of the

rift into the two parallel limbs pointing

Southeast, the filfolensis territory

fragmented into the various insular masses

which have persisted to this day, and in

which several insular sub-species have

evolved.

Anthropological links

Man came ―out of Africa,‖ and so did

―mitochondrial Eve.‖ Links of the Maltese

prehistoric folk with the southern continent

have been made by at least two anatomists

who researched Maltese anthropology,

namely Arthur Keith and J. Leslie Pace.148

Like the ancient Egyptians, Malta‘s

Neolithic population bore dolichocephalic,

or long-headed, skulls.

In 1839 a negroid skull was excavated,

together with some bones of a quaduped,

from the debris of chamber 12 of Hagar

Qim.149 The nineteenth century

anthropologist Charles Pickering assumed

it had belonged to a Negro slave. The skull

was that of a male of approximately 30 to

40 years of age; its curious feature was the

particularly acute angle of the face, which

measured 61º.150 Hagar Qim lies on the

south coast of Malta, on the Maghlaq Fault,

along the fracture ridge separating Malta

from Filfla and North Africa.

Cultural links with the countries dominated

by Plato‘s island

Situated right in the centre of the

Mediterranean, Plato‘s island would have

been in the ideal position to exert its sphere

of influence and control over Libia and

Egypt in the south, and the Tyrrhenian

regions in the north; the Maltese and

Pelagian islands are at the focal point of

these three last-mentioned regions.

In antiquity, the North African coast was

particularly desirable for strategic and

political purposes. It was the home or major

colony of the major civilisations of the

time—from the fourth millennium BC with

ancient Egypt, right up to the first and

beyond, with Greek Alexandria, Cretan

Cyrene, Roman Leptis Magna and

Sabratha, and Phoenician Carthage. If the

central Mediterranean islands formed part

of Plato‘s Island, the nucleus of the earliest

civilisation of all, a strong link with the

North African coastline to its south was a

sine qua non. In fact, the forces of Plato‘s

Island had dominated the North African

coast of Libia and Egypt. The circumstance

that Plato‘s Island was cut off from Libia

can be elicited from Plato‘s declaration that

the Atlantean forces had landed on its

northern coast in an act of aggression on

Libia itself, Egypt and other forces from the

East.

Links with ancient Tyrrhenia

The major cultural link with the

Tyrrhenian during the Neolithic lies in the

diffuse trade in obsidian with the island of

Lipari during the late Neolithic.151

Links with ancient Egypt152

The multiplicity of prehistoric artefacts in

Malta from the Egyptian world is severely

diminished in significance owing to the

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The four Egyptian stelae of the prehistoric period were discovered in 1829 during the excavations at Villa Bichi. Created out of Maltese limestone, the stelae confirm the Egyptian link well before the advent of Phoenicians in the Maltese islands.

Standing priest with the figures of Horus and Meat, the goddess of Truth, one on each side of the moon disc. Standing 1 foot 2 inches in height, this group was carved in local Maltese stone, and was discovered in Gozo in 1713. An inscription in clear hieroglyphics is engraved on the front and sides of the pedestal. When examined by a Dr. Lepsius in 1842, it was pronounced as a sepulchral monument — although hieroglyphics had already been deciphered by Champollion in 1822, Lepsius was unable to interpret the hieroglyphic inscription on the triad. Subsequent decipherment has declared it to be an invocation to Amen-Ra-Seqer and Meat of Thebes, and a prayer to Ra-Hamarkis and Meat, the lady of the Skies. It is dated to the second millennium BC, and is documented in Caruana (1882: 32-33) and in Zammit’s Guide to the Valletta Museum (1931, plate facing p. 32).

Figure 19. Links with ancient Egypt 29

Malta:

30

frequent loss of context. However,

Zammit153 and Ward-Perkins154 have

provided significant evidence in this regard.

By way of small artefacts, a faience bead

from Bronze Age Tarxien has originated

from Egypt.155 Of a more substantial

nature, Caruana156 and Zammit157 recorded

the Gozo find in the 18th century of an

Egyptian triad in local Maltese stone; this is

dated to the second millennium BC. It

represents a standing priest with the

figures of Horus and Meat on either side of

the moon disc. An inscription in

hieroglyphics invokes Amen-Ra-Seqer and

Meat of Thebes with a prayer to Ra-

Hamarkis and Meat the Lady of the Skies.

Yet another notable piece of evidence is the

group of Egyptian burial stones discovered

at Bighi, and these clearly indicate an

Egyptian presence in Bronze Age Malta, at

the time that the Tarxien cemetery phase in

Malta was drawing to a close.158

―On the point opposite the Knights‘ Hospital

in Valletta, in the very place where

Napoleon boastfully said he would build his

palace when Europe, Asia and Africa were

all subjugated to his Empire, is the very

spacious and beautiful Naval Hospital

erected in 1830,159 in digging the

foundations of which, Captain [afterward

Sir Harry] Smith R.G. discovered the

Egyptian inscriptions now in the British

Museum.‖160 They were presented to the

British Museum in 1836 by J. B. Collings,

the Clerk of Works in charge of works at the

Bighi Hospital.161 The stelae were created

out of Maltese limestone,162 the same

material used for the Egyptian triad found

in Gozo.

The Egyptianizing movement in the ancient

world is considered by Günther Hölbl as

starting in the Iron Age through the

Phoenicians. The Egyptian stelae

discovered at Bighi disprove this

hypothesis, and understandably Hölbl has

discarded these stelae as recent

introductions to Malta, but he has not

supported this hypothesis with any

evidence or valid argument.163

The four stelae are of Maltese sandstone,

and were found in December 1829, when

sinking for the foundations of Bighi Naval

Hospital. They are still to be found in the

Egyptian Gallery of the British Museum,

BM 233, 299, 287 and 218. Murray (1928)

described the four stelae and dated three of

them to the 12th dynasty (1991-1786 BC)

and the fourth (BM 287) to the 18th dynasty

(1567-1320BC). Testa validly remarks that

the inclusion of females among the

tombstone names confirm that the cemetery

was no mere makeshift arrangement, but

represented a true colony of Egyptians from

the Middle Kingdom.164 In 1928, the

renowned Oriental archaeologist, Margaret

Murray, confirmed that there had been a

considerable amount of foreign intercourse

between Malta and Egypt during the

Middle Kingdom, and that the presence of

Egyptian civilisation in Malta preceded that

of Crete. ―In the Mediterranean area little or

no research has been made as to trade with

Egypt outside Crete and the Aegean. Yet

there are traces of the connexions in the

XIIth dynasty with Malta and even further

west‖.165 Even before Murray, the German

scholar Albert Mayr had already observed

the effects of Egyptian culture prevailing

both in Malta and in Pantelleria before that

of the Phoenicians,166 whereas Zammit had

shown an oriental link also existing with

Chaldea in Babylon.167

Megalithic structures similar to the Maltese

temples have recently (2nd April 1998) been

discovered at Nabta in Egypt, and these too

antedate the European structures, as well

as the Egyptian pyramids themselves.

They have been dated to 4,800 BP

(calibrated ~ 3,700 BC), which is analogous

to the earliest Maltese temples. At Nabta,

this ―ceremonial complex … has alignments

to cardinal and solstitial directions‖ and

represented ―a very early expression of

ideology and astronomy.‖168 The Maltese

temples also bear an orientation towards

the celestial bodies, and Mnajdra temple in

particular has been shown to be aligned to

the summer solstice. The latter temple had

been dated by radiocarbon to 3600-3150 BC,

and by Micallef, using de Sitter‘s formula,

to 3710BC, which dates are close enough to

the Nabta complex.169 Other megalithic

monuments have been described nearer to

the Mediterranean, in North Africa and in

Algeria.170

Links with ancient Libia

Albert Mayr was the first scholar to point

out that the Maltese temples were

prehistoric rather than Phoenician. Mayr

strongly believed that the prehistoric

monuments in the western Mediterranean

islands, with the exception of Corsica and

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The North African coast was the home or colony of the major civilizations in antiquity — Memphis, Alexandria, Leptis Magna, Cyrene, and Sabratha (above).

Negroid skull discovered in one of the rooms at Hagar Qim temple, Qrendi.

Xewkija temple sherd —impressed ware was found all along the Mediterranean, and probably derived from North Africa.

Figure 19. Links with ancient North Africa 31

Malta:

32

Sicily, were introduced there from Libia.

The absence of such monuments in Sicily

indicated that the Maltese prehistoric

population had derived from North Africa

and that of Sicily from the north.171

Megalithic structures and true dolmens are

absent in Sicily but present in North

Africa.172 Moreover, the absence of a copper

age in Malta contrasts with the situation in

mainland Sicily, and further diminishes the

links therewith during the megalithic

culture period.

Ward Perkins visited the archaeological

sites in North Africa in the 1940s. ―The

most striking remains of the Maltese

Neolithic culture are, without question, the

megalithic temples … Archaeologists have

not ceased to scour the Mediterranean from

the Levant to Spain in search of the culture

from which Malta drew its inspiration …

their choice has fallen upon the

neighbouring shores of northern Africa,

about whose contemporary culture

practically nothing is known.‖173

Horatio Vella quotes Herodotus (IV) for the

―first literary evidence of the fertility notions

among the Libians in ancient North Africa.‖

In prehistoric times, Malta shared with

North Africa, and the rest of the

Mediterranean, ―in the veneration of a

fertility goddess … a main female deity and

her subordinate consort.‖174

In ancient prehistoric times, Malta‘s ruler

was known as Battus,175 which is the

ancient Libian, and also Theran,

nomenclature for the title of a king in

Libia;176 the Therans in Libia had their own

king Battus.177 Malta‘s Battus greeted

Queen Dido en route to establish Carthage.

Even before the arrival of the first

Phoenicians there, Malta was large enough

to have its own colonies, such as at Acholla,

on the North African coast of Tunisia.178 It

was Acholla that Emanuel Magri visited

with a view to excavation in March of 1907,

when he suddenly passed away with the

loss of all his archaeological notes.179

The Stentinello ceramic ware has been

discovered all over the Mediterranean,

including North Africa. Emanuel Magri

identified this incised pottery with that

attributed to the ancient Libians.180

The two British directors of the Malta

Archaeological Survey (1951) associated the

Maltese Neolithic civilisation with the

North African. The impressed ware is

―associated with early communities of stone-

using agriculturalists, from many places in

the Mediterranean area: it was found at

Stentinello in Sicily, and reaches as far west

as the south of France, the Spanish Levant,

and the north African coast in Tangier. The

style might in fact be African in origin.‖181

3. Tectono-seismic profile

Sixty-seven million years ago Africa started

on its collision course with Europe. The

impact occurred at three main sites.

Utilising the nomenclature of today,

Morocco hit Gibraltar on the west, and

Arabia hit Turkey on the east. The third,

and central, point of impact occurred

between the Pelagian block and Italy.

The Pelagian block represents the northern

and central portion of the African plate, and

it included the Tunisio-Sicilian landbridge,

the Maltese and Pelagian islands, and the

southeastern block of Sicily, the Hyblean

plateau.

This central collision front between Africa

and Europe created major changes in

geological structure. A circle of mountain

ranges absorbed some of the stress forces as

it was raised throughout North Africa and

southern Europe. The significant

alterations in the earth‘s crust occurred in

the central Mediterranean region. The

Pelagian block underwent fragmentation of

its crust at several sites, as an effect of the

shearing forces acting along Africa‘s

continuing movement into Europe. Faults,

grabens and rifts3 made their appearance

throughout the region, and these have

occasioned ―extensive tectonic and volcanic

activity‖ throughout the central

Mediterranean region up to the present

time. This rift faulting in the Pelagian block

is one of the ―most spectacular phenomena

in the world‖.182

The central area for studying the

3 A fault is a fracture in the earth‘s crust, along which

the bordering land segments move in relation to one

another. When a land segment collapses between its

neighbours, it becomes a graben, whilst the higher

land segments are known as horsts. A rift is crudely a

massive graben.

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The mountain chains which have formed in the Mediterranean region as a result of the plate movements between Africa and Eurasia. (Diagram adapted from Ventura and Galea, reproduced with permission)

Tectonic framework of the Pelagian shelf — grabens of late Miocene to recent activity, collision fronts, plate movements and escarpments.

Areas of recent volcanic activity close to the Maltese Islands, in black. The maritime zones are arrowed in white. The black arrows denotes the site of Graham’s Island (1), Pantelleria and Linosa. (Diagram adapted from Ventura and Galea, reproduced with permission)

Figure 20. Tectono-seismic profiles of the Central Mediterranean 33

Malta:

34

development of faults and foreland

reactions on the Pelagian block is Malta.

Along the Afro-Eurasian plate boundary,

―convergent and lateral motions have

generated different and superimposed stress

regimes in the sedimentary cover, which

governed the fracture pattern and fault

processes.‖183

―Associated mantle updoming and crustal

thinning lead to graben development and

widespread volcanism,‖ whilst fault

patterns are constantly being reactivated.184

Tilting

The Mediterranean is the world‘s second

most active region for earthquake and

volcanic activity. Malta is 200 kilometres

southwest of the collision front between the

African and Eurasian continental plates. In

Malta two dominant fault trends are

developed. The first generation NE-SW

trend is no longer active. The second

generation fault system is represented by

the Pantelleria rift system, which is causing

a tilt in the Maltese islands and

Lampedusa; it is still active at the present

time, and is represented on its outermost

boundary by the Maghlaq fault185 system in

Malta, ―the outermost master fault of the

Pantelleria Rift system.‖186 The wedge-like

tilt of the Maltese islands is considered to

be caused by earthquake and other volcanic

activity in the area. Malta is considered as

a Zone One in terms of earthquake risk.187

The upwarped shoulders of the Pantelleria

rift bear the Pelagian islands of Lampedusa

and Lampione on the western shoulder and

the Maltese islands on the eastern one. The

still active shoulder upwarping on both

sides of the Pantelleria rift causes the

tilting. As the island of Lampedusa

continues to tilt southerly, the Maltese

Islands tilt in a complementary manner

towards the Northeast.188

This process of tilting has proceeded beyond

8000 BC towards the present time.189 That

these tectonic forces have persisted up to

the present time can also be confirmed

through the pattern of volcanic activity on

Linosa. This quaternary volcanic island

exhibits features which are paralleled by

the Lampedusa trend. The island of Linosa

is a rift-type emergent volcano lying on the

southwestern margin of the Linosa basin,

and, like Pantelleria, is associated with the

Pantelleria rift.190

The Maltese islands and Lampedusa bear

very close similarities from the

sedimentological and tectonic parameters.

They both lie on the carbonate platform of

the Pelagian shelf, and their geological

horizons have been built up in the same

manner.191

The tectonic episodes of the Maltese Islands

are closely paralleled with the

contemporaneous tectonic events on

Lampedusa. ―The physiographic orientation

of the long axes of the Linosa and Malta

basins reflect the orientation of the

controlling master faults. Significantly, the

orientation of these is virtually concurrent

with the orientation of the N 120º trending

normal faults on the eastern side of the

Hyblean Plateau (SE Sicily), with the N

120º trending normal faults of the Maghlaq

fault system (south Malta) and with the N

120º trending fracture set of Lampedusa.‖ 192

Field data from the graben shoulders of the

Pantelleria rift, namely Malta to the

Northeast, and Lampedusa on the

Southwest, have delineated the direction of

maximal horizontal compressive forces

acting on the rift, (from the Southeast), and

the sense of spreading of the rift, (in two

opposite directions, Northeast and

Southwest).193 Deep sea dredging of the

Pantelleria rift bottom has confirmed the

start of rifting during the late Miocene, and

the direction of the maximal compressive

forces, from the Southeast, indicates the

initiation of crust breakdown at the

Pantelleria end of the rift, on the Afro-

Eurasian boundary, which is also here the

site of maximal tension. Continuing

tectonic activity since the late Miocene has

been responsible for opening out the rift, as

shown by the sense of spreading arrows in

figure 21. Finetti and Morelli have

confirmed, through digital seismic profiling

techniques, the ―considerably extensional

character‖ of the Pantelleria rift.194

These tectonic movements in the central

Mediterranean are still responsible for the

continuing separation of the two shoulders

of the rift, respectively bearing the Maltese

islands on the Northeast, and the Pelagian

group on the Southwest shoulder. It is far

from inconceivable that the landmass joined

to the Southwest coast of Malta, at the

Echoes of Plato’s Island

COMPRESSION FORCES, PLATE TECTONICS AND RIFTING IN THE PELAGIAN BLOCK.

As the African plate moves into Eurasia, the direction of maximal horizontal compression is represented by arrow (A). (B1) and (B2) indicate the sense of spreading away from the maximal compression zone (C). The point of maximal tension occurs at (T) near Pantelleria, causing volcanism on Pantelleria and rifting since the late Miocene. Pantelleria and Linosa are rift-related composite volcanoes, and (V) represent the various zones of recent volcanic activity in the area. The rifting process which started at Pantelleria has fractured the sea bed along R1 to R2 to E2, and R1 to R3 to E3, and it is still active at the present time. It has reached points (F) on the Maltese islands, at the Maghlaq region in Malta (since 8000BC), and at Wied il-Bassasa in Gozo (since 5000BC). A cataclysmic event on the Maltese islands since 5000BC is confirmed by the geological processes involved. (From Illies 1981: 156, 157, fig. 4; Bruno 1982: 53, fig. 6; Reuther 1984: 1, 13, fig. 11; Grasso et al. 1985: 15, fig. 8; Ventura & Galea 1993: 20, fig. 5). The stippled region represents the exclusive distribution of the wall lizard, Podarcis filfolensis.

Pelagian Islands Maltese Islands

The two limbs of the

Pantelleria Rift

Submersion Submersion

Loss of central terrain

Design — Tabitha Mifsud

Design — Tabitha Mifsud

Figure 21. The Pantelleria Rift and Tilting 35

Malta:

36

Maghlaq site, would have collapsed and

submerged at a point in time when its

underlying structures gave way to the

rifting process. Such a collapse would have

occasioned the displacement of massive

volumes of sea water on the southwestern

coastline, with a rapidly following torrential

flooding event along a SW to NE direction.

4. Catastrophic events on Malta

The Flood in ancient cultures

The biblical archaeologists date the

catastrophic Diluvium to around 2500BC,195

corresponding to the end of the Tarxien

period. In fact the ten-foot deep flood

horizon at Ur in Mesopotamia conveniently

separates the Neolithic from the Bronze

Age periods. The sacred texts of Jews,

Christians and Muslims recount the same

episode of the catastrophic Flood worldwide;

the ancient Greeks suffered such a major

flood which destroyed all their records.196

The ancient cuneiform tablets of Nineveh

recount the epic of Gilgamesh, which is

identical to the story of Noah and the Flood.

Variations of the event are to be found in

practically all ancient cultures, and the

story has been handed down to several of

today‘s nations—the Americas, Australia,

India, Tibet, Kashmir, Polynesia and

Lithuania.

Climatic conditions worldwide were

significantly perturbed owing to the mini

Ice Age prevailing during this same period

of time, and the third millennium BC saw a

general decline in the growth and

efflorescence of societies in the Aegean,

Egypt, the Indus valley and western Asia.

In Egypt, the Old Kingdom, during which

the pyramids were built, gave way to the

turmoil of the First Intermediate Period. In

Palestine, Early Bronze Age towns were

abandoned. In Mesopotamia, the Akkadian

Empire collapsed around 2,200 BC. Cretan

and Greek civilisations collapsed in 2,200

BC, whereas the great cities in the Indus

Valley collapsed between 2,200 and

2,100BC. The collapse of these societies

often left an archaeological hiatus of about

three centuries. 197

Although the Maltese radiocarbon

chronology has not pinpointed the exact

date of passage from the Tarxien to the

Early Bronze Age, the dates do indicate

that this transition occurred approximately

at the same time, certainly in the later half

of the third millennium BC. A similar

hiatus in the archaeological record is also

observable in the Maltese context.

Torrential flooding events

Major flooding events have occurred in the

Maltese islands, both in prehistoric and in

ancient historic times. The former are

characterised by alluvial (water-borne)

deposits of extinct animals, such as

hippopotamus, elephant and red deer,

whereas the latter are represented by

isolated victims in the minor episodes, and

with alluvial events of a more significant

nature in the major ones.

Torrential flooding events are characteristic

of the Maltese islands. They have been

responsible in early antiquity for the

deposits of extinct animals in the lower

layers of Ghar Dalam, in the Southeast of

Malta. This is one of the major areas along

the Maltese coastline where the massive

volumes of water would have ended their

journey towards the sea. Such torrential

flows, which also produced the deep gorges

and valleys throughout the Maltese islands,

would have required a much larger surface

area of the Maltese islands towards the

south.

The earliest recorded flooding episode in

Malta has been dated to approximately

120,000 years before the present time —

this has produced the Hippopotamus layer

in Ghar Dalam. Massive numbers of dwarf

elephant and hippopotamus were carried

away by the flood waters and the small

percentage which did not end up in the sea

were deposited in sites such as Ghar

Dalam. Several other episodes followed

during the later periods of the same ‗Ice

Age‘, and were responsible for carrying

away the carnivores of the period, such as

wolf and fox, and the red deer. Two human

taurodont molar teeth were included with

the remains of red deer. Once again these

remains of extinct Maltese mammals were

eventually deposited in successive layers at

Ghar Dalam.198 Moreover the flooding

episode during the carnivore episode was

associated with significant evidence of

burning — ash was a significant feature of

pollen analysis of this layer.199 Fire and

water were responsible for this cataclysm,

and the evidence thus points to volcanic

activity on the Maltese islands at this

period of time. Ash can be dated, and would

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The story of the universal flood is widespread in the ancient history of several cultures. Cuneiform text was deciphered 150 years ago, and the clay tablet above records the epic of Gilgamesh, which includes the equivalent of Noah’s flood as documented in Babylon. It confirms the story of the flood in Genesis, basically one of the ancient texts in terms of recorded history.

The photograph of the pair of articulated skeletons (left) discovered at the Brochtorff Circle can be seen at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. A similar photograph has been published by Stoddart in Mifsud & Savona Ventura (1999: 185). It has been included here because it manifests the rare phenomenon of ‘cadaveric spasm’, an instantaneous form of rigor mortis which develops at the time of death, but which does not progress to post-mortem flaccidity. It is confined to those deaths which “occur in the midst of intense physical and/or emotional activity” such as drowning. This phenomenon usually affects only one group of muscles, such as the flexors of an arm, as in this case, rather than the whole body (Knight 1991: 57). The two skeletons, one above the other, do lie in an unusual burial position, and they lie in a calcareous matrix which has infiltrated their interiors, a reflection of the wet conditions in which they must have lain, temporarily at least. A significant amount of the recent excavations at Brochtorff were in fact in a matrix of what they termed a ‘bone soup’.

Figure 22. Flooding events in the Maltese Islands 37

Malta:

38

provide the precise date between the middle

and late Palaeolithic when the event

occurred. Volcanic activity has also been

recorded in the Maltese islands in more

recent times.200

Human victims of flooding events in the

Late Neolithic201

At least two sites on the Maltese islands

have retained the evidence of major alluvial

events during the Neolithic period. They

were cut into the living rock by the

Neolithic Maltese. Their relatively high

altitude above sea level in comparison with

Ghar Dalam reflects the intensity of the

flooding events which caused the deposits

inside them. The two sites are the hypogea

at Hal Saflieni and at Santa Lucia, both of

which overlie the Tal-Horr valley,

unfortunately now covered over by the

Addolorata Cemetery.

First hand evidence on the Hypogeum at

Hal Saflieni is available from the

excavation reports by Caruana, Zammit and

Bradley. It is evident from the contents of

these reports that the human remains in

the underground labyrinth were

transported there by water action; their

matrix of red earth derived from the fields

surrounding the monument. In the same

manner that the deposits of extinct fauna

were laid down in the lower layers of Ghar

Dalam, the human remains deposited in the

Hypogeum had been carried down into the

monument from the surface, particularly

from the ―intramural sepulchres‖ (rock-cut

tombs) described by Caruana.

Before the formal excavations by Emanuel

Magri were initiated in 1903, the local

British authorities asked Dr. A. A. Caruana

to visit the Hypogeum and report thereon.

Caruana inspected the lower two stories of

the labyrinth on the 29th of December 1902,

and he submitted his report a week later.

There were hardly any human remains in

the second storey, whereas in the third ―a

great quantity of human skulls and bones

were found heaped over each other and at

random, like the heaps of dead bodies in the

lower deposits of the former intramural

sepulchres.‖202 This haphazard distribution

of the human remains is confirmed by the

reports of Zammit and Bradley.

In 1910, Dr T. Zammit submitted his report

on the Hypogeum excavations since 1907.

The deposit outside and inside the Hal

Saflieni Hypogeum was constituted

essentially of red earth from the

surrounding fields. In this red earth

deposit, which averaged a metre in height,

a homogenous motley of human remains

and Neolithic pottery were to be found. In

certain parts recent material covered the

red earth deposit, and this was mainly the

work of the builders who were developing

the area.

Zammit differentiated clearly between the

material and deposit horizons. ―In the upper

stories, modern material was found, mostly

thrown in quite recent times; some of the

material, however, was undoubtedly over a

century old as not far from the original

entrance a coin of Grand Master Pinto was

found very near the surface. The modern

material was easily recognized and of no

interest whatever.

―Under this, a dark compact deposit was

found which showed nowhere signs of

having been disturbed. In this old deposit

no stratification was observed and in caves

which were cleared inch by inch, the deposit

was always of the same type and contained

objects of the same quality. The deposit of

the large caves, about a metre in depth, was

made of red earth one finds in our fields and

in this, bones and potsherds were intimately

mixed. This deposit was wanting in the

series of caves which were elaborately cut

and finished, and in the small caves in the

lower storey.‖ The bones and skulls lay

mixed up together in the deposit, with no

anatomical disposition, and ―the human

bones [were] found disjointed and

confusedly massed‖. There was only one

possibly ritual burial, without the furniture

to be expected in such a grandiose building.

―The contents of the deposit point rather to a

burial place in which the bodies were laid or

heaped mostly as skeletons. Very few bodies

were found lying in a natural position and

no special arrangements such as trenches,

sepulchres, stone enclosures etc. were met

with, anywhere, intended to receive a body.‖

In Cave C 28: ―not a single one [skeleton]

was found lying with bones in position.‖ ―At

least 120 skeletons were buried in a space of

3.17 by 1.2 by 1m. This is enough to show

that a regular interment was out of the

question as not more than 12 bodies could be

laid in such a limited space‖.203

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Schematic diagram of the intramural sepulchres (rock cut tombs) and the distribution of the ancient red earth deposit throughout the Hypogea at Hal Saflieni and Sta. Lucia “as if the mass had been dumped inside the monument from the surface” — from the first-hand descriptions of A. A. Caruana, Temi Zammit and W. A. Griffiths (see text on pages 38 et seq.).

Design – Tabitha Mifsud

One of the chambers of the Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni with the accumulated remains practically filling up the cavern unit. A number of sieves are visible on top of the remains, and a human skull lies in the foreground towards the left. Of all the human remains in the entire labyrinth, there was only one possibly ritual burial. Compare this pattern with that which prevailed at Burmeghez, where all the bodies were aligned along the main axis of the cavern, and were all protected by a dolmenic arrangement above their upper extremities.

Figure 23. Alluvial nature of human remains in the Hypogea. 39

Malta:

40

Assisting Zammit in the excavation was a

young B. A. graduate, R. N. Bradley. His

conclusions were similar to Zammit‘s,

namely that the human remains at Hal

Saflieni were not primary burials. ―Under

the guidance of Professor Zammit I

excavated at Hal Saflieni, between the 17th

of September 1910 and the 23rd February

1911, working at room C29 and its entrance

towards C28. No complete skeletons came to

light, and the bones lay in confusion

through the soil as in the rest of the

Hypogeum, except that occasionally an arm

with fingers, and complete foot, and several

vertebrae would be found lying with the

parts in situ. From the upright position of

an isolated radius it might be judged that

the filling up of the cave was of a wholesale

nature, rather than that individual burials

took place in it … unrelated bones and also

implements were found in the interior of

skulls. The finding of six vertebrae in

position, five of them without spinous

processes, suggests a case of re-burial, and it

is an open question how far most of the

interments may not have been of this

character. Animals bones were found

mingled with human.‖204

Another excavator under Zammit was W. R.

Griffiths, and he confirms that ―most of the

rooms were found to be half-filled with

earth, human bones and broken pottery…

Practically all [the bodies] were found in the

greatest disorder, and there had evidently

been no regular burial of a complete

body‖.205

Further evidence for the alluvial nature of

deposit inside the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum

derives from a similar deposit reported in

1974 half a mile away in the Hypogeum at

Santa Lucia. This monument represents a

smaller version of that at Hal Saflieni, with

a megalithic entrance and an internal

architecture similar to the temples above

ground. The deposit inside this hypogeum

consisted of human remains admixed with

Neolithic pottery and amulets, in a matrix

of red earth soil; the context is similar to

that at Hal Saflieni. In the words of the

Director of Museums at the time, the

deposit inside the Santa Lucia Hypogeum

was ―as if the mass had been dumped inside

the monument from the surface.‖ F. S.

Mallia could not have been more precise,

and the close proximity of the two hypogea

enhances even further a similar mechanism

operating in both monuments in the

creation of the deposit in question.206

Recent radiocarbon dates by Mifsud207 have

shown that during the ‗Hypogeum period‘ of

the Tarxien phase, ritual burials were still

being carried out in caverns like Burmeghez

in Malta and the Brochtorff pit in Gozo.

Whereas the human remains at the Hal

Saflieni Hypogeum clearly reflect an

alluvial event in their deposition, at

Burmeghez a dolmenic arrangement had

been set up to protect each of the 39

complete skeletons interred inside the

cavern, and aligned along its main axis.

Flooding events in Malta have also been a

feature during historic times. A human

body was discovered at Fleur de Lys in

1968, whilst excavation works on a well at

St. Monica School were under way. The

body had been relatively well preserved in a

bed of clay, and lay at a depth of 20 feet

below the surface. The hair was still

preserved, and during the salvage operation

carried out by George Zammit Maempel,

the entire human remains were removed

and retained by the proprietors of the

school.208 They were displayed in the school

hall for several years as hippopotamus

bones. Radiocarbon dating by Mifsud and

Mifsud (1996) established an uncalibrated

date of 2590 ± 100, calibrated to 675BC.209

The body had obviously been engulfed in a

bed of clay from the effects of torrential

water flow over the site.

Another episode occurred during the

Byzantine period. A Dr. Anderson

discovered a human skeleton in the 1830‘s.

The surviving skull lay buried in the red

earth in one of the caves near Mnajdra, at a

depth of 18 feet below the surface, and over

the centuries it had incorporated a

ferrugineous pigmentation over its

surface.210 The possibility of a ritual burial

is excluded through the depth it lay inside

the cave soil, and the matrix it lay in

confirms it as being an alluvial deposit. The

cliff face of the Mnajdra region is studded

with such caverns, at altitudes of

approximately 300 feet above sea level. The

human skull is labelled as E42A-521.211 The

radiocarbon date of this specimen (OxA-

8166) is 1325 ± 50, calibrated to 705 AD212

Land submergence and subsidence The loss of Plato‘s Island resulted in a

sinking of the land and structures in the

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The earliest Maltese human remains are represented by the two taurodont molars found in association with red deer at Ghar Dalam. They are shown above flanking a modern one. Scientific testing with fluorine and uranium oxide at the Museum of Natural History in London has established that they are contemporaneous with Maltese red deer of the ‘Ice Age’. The taurodonts were carried to Ghar Dalam by water action together with the remains of red deer during a torrential flooding event. Date < 10,000BP.

The six skulls shown above derived from the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum. They were not buried ritually in the monument, but were carried there by water action. See text for the reports of the original excavators in the first decade of the twentieth century. Other Hal Saflieni human remains radiocarbon dated to 2735 BC.

These human remains were excavated at Fleur de Lys by George Zammit Maempel in 1968. During excavation works for a well at the St Monica school there, a well preserved and anatomically intact skeleton was discovered in a bed of clay twenty feet below ground level. The nuns at the convent participated in the excavation on their own initiative and they retained all the finds. The human remains were radiocarbon dated to 675 BC.

Dr. Anderson discovered this skull (left) at Mnajdra, buried in red earth at a depth of eighteen feet below the surface. This depth and its matrix excludes it from having been a ritual burial, but rather points to another alluvial event. Radiocarbon dated to 705 AD.

Figure 24. Maltese human remains in alluvial events 41

Malta:

42

centre on the island, and a submergence of

the regions at the peripheries because of

their downward tilt. The recovery of the

remains which lay in the centre of Plato‘s

Island is an impossible task except for the

most technologically advanced scientific

organisations. The submerged remains of

man-made structures at the peripheries are

more accessible — principally cart ruts, ‗silo

pits‘ and megalithic structures insofar as

the prehistoric period is concerned.

The cart-ruts provide ideal surface land

features for an assessment of recent land

upheavals; disturbances in these man-made

canals reflect activities which have occurred

after the advent of man in the Maltese

islands. Their submergence cannot be

accounted for solely by the simple rise of sea

level over the centuries, but an actual

sinking of the land must also have been a

significant contributing factor. The

inclination of the geological layers clearly

indicates that the process of land

submergence also involved a tilt downward

along the north-eastern coastline.

In order to confirm a displacement of the

surface of the Maltese islands, with a

subsidence of land along the north-eastern

coastline, and a corresponding land

elevation and land loss along the

Southwest, one would expect these cart-ruts

to be submerged on the Northeast of Malta,

and abruptly cut off along the south-

western coastline. Other landmarks of

human activity, such as silo pits and even

megalithic structures would also be

expected to behave in the same way.

Submerged cart ruts in Malta have been

described at least since 1776.213 In 1970

Leith Adams described the deeply indented

and submerged cart-ruts in close proximity

to the rock-pits (70-80 in number) at St

George‘s Creek, the ruts reappearing at a

distance of 200 feet on the other side of the

bay.214 The rock-pits were evidently used

for storage and measured four to five feet in

depth. ―Whether the rock-cuts running

across them were formed before or

subsequent to the excavations (i.e. the rock-

pits) is not certain; at all events, as they end

abruptly on each side of the little creek of St.

Georgio, it is clear that the latter has been

formed since this old coast road was in

use.‖215 Hyde also indicated the submerged

cart-ruts at St. Paul‘s Bay, where ―they

cease abruptly at one side of a sea-filled

inlet to continue on the other,‖ a clear

indication of submergence of this part of

Malta on its north-eastern aspect during

the time of a human presence. Hyde

adduces further evidence in this regard

from the submerged stalagmites in Valletta

harbour.216

The Maltese historian, P. P. Castagna,

hypothesised for a submerged landbridge

between Malta, Comino and Gozo, on the

basis of cart-ruts which he described as

running towards each other at the

respective shorelines.217

Submerged temples

David Trump has recently indicated that

crucial archaeological evidence for the

Maltese prehistoric period is likely to be

submerged to the north of the Maltese

coastline.218

Partially submerged in Grand harbour were

the foundations of the temple first described

by Quintinus, covering ―a large part of the

harbour, even far out into the sea.‖219 Prior

to the twentieth century, the Maltese

temples were considered as belonging to the

classical period, and arbitrarily assigned to

the gods of that period. However the

megalithic nature of this structure in Grand

Harbour is attested by several scholars;

Megiser (1606) describes the temple as

constructed of ―rectangular blocks of

unbelievable sizes‖,220 and in the early

nineteenth century one could still see the

―stones five to six feet long, and laid without

mortar‖.221

In the summer of 1993, a Maltese

underwater archaeologist of some repute222

described an underwater ―prehistoric

temple‖ lying off Sliema in 25 feet of water.

He described as well a rock-cut tomb

similar to the Bingemma group also lying

off the Sliema coast at approximately the

same depth. Although Commander S. A.

Scicluna reported his find to the director of

Museums, no action was forthcoming. 223

Three kilometres off the northeastern

coastline at Sliema - St Julians, the

German Hubert Zeitlmar commissioned two

professional underwater photographers,

Shaun and Kurt Arrigo, to undertake the

underwater photography of an area which

looked promising on a 1935 aerial

photograph.224 Zeitlmar reported the

existence of a platform, measuring 900 by

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Larger canals, approximately 2.5 metres wide, extending radially out of the northeastern coastline for several tens of metres, continuing, over short distances, as tunnel passages (top, left) with straight walls (top, right) and bearing tool-marks (bottom, left). Depth 19.5 metres. Photographs by Chris Agius Sultana.

Ten metre long canal, covered with vegetation, on the sea bottom at 7 metres depth, on the western coast of Malta. The SCUBA diver on the right serves as a scale. Plato mentioned a wide variety of canals cut into the rocky surfaces of the Island he described in his Timaeus and Critias, in the fourth century before Christ.

Photograph by

Buddies Dive Cove, Ramla.

Figure 25. Submerged man-made structures

43

Malta:

44

500 metres, and lying between 25 and 8

metres beneath the sea level. Upon this

platform stand two circular structures,

measuring between 4 and 6 metres in

diameter, and resembling the megalithic

Maltese structures on land; there are,

besides, rectangular chambers orientated

towards the east, collapsed megalithic

structures and even cart-ruts.225

Other professional divers have reported

sightings of unusual underwater features,

and the most recent which has been

brought to our attention by Leslie Farrugia

and Audrey Mifsud is a ten-metre long

canal, approximately one metre in depth

and slightly less in width, at a depth of 7

metres on the west coast of Malta. Another

feature which is being investigated is a

small flight of stairs at a depth of 20 metres

and lying approximately fifty metres

distant from the canal. 226

Land movements on Malta during the

Holocene227

Geological displacements during recent

times are evident in several sites in the

Maltese islands. In Malta, recently active

fault systems have also been identified on

the Southwest coast, at 52553E, 63965N.

Westward, along the Maghlaq fault, recent

tectonic movements have been cited by

Trechmann (1938) and Illies (1981). At the

site of Ras il-Bajjada, slicing and

slickensiding of faults with Pleistocene

deposits are a clear indication of tectonic

activity in recent times.228

In central Gozo a Holocene fault scarp has

also been recorded by Illies; in eastern

Gozo, recent activity is indicated by the

slickensided brown-reddish infillings of

fissures in the Lower Coralline

Limestone.229

Moreover, in Gozo, the fault systems west of

Mgarr ix-Xini (south-western coastline)

have been active since 5000BC,230 whilst

more recent activity, within historical

times, is indicated by the sinistral bending

of the ancient cart ruts as they cross faults

over a length of about 200m. Brockman

further noted that some tracks had been

―softened by great heat and then to have

cooled and set in the new curves. This, in

itself, seems evidence that they are older

than some vast but unrecorded volcanic

disturbance‖.231

Volcanic activity on Malta

The three basins of the Pantelleria rift are

1— the Pantelleria basin, associated with

volcanic Pantelleria island, 2— the Linosa

basin, associated with the volcanic Linosa

island, and 3 — the Malta basin, with a

missing volcano,232 but with its ash fall-out

still present on Malta.

In 1888, the historian Castagna suggested

that a massive volcanic eruption had caused

the destruction of the southern regions of

the Maltese Islands.233

In 1896, Cooke reported an unidentified

layer, 45 cm thick, during pipeline

excavation trenching at St. Joseph Street,

in Hamrun.234

During trenching operations in 1965, at a

site in Mriehel,235 1.5km distant from

Cooke‘s (1896) site, Zammit Maempel

identified a layer which was similar, in

texture, coloration, thickness and height

above sea level, to that described earlier by

Cooke. Zammit Maempel carried out

extensive investigations, both locally and

abroad, as to its true nature and possible

source of origin. Mineralogical and

microscopical examination of the deposit

identified it as volcanic ash from an

unknown source.236

The ―numerous air spaces and loosely bound

nature‖ of the deposit confirmed that the

ash fall had been air-borne, and not water-

borne. The thickness of the deposit was

sufficient for Zammit Maempel to attribute

it to ―volcanic activity of considerable

intensity,‖ and to suggest ―metamorphic and

volcanic rocks in nearby landmasses once

connected with Malta but now

submerged‖.237

Moreover, the distribution of this ash fall

over such a large surface, and a similar

layer can still be seen today in excavation

works along the Mriehel bypass, makes it

all the more substantial. The dating is even

more significant, for the underlying Cervus

layer confirms the volcanic ash fall as

occurring in the prehistoric period, since

8000BC.238 Maltese fishermen who dredge

the sea bottom with their nets still come up

with blocks of lava in their catches.239

Figure 26 shows the distribution of volcanic

activity around the Maltese

Echoes of Plato’s island

(Left) Aerial photograph showing the Maghlaq fault, the site of a recent land loss in the terrain between the Mnajdra temple area in Qrendi and Filfla island.

(Right) Ras il Bajjada, the site of the fracture area which is still visible along the Maghlaq fault, and which still shows the Pleistocene deposits on both sides of the fracture (arrowed).

(Left) The site in Gozo which shows the most recent evidence of land displacement (arrowed). The Underwater Association Report for 1966-67 has shown that the fault systems west of Mgarr ix-Xini have been recently active, since 5000BC. Location 6 showed a ‘25 feet stillstand’ displacement, and that a single episode must have occurred on a pre-existing fault (See Lythgoe and Woods in text).

Figure 26. Land displacements in recent times

Malta:

46

islands. Between Malta and Lampedusa lies

volcanic Linosa, 140km to the west of

Malta. It has undergone a ―cataclysmic

‗blowout‘ at one stage,‖ and its scogli to the

north still ―look as fresh as though they were

formed ‗only yesterday‘‖.240

One characteristic product of volcanic

activity is obsidian — volcanic glass, both

as worked implements and unworked

blocks, has been found in Malta in several

prehistoric sites.241

5. The chronology

Absolute dating

Both Mavor and James admit the

chronological inaccuracy of Plato‘s account,

and attribute it either to errors during

translations from Linear B (transforming

hundreds into thousands of years), or to the

adoption of a lunar calendar at the time.

With a lunar chronology, the Atlantis

catastrophe occurred in 1310 BC, in the

Late Mycenean Bronze Age.242 Another

attractive alternative could have involved

an error in translating nineteen centuries to

ninety centuries, thus accounting for the

early date given by Plato of 9000 BC.

Identical mis-translations occur to this day

with renowned publishers, when

translating from the French to English.243

Such an error with Plato‘s date would in

fact yield a date of 2500BC (1900+600),

matching the end of the Tarxien Neolithic

period.

Relative dating

Dating of the catastrophe on Plato‘s Island

poses the greatest problem. The catastrophe

followed closely upon the victory of the

Athenians upon the Atlanteans. If the

number of years quoted by Plato are correct,

then the incidents occurred during the late

Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic periods,

approximately around 10,000 BC. This date

cannot be reconciled with what Plato also

said about the Atlanteans‘ possession of

precious metals.

Plato‘s account of Atlantika included the

gold and silver statuary which was to be

found particularly in the temples, and also

the lavish use of orichalcum in decorating

the walls, roofs and pillars. 244 Eumalos of

Cyrene confirms this abundance of gold in

the statues representing the gods.245 The

public dwellings were, however, devoid of

gold and silver.246 Tin was also available to

them, and they used it for decorative

purposes.247

The first three metals to attract human

attention in the ancient world were copper,

gold and silver. Copper and gold were first

recorded in 4000 BC, whereas silver was

discovered later. The working of gold had

already achieved a high standard of quality

during the fourth dynasty in Egypt (2575 –

2465 BC), as the furniture of Queen

Hetepheres shows. Copper was utilised in a

distinct phase probably only in Egypt, and

its main source of supply in antiquity was

the island of Cyprus. Its softness however

tended to limit its practical application in

the ancient world to household usage, to

decoration and coinage. With the discovery

of copper alloying, particularly with tin,

bronze became the most important material

of the early civilisations, significantly in

weaponry. Its use spread from Egypt to

Crete in c. 3000 BC, to Sicily in c. 2500 BC,

to Central Europe in c. 2000 BC, and to

Britain and Scandinavia around 1800

BC.248

The inhabitants of Atlantika were grouped

under leaders, and, towards the army, these

were obliged to contribute war-chariots,

horses and riders, shields, heavily-armed

men, archers, slingers, stone-shooters and

javelin throwers.249 None of these weapons

was necessarily made of metal. In fact,

Pliny states that the war between the

people of Atlantika and those of Ancient

Greece was fought with wooden sticks

hardened with fire, because of a lack of the

knowledge of iron.250 Metal weapons were

not available before 2500 BC, and gold was

not available before 4000 BC. Rather than

10,000 years ago, this data limits the end of

Plato‘s Island to between 4000 to 2000 BC.

But the most significant criterion for the

identification of Malta with Plato‘s island is

the relative dating of its civilisation with

that of Egypt. Malta‘s precedes the

Egyptian by a millennium, which conforms

precisely to Plato‘s account in Timaeus. 251

Moreover, there are no other civilisations

which qualify for this crucial parameter of

Plato‘s chronology.

Radiocarbon dating

The present series of radiocarbon dates for

the Maltese islands,252 shows that the

Burmeghez date (OxA-8165) is

contemporaneous, at 4305 ± 65,253 with the

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Two recent radiocarbon dates (1999) have shown that, during the early and middle phases of the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, ritual burial in the Maltese Islands was still being carried out in caverns like Burmeghez and the Brochtorff complex. The primary role of the Hypogeum as a burial place is therefore seriously cast into doubt, particularly when the context of the human remains found there are re-examined from the primary sources.

The Hal Saflieni remains are dated towards the end of the Tarxien phase — there is only one more date after this (a mere 58 years away). The first radiocarbon date for Burmeghez inserts itself at the beginning of the available repertoire of Maltese radiocarbon dates for the Tarxien phase (3100 – 2500 BC). The Burmeghez date precedes the first Brochtorff date, whilst the Hal Saflieni date precedes the last Brochtorff date. Until further radiocarbon dates for the Tarxien period are available, the dates show that the Burmeghez burial ritual was still being performed in the early phases of the Tarxien phase. This was substituted by the Brochtorff ritual in the middle Tarxien phase, and eventually, in the final phase of the Tarxien phase, the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum was involved in a secondary burial process. The archaeological evidence of the original excavators has shown that this process of secondary burial involved an alluvial deposition from the intramural sepulchres on the ground level of the Hal Saflieni site. (Trump 1995-96: 173-7; Mifsud 1999: 422-3; Mifsud & Mifsud 1999: 163)

Figure 27. Maltese Radiocarbon Dates of the Tarxien phase

Tarxien radiocarbon dates

3000

2975

2892

2848

28272817

27502735

2677

2650

2700

2750

2800

2850

2900

2950

3000

3050

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Tarxien date sites

Cal

ibra

ted

yea

rs B

.C.

Skorba

Burmeghez

Hal Saflieni

Brochtorff

BrochtorffBrochtorff

Brochtorff Brochtorff

Brochtorff

Brochtorff

47

Malta:

48

first Tarxien date available (BM-143),

whilst the Hypogeum date (OxA-8197) is

contemporaneous, at 4130 ± 45,254 with the

last one (OxA-3571).255 These dates confirm

that ritual burial was still being carried out

in caves until the very end of the Tarxien

phase, and clearly indicate that the human

remains at the Hypogeum were not buried

ritually, but were flooded into its chambers

in a matrix of red earth. The Hypogeum

date at the end of the Tarxien phase

provides compelling evidence to

substantiate an alluvial event which

accounted for the end of the temple-

builders. Further radiocarbon dates for Hal

Saflieni and Burmeghez4 are scheduled for

the coming months.256

6. Features on Malta compatible with

Plato’s description

Geography

Plato‘s description in his Timaeus and

Critias of what remained of Atlantika is

clear enough. ―In comparison of what then

was, there are remaining in small islands

only the bones of the wasted body … the

mere skeleton of the country being left.‖ 257

The Maltese and Pelagian Islands are small

islands in the right place. And Pliny cites

some remaining ‗isles of Atlantis‘ which

were still to be found situated on the North

African coast, opposite the small Atlas

mountain.258Plato placed Atlantika in the

western ocean opposite the straits of

Heracles.

The western ocean

The ancient authors equated the ocean with

the sea. Homer himself used the word ocean

for the sea, and also uses the same term for

the Tyrrhenian sea.259 Seneca refers to the

Mediterranean sea as the Atlantic Ocean.260

Cicero too refers to the Mediterranean sea

as the Atlantic Ocean — ―circumfusa ille

mari, quod Atlanticum, quod Magnum,

quod oceanum, appellatis in terris‖.261 And

in his De Natura Deorum, he identifies the

western and central Mediterranean as the

ocean, ―quid oceani fervore illis in locis,

Europam Libyamque rapax ubi dividit

unda?‖262 Diodorus Siculus assures us that

the term ocean was used by the ancients to

denote the element of water, and that it was

also used for the Nile, the Ocean of the

4 A Neolithic burial site in the limits of Mqabba.

Egyptians.263 Herodotus equated the

Erythraean Sea with the Atlantic ocean.264

And Virgil clearly identifies the North

African sea as an ocean.265 Diodorus further

states that, ―

,

,

.‖266 [―This island is a colony

planted by the Phoenicians, who, as they

extended their trade to the western ocean,

found in it a place of safe retreat, since it

was well supplied with harbours and laid

out in the open sea.‖ 267] Malta was

therefore still considered to lie in the

western ocean at the time of Diodorus

Siculus. The western Mediterranean is still

referred to as an ocean today.268

The Straits of Heracles

Apollonius Rhodius was the chief librarian

at Alexandria in the first century BC. His

account in Argonautica confirms the site of

the straits of Heracles in the Lesser

Syrtis.269 Other ancient authors who

confirm this site include the renowned

Roman scholar and historian, M. Annaeus

Lucanus (39-65 AD).270

The Greek historian Herodotus (b. 484 BC)

mentions the shoals or shallows of Lake

Tritonis which Jason encountered on his

voyage.271 Lake Tritonis lay close to the

Lesser Syrtis of today in North Africa.272

These shoals had then represented a barrier

to navigation caused by the submergence of

Plato‘s Island.273

The ancient Greek explorer Skylax of

Caryanda flourished in the 6th century BC.

In his Periplus274 account of the

Mediterranean, he gives a clear indication

of the situation of the Pillars of Hercules at

the time. Had they been the same pillars as

today‘s, the islands to the east of them

would be the Balearic ones. Yet Skylax

identifies the Maltese Islands and

Pantelleria as these islands lying to the

east of the pillars.275 In antiquity, moreover,

the pillars were described as comprising

three elements,276 and not one pair of

columns. According to Palefatus, the

ancient Greek author from Paros, these

three columns of Hercules lay close to the

isle of Kerkenna of today, on the North

African shoreline, at the western end of the

Lesser Syrtis.277

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Map of the Mediterranean basin, dated 1450AD, drawn at Klosterneuburg (Austria), showing significant land-mass (arrowed) between Sicily and North Africa. The original labels appear upside down.

Map of Plato’s Island as envisaged by Giorgio Grongnet in 1854, filling in the Syrtis in North Africa. The two maps above confirm Ptolemy’s map of the Mediterranean (see Figure 14 on page 22) as published at Ulm in 1482 (ten years before Columbus ‘discovered’ America), where a large unidentified island is shown in the Central Mediterranean.

Figure 28. Landmasses in the Central Mediterranean 49

Malta:

Late in the sixteenth century, the editors of Ptolemy’s maps were not conscientious about compatibility in the details of the individual maps. This can be seen from the three different outlines attributed to the Maltese islands in three maps of the same publication, that of Venice 1598. The top photograph is taken from the Tabula Aphricae II, and the archipelago is represented more or less as in the previous editions, where the promontories for the temples of Juno and Hercules are still depicted as separate islands. The Maltese and Pelagian island grouos are still being referred to as the Pelagian islands. The middle photograph is taken from the Tabula Europae VII, and Malta is now represented as one island. The bottom photograph is taken from the Sardinia et Sicilia map, and the Grand Harbour area dominates the configuration of Malta, with Filfla appearing as Piper, and Lampedusa with Linosa transposed to the west. The presence of Malta had become firmly established after the siege of 1565, and the details here reflect the geographical data which were then being submitted to the editors.

“In comparison of what then was, there are remaining in small islands only the bones of the wasted body … the mere skeleton of the country being left.” Plato, Critias 111 B.

Figure 29. Small islands 50

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Sicily

Maltese Islands Pelagian

Islands

Mount Atlas

Straits of Heracles

The Central Mediterranean sea-bed (above) — the serrated outline represents the advancing limbs of the Pantelleria Rift fracturing the terrain between the Maltese and Pelagian Islands, with volcanic Linosa on the ridge persisting between the limbs of the Rift. A hypothetical outline of Plato’s Island is represented by the black circular line. The Straits of Heracles join the eastern with the western Mediterranean, the land-bound sea of Plato, the pontos (See also below).

The land-bound western ocean of Plato

The straits of Heracles

“Atlantika was the way to other islands (Pantelleria, Levanzo, Formica, Marittimo, Favignana, Sardinia, Corsica), and from these you might pass to the whole of the opposite continent which surrounds the true ocean; for this sea which is within the straits of Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a boundless continent.” Plato, Timaeus 25 A.

Figure 30. The straits of Heracles and the western sea 51

Malta:

52

―All those peoples who were to be found

within the straits of Heracles were under the

control of the city of Athens, so that the

latter city terminated that war through a

complete victory over its enemies, the people

situated beyond the straits of Hercules,

under the command of the kings of the

Atlantic Island …‖278

The statement that Plato did not identify

the locality of the straits of Heracles is a

fallacy. For when comparing the sea within

the straits to the other sea which is outside

them, Plato refers to the first as the

pelagos, and to the second as the pontos.279

After the destruction of Atlantis, the shoals

of impassable mud are also referred to by

Plato as lying in the pelagos.280 The pelagos

islands on the Pelagian block are known to

be the Maltese (Malta, Gozo, Comino, Filfla)

and the Pelagian group (Lampedusa, Linosa

and Lampione). Two celebrated geographers

of antiquity associate the Maltese islands

with the sea of pelagos — Ptolemy listed the

Maltese islands with the African pelagos

islands.281 Diodorus Siculus uses the

pelagos nomenclature for the sea bathing

the Maltese islands. 282

The pontos designation referred to a large

sea which was land-bound. The eastern

Mediterranean contained both Egypt and

Greece, allies against the armies of

Atlantika in the Central Mediterranean, so

that the pontos referred to the western

Mediterranean, totally land-bound by the

southern coast of Europe and the Northern

African coast. The pontos lay beyond the

straits of Heracles which were situated in

the pelagos. 283

The present separation of the Maltese from

the Pelagian284 archipelago is purely a

political one. They all lie on the Pelagian

block of the African plate, a fact which was

already known in antiquity by scholars such

as Augustine285 and Ptolemy.286

The Maltese and Pelagian archipelagos

thus constituted the islands in

antiquity, and they were situated in the sea

of , in the Central Mediterranean.

According to Plato, this was the site of the

straits of Heracles, Plato‘s island, and the

shoals of impassable mud after its

destruction.

Thus the straits of Heracles in antiquity

were not situated at the straits of Gibraltar,

but on the North African coast, in the sea of

the pelagos.287

Plato‘s relative geography

Figure 29 confirms the geographical details

outlined by Plato in his Timaeus. ―Atlantika

was the way to other islands, and from these

you might pass to the whole of the opposite

continent which surrounded the true ocean;

for this sea which is within the Straits of

Heracles is only a harbour, having a narrow

entrance, but that other is a real sea, and

the surrounding land may be most truly

called a boundless continent.‖ 288

Cultural and physical features

The inhabitants of Plato‘s Island had built

impressive temples to their gods, and had

also developed an intricate network of

channels over the rocky terrain in order to

transport their water and goods across the

country. Their rituals included the sacrifice

of bulls in the temple.

Cultural features

Bull sacrifice was a feature of the cult on

Plato‘s island. The animal was slaughtered

and burnt. Figure 31 shows the horns of

bull which lay beneath the temple floor at

Tarxien, together with the flint knife kept

at the same temple, and ostensibly used in

the ritual sacrifice; bovid representations

are also shown. Archaeological evidence for

the immolation of animal sacrifices at

Tarxien is not wanting. ―Perhaps the most

interesting piece of pottery found [at the

Hypogeum] was a black polished plate, on

which was drawn with flint the figures of

several horned bulls of mottled colour, all

instinct with life. The species of animal was

identical with that carved in high relief in

the ―bull sanctuary‖ of the latest and most

wonderful discovery of all, the Stone Age

Temple of Tarxien … two large bull‘s horns

were found carefully hidden under the

entrance to this sanctuary. It appears,

therefore, that the worship of the sacred

bull, so widely spread and still existing, was

carried on in Malta just as the Minotaur

was worshipped in Crete.289

Physical features – cart ruts

Since the building boom of the late 1960s,

the built-up surface area of the Maltese

islands has increased from 15% to 35%, a

far cry from the estimated 72% forestation

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Bull horns buried beneath floor in Room M, Tarxien temple

Reliefs of bulls and a cow at Tarxien temples The subterranean sanctuary at Hal Saflieni. Bull in black paint antedating the red ochre decoration.

J. D. Evans displays the sacrificial flint knife and its storage area in the temple of Tarxien. (Museum of Archaeology Archives).

Figure 31. Cult of the Bull 51

Malta:

54

status during early Neolithic times. This

factor, together with the extensive

quarrying operations, has contributed

towards the elimination of several

archaeological features and loss of

landscape around archaeological sites. The

fraction which remains is significant

nonetheless.

Besides the high concentration of

megalithic structures on the Maltese

islands, the distribution of the cart-ruts is

no less diffuse. In form and function the

Maltese cart-ruts tally with the rock-canals

described by Plato.290 In his Critias he

describes the intricate and intersecting

networks of rock-cut291 ―canals spreading

straight and lengthwise across the plain and

back into the ditch292, toward the sea293‖.

These networks of canals were ―a hundred

feet in width, and lay at intervals of a

hundred stadia between each other; by them

they brought down the wood from the

mountains to the city, and conveyed the

fruits of the earth in ships, cutting

transverse passages from one canal into

another, and to the city. Twice in the year

they gathered the fruits of the earth - in

winter having the benefit of the rains, and

in summer introducing the water of the

canals‖.294 Independently of Plato, the most

plausible hypothesis, which has been

reached to account for the function of the

Maltese cart-ruts, is that of transport of the

products outlined by Plato.295 Zammit had

suggested the transfer of soil up the

hillsides to terraced fields,296 and other

hypotheses at present include the carriage

of megaliths to temple sites, and the

carriage of water, which latter function is

also mentioned by Plato.

Physical features - temples

The inhabitants of Plato‘s island employed

themselves in constructing their temples

and palaces. There were many temples built

and dedicated to many gods.297

It was readily apparent to the British

members of the Maltese Archaeological

Survey of the 1950s that the megalithic

structures on Malta and Gozo were temples

or sanctuaries erected by the ―consummate

master-masons‖ of a precocious civilisation,

and suggesting concepts of ―drowned cities

and lost continents‖ caused by an ―ancient

and long-forgotten cataclysm‖.298

―A temple is essentially the architectural

framework or setting for a set of prescribed

ritual acts, and is planned and devised for

this purpose. The religion and its ritual

comes first; the setting for the ceremonies

comes as a consequence.‖ … ‖On Malta and

Gozo were some remarkable stone-built

temples of prehistoric date‖ of ―extreme

architectural sophistication and complexity,

but unlike anything else in the

Mediterranean world,‖ … ―the most magic

and potent island-sanctuaries of the central

Mediterranean world.‖ During this

―brilliant phase‖ of Malta‘s prehistory, ―the

development of a religious architecture [was]

carried to a pitch unknown elsewhere

westward of the Aegean.‖299

The Hypogeum itself was a ―unique,

underground temple-tomb‖ … ―obviously

modelled in part on the temples above

ground.‖300 A ―terrifyingly impressive

monument, the underground temple and

ossuary at Hal Saflieni … sometimes

reproduces the solid architectural features

proper to buildings made of separate blocks

above ground.‖301

In prehistoric Malta lay ―the brilliant

civilisation of the temple-builders‖ … ―an

individuality and uniqueness among its

contemporaries‖.302 And the British

megalith man himself, Glyn Daniel,

eventually accepted the Maltese megalithic

structures as ―apsidial temples‖ in a class of

their own.303

―The temple-builders of Malta in the third

millennium BC produced small models in

limestone of the structures which they had

built or were to build … [in the latter case]

a good example of both planning and

design‖.304

Architecturally, ―these anthropomorphic

structures indicate the islands in pre-history

as probably the Holy Shrine of the Middle

Sea. With their deft spatial organization,

these time-resisting giant stone buildings,

man‘s earliest evocations to an Earth

Deity…‖305 By architects overseas, Malta is

described as ―an island of prehistoric sacred

places viewed as site significant spatial

systems‖.306

The Neolithic population of Malta was very

healthy and ate soft food. Several suffered

from a peculiar affliction of arthritis of the

proximal joint of the thumb. This has been

associated with occupational disease

On Plato’s Island, the people dedicated themselves to the construction of many temples to their gods. (Clockwise from above, left hand corner) Hagar Qim before its excavation, by Grongnet; the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, modelled on the temples above the ground; Ceschi’s projection of the Tarxien temple; Houel’s plan of two megalithic buildings on Gozo; Stierlin’s reconstruction of the roofing structures for the megalithic temples; and two models of a Maltese temple. “The temple-builders of Malta in the third millennium BC produced small models in limestone of the structures which they had built or were to build — a good example of both planning and design.” (Renfrew 1994: 6). Stierlin 1977

Ceschi 1938

Figure 32. They built many temples to their gods 55

Malta:

56

associated with stressful forces at these

joints, caused by constant levering of heavy

loads, such as megaliths.307

7. Other ancient texts confirming

the site of Plato’s Island.

Ogygia308

Homer‘s Odysseus recounts the travels of

Ulysses and his long sojourn with the

nymph Calypso on the island of Ogygia,

some time after the Trojan War of 1184BC.

Ogygia is identified with Malta by several

ancient authors, and Plato‘s Island is

identified with Ogygia by others.

The Greek poet and scholar, Callimachus

(305-240BC), was a native of Cyrene in

North Africa. As chief librarian in the great

library of Alexandria between 260 and 240

BC, he had direct access to thousands of

ancient texts for several years. Here he

compiled the Pinakes, a monumental

catalogue of the ancient authors, with

biographical and bibliographic details.

Callimachus identified Ogygia with the

Maltese islands.309

Amongst several other ancient authors,

Herodotus, Hesiod and Diodorus Siculus

also identified the Maltese Islands with

Ogygia; Homer310 and Catullus (b. 87 BC)

identified Ogygia with Calypso in Malta.311

In the first century before Christ, the

Roman scholar Albius Tibullus associated

Calypso with Atlantis,312 and a manuscript

of 1525 confirms this further. ―The cause of

the loss of Atlantis was the deluge of Ogyge

… this island is much discussed among

authors, but I maintain that this island is

Malta, precisely that which Homer calls

Ogygia.‖313

The main proponent for the association of

Ogygia with the Maltese Islands was

Philipp Clüverius.314 Clüverius was a

German geographer of the seventeenth

century, a key figure in the revival of

geographic learning in Europe and the

founder of historical geography. His

authority stems from his approach to

geography — this was strictly through

history and the ancient authors.

Malta or Crete

Once again, Malta and the Aegean vie with

each other for another title in

Mediterranean archaeology. At the

beginning of the century it was for the

source of Mediterranean civilisation; figure

33 shows Arthur Evans hugging the

Maltese spirals which the Cretans

emulated. At the turn of the century, and of

the second millennium, Malta and the

Aegean island of Thera contend for the title

of Plato‘s island.

Ironically for Thera, it is the testimony of

an ancient Cretan from Thera who provided

the supplementary ancient text.

In 631 BC a colony of ancient Greeks from

Thera left their homeland to settle on the

North African shoreline. They were led by

one Aristoteles, their Battus, and they

founded the colony of Cyrene, known today

as Cyrenaeica, on the western boundaries of

Libia. The city of Cyrene dominated a huge

area of North Africa between the 6th

century BC and the 4th century AD.

One of these Therans, the historian

Eumalos of Cyrene315 wrote the History of

Libia in several volumes, which have not,

unfortunately, survived the vicissitudes of

time. It has however fortunately survived

in the writings of later scholars. In 1830 an

Italian scholar from Siena, Giuseppe

Perricciuoli Borzesi, translated a fragment

of the text into Italian. It was included in

the Appendix to The Historical Guide to the

Island of Malta and its Dependencies, and

was dedicated to the Maltese Governor at

the time, Sir Henry Ponsonby. After giving

an account of ancient Libia, its kings and its

religious beliefs, the account runs thus.

―… Ninus, King of Babylon, nephew of the

famous Ogyge. The latter was the king of

Atlantis, the island which once existed

between Libia and Sicily,316 and which was

submerged. This large island was known as

Decapolis, Atlantika, by our forefathers of

Cyrene, as well as by the ancient Greeks.

Ogyge was the king who governed the

famous island at the time of the horrible

inundation … the summit of Mount Atlas,

which was situated in the middle of the

island Atlantika was not submerged. This

summit of Mount Atlas has preserved the

name of Ogyge from that of its last king, and

it is in fact this circumstance why we still

know as Ogygia that island which once

exists between Libia and Sicily; it is nothing

more than the summit of the Mount of

Atlantika.‖317

57

Figure 33. Malta or Thera

(Above) Thera has enjoyed the greatest

popularity of being the remnant of Plato’s

Island. But the evidence of geology and

dating of its volcanic ash makes the

hypothesis untenable.

(Left) Initially thought by Evans that the

Maltese borrowed their spirals from Crete,

the reverse has since been proved. The

Maltese civilization predates the Cretan

one by one and a half millennia.

(Below) The recovery of the ancient text of

Eumalos of Cyrene has shown that the

Maltese archipelago is the main remnant of

Plato’s Island. The geological features of

the Pantelleria Rift points to an episode

during the Holocene period when

substantial loss of terrain reduced the

archipelago to ots present size. The

distribution of the wall lizard Podarcis

filfolensis provides compelling evidence for

a Maltese land link with the Pelagian

Islands.

Malta:

58

According to Eusebius, Ninus king of

Babylon reigned in the time of Abraham,

who was born around 1996 BC. However it

is well known that Eusebius‘s priority was

the synchronisation of historical events

with the Biblical ones. In fact, Clinton and

Layard have since arrived at an earlier date

for the period of Ninus‘s reign, that is, at

around 2200 BC. 318

Chaldean links

Maltese artefacts have testified to links

with Babylon as well. Before World War II,

the Director and Librarian of the National

Museum of Archaeology in Valletta had

supplied Gertrude Levy with fine

photographs depicting Maltese Neolithic

artefacts which manifest ―very close

affinities with early Dynastic Sumerian

sculpture‖, probably Mesopotamian. Levy

acknowledged Temi Zammit‘s earlier

observation of the Maltese link with

Babylon, which she also confirmed

herself.319

Conclusion

The greater part of Plato‘s island lies on the

sea floor, but evidence from underwater

archaeology for the Maltese prehistoric

period is presently very scanty.320 Whereas

the northeastern shoreline has already

yielded evidence of submerged structures

created by humans of the prehistoric period,

it is in the southwestern waters of Malta

that the evidence for a fragmented and

submerged Maltese landmass is to be

sought. The main difficulty in tracing such

remains lies in the thick crust which would

have accumulated over the past four and a

half millennia. Members of the American-

based Institute of Nautical Archaeology

(INA), who have been responsible for the

salvage of the oldest shipwreck in the

world, have recently identified areas of silt

reaching up to 17 metres in depth on the

Maltese coastline. Furthermore preliminary

scanning has indicated the likelihood of

significant archaeological remains in the

seabed around the Maltese islands.321 This

has followed the report last August of the

discovery of underwater megalithic

structures by Hubert Zeitlmar.322

Whilst a report upon these underwater

structures from the Museum of Archaeology

is awaited, it appears that the INA is

expected to start operations in the area in

the coming months. In the meantime the

INA has been responsible, jointly with the

Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS)

and Pipeline Archaeology for the Recovery

of Knowledge (PARK), for the discovery of

the sunken city of Phasis in the Black

Sea.323

Very recently Graham Hancock has also

been searching for these underwater

structures in preparation for Underworld,

an ITV Channel Four television

documentary series.

Summary

Malta is presently too small in size to have

sustained the earliest architectural

civilisation; its civilisation territory is

missing. On the other hand, the search for

Plato‘s island has now moved to the

Mediterranean. On the basis of its

chronology relative to Egypt, Malta is the

only option for Plato‘s island.

Although the larger portion of Plato‘s island

has been lost by submersion, sufficient

features remain on the Maltese islands

which tally with those described by Plato.

This is particularly borne out in the

concentrated ensemble of temples, the

intersecting networks of cart-ruts (known

as Clapham Junction at one site), and the

cult of bull sacrifice. The geography of the

Central Mediterranean and the pelagos fits

that delineated by Plato like a glove.

The feasibility of a sudden cataclysm

accounting for the sudden termination of

the Tarxien people is corroborated by the

neotectonic profile of the Maghlaq portion of

the Pantelleria rift, which has been active

in the late Holocene, and is still active to

this day. Close analogies of Malta with the

Pelagian islands, in terms of sedimentology,

upwarping of rift shoulders, and population

of life forms, substantiate the hypothesis

even further.

Plato‘s version of the loss of Atlantika is

confirmed by evidence of cataclysmic events

during the Maltese Holocene. Flooding

events at the end of the Tarxien period are

manifest in the Hypogeum, where the first

radiocarbon dating of human remains times

the episode to the end of the Tarxien period.

In the absence of a volcano close to the

Malta basin, one corresponding to the rift-

related volcanic islands of Pantelleria and

Linosa, the presence of unattributable

Holocene volcanic ash on Malta is a strong

indicator of a recent, volcanic event of a

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Figure 34. Links with Babylon and King Ninus

59

Although the two carved artefacts

(left and centre) were excavated

from the Maltese Neolithic

temples, they are no longer

accessible. They were still extant

in 1948, when Gertrude Levy

examined them at the Museum of

Archaeology in Valletta (Levy

1948, Plate 18). They bear strong

affinities with early Dynastic

Mesopotamia, such as can be seen

when the figure in the centre is

compared with the representation

of King Ninus (right), with

identical skirt pattern and hand

posture. The skirt pattern

(arrowed) is the Sumerian

flounced ‘kaunakes,’ in imitation

of a sheep’s fleece. See Figure 27

for dating of King Ninus’ reign.

This early prehistoric Maltese

link with Babylon enhances the

text of Eumalos of Cyrene, who

stated that King Ninus of

Babylon was the nephew of King

Ogyge of Atlantika at the time of

its cataclysmic destruction.

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27

2200BC – This is the date given by the ancient Roman historian, Aemilius Sura, for the reign of

King Ninus of Babylon. It is also the date given by the Oera Linda manuscript for the cataclysm of

Plato’s Island. This date is situated precisely in the archaeological hiatus (white arrow) between

the Maltese Late Neolithic and the Early Bronze Age. This is also the date of the cluster of

collapses of the ancient world civilizations, in the Aegean, Egypt, Palestine, Iran and the Indus

valley (see text, page 36). This date also marks the start of the mini Ice Age, which would have

contributed to the destruction of Plato’s Island as it would have affected volcanism through

changes in gravitational loading by both sea water and ice. Deformations of the Earth’s crust is

caused by changes in surface loading as ice sheets wax and wane, and also have an effect on island

and coastal volcanoes.

The significant global temperature drop also affected the means of livelihood across the

Mediterranean. A century of drought and famine is recorded in Babylon on an ancient clay tablet,

“The large fields and acres produced no grain

The flooded fields produced no fish

The watered gardens produced no honey and vine

The heavy clouds did not rain.” (dated to approximately 2100BC, after a century of drought and

famine).

The seasonal rains were replaced by withering storms, and the wheat fields were blanketed into

dust by the winds. Layers of sterile dust accumulated during this process of desertification, and

this has been identified archaeologically at sites such as Tell Leilan by Marie Agnès Courtry, in the

Gulf of Oman by Peter B. de Menocal (Weiss 1996: 33, 36), and in Malta by Temi Zammit, precisely

at the interphase between the late Neolithic and the Tarxien cemetery phase at Tarxien.

Malta:

60

cataclysmic nature, somewhere between the

south-western coastline of the Maltese

islands and the southeastern extremity of

the Malta basin. Previous to this episode at

Mriehel, volcanic activity in Malta has been

shown by pollen analysis to have occurred

also during the Ice Age. Volcanic activity

very close to the Maltese islands has been

registered as recently as 1831 in Graham‘s

island.

The text of Plato, the ancient author, is

confirmed by another ancient Greek author.

The Theran, Eumalos of Cyrene, was Plato‘s

contemporary, but he lived nearer to

Atlantika, and could therefore furnish more

details about the true site of Plato‘s island

— Eumalos placed it in the pelagos, in the

Central Mediterranean, the sea bathing the

Maltese and Pelagian islands.

We are indebted for much assistance to Abigail, Jael,

Tabitha, Seana, Marika, Tonio, Pierre, James and

Simon; to Anthony Frendo, Charles Galea Bonavia and

Norman Formosa. Horatio Vella was most hospitable

and generous to Anton Mifsud, who presented him

with several passages for translation from the ancient

Greek texts. George Borg at the Gozo Reference

Library was indispensable. Unsworth Booksellers in

London have also been most kind in giving Anton

Mifsud access to their rare books for sale. Graham

Hancock has been the final spur to publish.

324

Endnotes

1 Renfrew 1971, 1972, 1973: 161, 1977: 616-7, 1978,

1979, 1983: 6. 2 Renfrew 1978: 161. 3 See Renfrew 1979: 161. 4 Zammit 1916: 135; Griffiths 1920: 469. Trump (1977:

606) points out that Zammit‘s description of this

deposit ―does not tally with other known natural

deposits from Malta.‖ Evans‘ suggestion that this

deposit was artificially laid down is based on its

absence in an area beyond the temple (Evans 1971:

149). However this area, which was excavated by

Baldacchino in 1950, had been cleared in Roman times

for use as arable land (MAR 1950: I), thus invalidating

Evans‘ argument. 5 Zammit 1917b: E4; Evans 1959: 168, 1971: 224;

Trump 1977; Bonanno 1986: 40-1, 1994: 90; Savona-

Ventura & Mifsud 1999: 72-3. See also England 1999:

147. 6 Zammit 1926: 22; Ugolini 1934; Randall McIver 1935. 7 Renfrew 1972, 1977. 8 ―De l'Orient viendra de coeur Punique, Fâcher

Hadrie, & les hoires Romulides, Accompagnè de la

classe Libique, Temples Melites et proche isles vuides‖. 9 Vide infra. 10 Mayr 1920. 11 Gordon Childe 1925: 101; 1958: 119. 12 Ward Perkins 1942: 21.

13 Daniel 1978: 81. 14 Renfrew 1978: 161, 1979: 48, 255. 15 Bahn 1996: 80-1. See also Renfrew 1978: 161. 16 Trump 1983: 65. 17 Mahoney 1996: 1. 18 Josephus, Contra Apionem, i. 19 Eusebius Chronicles; Sextus Julianus Africanus,

Chronicles and Epitome. 20 Waddell 1971: vi-xxviii. 21 David 1986: 21-2; Waddell 1971: xvi-xx. Using

Manetho‘s text, Syncellus (George the monk) in 800

AD calculated that Adam flourished around 5500 BC. 22 For a good overview of the Piri Reis map and its

implications, see Hancock 1996: 3-13. 23 Brown 1997: 49. 24Cyril's army of monks were canonized by Cyril for

murdering Orestes; Cyril himself was beatified for

eliminating Hypatia. 25 See Healy 1999: 384. 26 Berlitz 1977: 12-13. 27 See Haskins 1887: 349 & Housman 1926: 282, and

compare with Brown & Martindale 1998: 264. 28 Octo Libri Ptolemei 1490; C. Ptolomaeus, Auctus

Restitutus Emaculatus 1520; Geographia Universalis,

vetus et nova, complectens Claudii Ptolemoaei

Alexandrini Enerrationis Libros VIII, 1540; La

Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo 1574. 29 Pliny the Elder produced his Natural History in AD

77. In 1141 Crichdale produced an abridged version of

Pliny‘s work; material considered irrelevant was

omitted. Petrarch amended the text once again in

1350, and the first edition was published in Venice in

1469. Barbarus produced a version with corrections in

1492-3, and a similar exercise was carried out by

Rhenanus in 1525. At the turn of the sixteenth century

Pliny‘s work was well known and admired by all

scholars. In 1601 Philemon Holland published another

translated version of Pliny‘s Natural History (See

Healy 1999: viii, 380-391). Since the sixteenth century

at least, translations have been seriously modified in

parts — e.g. in the index of the 1566 edition there is a

reference (p. 256, line 34) to ‗Atlantis‘, but the relevant

text at the end of the chapter has been omitted.

Several references to ‗Atlantis‘, the ‗islands of Atlantis‘

and the ‗Atlantic Sea‘ are omitted in the later versions. 30 Baviera Albanese 1963. 31 Harding 1945 vi: 300; Brydone 1848: 258. Malta was

colonized by the British between 1815 and 1964. 32 Lib. iv. Cap. 3. 33 Bigelow 1831: 474. 34 Augustine, De Civitatis Dei: 16, Cap. 17. The terms

‗Pelagian‘ and ‗Pelagic‘ are variously used by different

disciplines to denote the same meaning. ‗Pelagian‘ has

been used for this text on Patrick J. Schrembi‘s

suggestion. 35 Colonial Office 158-536/89009; Vella 1974: 14. 36 Blouet 1965: 9; Ellul 1988, 1997; Mayrhofer 1996;

Mifsud & Mifsud 1997; Sant Cassia 1993; Given 1998. 37 Unfortunately Nostradamus has since been

interpreted as an astrologer. 38 E.g. Bradford 1964. 39 Empereur1999: 36; Schuster 1999: 44. 40 Grimston 1999. 41 Archaeology 52 (6): 19. 42 De Iside et Osiride. 43 Burn 1987: 119-20. 44 Donnelly (1882) 1950: 17. 45 Diodorus v, 57: 2-5; see also Augustine, De Civitatis

Dei xviii: 10-11. 46 Timaeus 22 B-C. 47 Timaeus 23 A - B. 48 Timaeus 25 B-D.

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

61

49 Critias 111 B. 50 Timaeus 23 D, 24 D. 51 Timaeus 24 E. 52 Timaeus 25 A. 53 Critias 115 C-E. 54 Critias 117 D. 55 Critias 118 D-E. 56 Critias 120 A. 57 Timaeus 25 B; Critias 114 C. The sphere of influence

of Plato‘s Island extended to the Mediterranean

peoples in Egypt on the one hand and to the

Tyrrhenian Sea on the other. The region in between

these two zones is the Central Mediterranean, where

the Maltese and Pelagian islands are to be found. 58 Timaeus 24 E. Libya and Asia were considered to be

much smaller in Plato‘s time. The Romans had not

extended their victories beyond the mountains of

Europe and the seas of Asia, and their geography

reached just Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and a small part of

North Africa. The Greeks at the time of Plato did not

know all of Asia, except up to the Euphrates.

Alexander had extended his dominions up to the river

Indus, as the confines of this part of the world.

Furthermore, Andrews has suggested that Plato

mistook meson for mezon in Solon‘s manuscript

Atlantikos, and thus caused the subsequent translation

of ‗between‘ to read ‗larger than‘. Thus Plato‘s Island

lay, according to Andrews, ‗between Libia and Asia‘

(See Luce 1969: 45). 59 Critias 113 B. 60 Proclus 76: 1-10; Donnelly 1882; 1950: 17; Berlitz

1977: 36-7. Hieroglyphs of 2000 BC show that

Egyptian children were then already being taught that

the world was round (See Steiger 1977: 50-1). 61 Proclus 76: 1-10. 62 Timaeus 20 E, 26 E. 63 Timaeus 23. A-4. 64 Strabo 2.3.6-7. 65 Marcellinus xv., 3, 6; xvii., 7, 13. See also Friedrich

2000: 149. 66 The frieze is 40 inches (101 cm) high and 525 feet

(160 m) long. 67 Pinnegar 1998. 68 Timaeus 23D, 24C. 69 Timaeus 26E. 70 Strabo (Lib. i, Cap. 2), Pomponius Mela (Lib.i, Cap.

4, 8; Lib. ii, Cap. 6; Lib. iii, Cap. 1, 10), Pliny (Lib. ii,

Cap. 90), Tertullian (Adversus Gentes, Lib. i) and

Keckerm (Problema IV). See Berlitz 1977: 37-44. 71 Berlitz 1977: 66-7. 72 Galanopoulos & Bacon1969: 60-1; Berlitz 1977: 66. 73 Smyth 1854: 111-2. 74 De fast: Rom: ad Eutrop: Histor: Lib xi. 75 Sanzio 1776: 114. 76 Vide supra. 77 Berlitz 1977: 156; James 1995: 84. 78 See Westwood 1997: 15. 79 Galanopoulos & Bacon 1969. 80 Mavor 1973: 177-8; 263-4. 81 Mifsud & Mifsud 1999: 149-168. 82 Friedrich 2000: 2, 154-7. 83 Westwood 1997: 29. 84 Lib. vii, Cap. 56 (Omitted since the sixteenth

century). The Maltese Stone Age ended around

2600/500BC. 85 1995: 85-6. 86 Bibischok 1525. Lib. v, Cap. 15: 47. 87 Grongnet‘s name routinely appears also without the

first ‗n‘.

88 Borg 1911: 39-49. 89 Brockman 1975: 69, 72. 90 Critias 111 B. 91 For example, at Valletta, Marsaxlokk and

Marsalforn. 92 Dolomieu 1791: Appendix. 93 Saint-Priest 1791: 74. 94 Houel 1787: 486. 95 Bigelow 1831: 216. 96 Bigelow 1831: 215, 464. 97 Leith Adams 1870: 147-148; Spratt, 23: 283, 293. 98 Hsü 1983: 2, 4. 99 Spratt 1867, xxiii: 292, 296. 100 Leith Adams 1866: 6-7. 101 Leith Adams 1870: 148, fn 1, 149. 102 Sinclair 1924, 261-275. The African landbridge is no

longer considered a tenable hypothesis by most

scholars. 103 Friggieri & Freller 1998: 154, fn. 1. The sources of

these maps would probably have derived from the

Alexandrine library, since the islands were certainly

separate in Claudius Ptolemy‘s time. 104 Eratosthenes had assigned 700 stadia (Ventura

1988: 257). One stadium was approximately 185

metres, but varied between 154 and 215 metres. 105 Smyth 1854: 321; Ventura 1988. 106 Ptolemy,. Tabula II. Aphricae, 1.8; 3.20. 107 Ptolemy Lib. iii, tab. 2, Cap. 3; Lib. iv, Cap. 3. 108 Ptolemy‘s Geographia, Lib.iv.. 109 Stanley 1878; 1890. 110 See Moorehead 1971: 15-16. 111 Today‘s Pangani in Tanganyika. 112 Syracuse 37º > 37.04º; Catania 37º 40‘ > 37º 31‘;

Taormina 37º 45‘ > 37º 51‘; Messina 38º 10‘ > 38º 12‘

(Ventura 1988: 261, fn. 15). 113 Friggieri & Freller 1998: 155 fn. 4. 114 Agius de Soldanis 1746: fol. 79. 115 Ventura 1988: 262, fig. 4. 116 Octo Libri Ptolemei 1490; C. Ptolomaeus, Auctus

Restitutus Emaculatus 1520; Geographia Universalis,

vetus et nova, complectens Claudii Ptolemoaei

Alexandrini Enerrationis Libros VIII, 1540; La

Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo 1574. 117 Prior to the twentieth century, the Maltese temples

were considered to belong to the classical period, and

arbitrarily assigned to Hercules, Juno &c. However the

megalithic nature of this structure at Valletta is

attested by several scholars; Megiser (1606) describes

the temple as constructed of ―rectangular blocks of

unbelievable sizes‖ (Friggieri & Freller 1998: 139), and

in the early nineteenth century one could still see the

―stones five to six feet long, and laid without mortar‖

(De Boisgelin 1804 I: 58-9). See also Quintinus 1536

(Vella 1980: 23) and Pajoli 1694 (Zammit Ciantar 1998:

54). 118 Although seemingly referring to separate islands for

the temples of Juno and Hercules, these are considered

to refer to promontories. 119 500 stadia per degree multiplied by 185 metres per

stadium, divided by 60 minutes = 1541 metres per

minute. 120 Filfla is 5 kilometres to the south of Malta, and the

cleavage of the Pleistocene slickensliding at the

Maghlaq fault must of necessity have occurred after

the Ice Age. The fragmentation of the land separating

Filfla from the Maghlaq fault must therefore have

occurred in stages during the Holocene, i. e. the last

10,000 years. 121 Ventura 1988: 262, fig. 4. 122 Houel 1787 (4): 262; plate CCLXIV; De Boisgelin

Malta:

62

1804: 2; plate VI; De Non 1789: 283-6. 123 Ptolemy Tab. II Aphricae; Fazello Lib. i, Cap. 1;

Megiser 1606, Cap. 2; Barbaro 1768: 43; De Non 1789:

280-1; Bres 1816: 60-1; Vella 1980: 22; Vella 1982: 275-

6; Friggieri & Freller 1998: 34, 139; Zammit Ciantar

1998: 54, 56. 124 Borg Grech 1940: 131. 125 Sanzio 1776: 114. 126 De Boisgelin 1804, 1: 49; Bigelow 1831: 217-8. 127 Davy 1842, i: 108. 128 Leith Adams 1870: 250-1 129 Leith Adams, 1870: 151, fn 3. 130 Bradley 1912: 262. 131 According to Ellul (1988: 65), old fishermen recall

the ruts on Filfla. 132 The evidence of Wrangel island has confirmed that

evolutionary phases may require only a few millennia

to take effect (Vartanyan et al. 1993: 337-340), well

nigh sufficient for the lizard subspecies filfolensis to

have evolved on Filfla island during this interval of

isolation. 133 Bradley 1912: 261-2. 134 See also Brockman 1975: 72-3. 135 Brockman 1975: 77; Parker and Rubenstein 1988:

56. 136 Patton 1996: 45, 53, 57, 59. 137 Patton 1996: 47. 138 Patton 1996: 47. 139 Zerafa 1838: ix a. 140 Caruana Gatto 1915: 240. 141 Borg 1911: 39-49. 142 Savona-Ventura 1984: 93-106. 143 Pasa 1953: 175-286. 144 Savona-Ventura 1984: 99, 100, 102. 145 Kotsakis 1978 (99): 263-276; Azzaroli 1990: 83-90;

Leighton1996 (5): 21-29. 146 Farrugia Randon & Farrugia Randon 1995: 39. 147 Pers. comm. Patrick J. Schembri to Anton Mifsud,

26th June 2000. 148 Keith 1924: 251-60, 257-8; 1925: 345, 348-50; Pace

1972: 1-2. 149 Malta Penny Magazine 1840 (34): 138; Leith Adams

1870: 243. 150 Pickering 1850: 191; Vassallo 1871: 9-10. 151 Trump 1990: 44. 152 Vella (2000: 44 et seq.) has submitted evidence for

the Maltese islands as the ancestral home of the

ancient Egyptians, and also for the survivors of

Atlantis. 153 Zammit 1916: plate XVII, fig. 1; 1930: plate xv, 2;

Evans 1971: 163, 235. 154 M.A.R. 1938-9: xii. 155 Stone, in Evans 1971: 235-6. 156 Caruana 1882: 32-33. 157 Zammit 1931b: 42, and plate facing p. 32) 158 Bedford 1894: 75. 159 Presently converted into a Centre for Conservation. 160 Bedford 1894: 75. 161 Testa n.d.: 1474-5. 162 Testa n.d..: 1474. 163 Hölbl 1989: 168. See also Bonanno 1998: 223, fn 16. 164 Testa n.d. 1473-1477. 165 Murray 1928: 45-48; 1962: 257-8. 166 Mayr 1894: 38; Stöger 1999: 11. See Bonanno 1998:

217 for the Egyptianizing movements he proposes. 167 Zammit 1927: 26-28. 168 Malville et al. 1998: 488. 169 Grima 1980; Agius & Ventura 1981; Ellul 1988: 25;

Micallef, 1989; Ventura & Tanti 1990; Stoddart et al.

1993: 16; England 1999: 141. 170 Sergi 1901: 65. 171 Mayr 1908: 114-5.

172 Camps 1962. See Joussaume 1985: 226-8, 230 et seq. 173 Ward Perkins 1942: 21-2. 174 Vella 1993: 3 (2): 220. 175 Ovid iii: 567-578. 176 Herodotus iv: 150, 153, 155. 177 Vide infra. 178 Stephen of Byzantium 1958: 152; Magri 1901: 16-

22. 179 Mallia 1978: 130, fn. 9. 180 Magri 1906: 7. 181 Piggott 1954: 206. 182 Grasso et al. 1985: 2; Illies 1981: 151. 183 Reuther 1984: 1. 184 Grasso et al. 1985: 13; Reuther 1984: 14. 185 The Maghlaq Fault extends in a WNW-SSE for a

distance of five miles south of Siggiewi and Qrendi. It

has caused a downthrow of 600 feet on the southern

aspect of Malta at this site, leaving Filfla with its

surface layers of Upper Coralline Limestone intact.185

This WNW-SSE fault trend is paralleled in

Lampedusa. 186 Pedley et al. 1976; Illies 1981: 151, 152, 156, 165 fig.

10; Reuther 1984: 13 fig. 11; Grasso et al. 1985: 12 fig

6. 187 Galea 1999, in Aloisio 1999. 188 Reuther 1984: 14; Illies 1980: 151-168. 189 Vossmerbäumer 1972. See Reuther 1984: 14. This

tilting process has also contributed to the significant

difference in altitude above sea level between the

Pleistocene caverns at Mnajdra (300ft), on the

southwestern coast, and Ghar Dalam (50ft), on the

eastern tip of Malta. Major land upheavals have also

caused a difference in altitude above sea level between

the upper Coralline at Mnajdra and that at Filfla

across a three-mile stretch of sea. 190 Segre 1960: 115-162. 191 Grasso et al. 1985: 16. 192 Grasso et al. 1985: 16-17. 193 Illies 1981: 157, fig. 4; Grasso et al. 1985: 15, fig. 8. 194 1973: 263-344. 195 Edens 1996: 144. Wood from the mount of Ararat,

the alleged site of Noah‘s Ark, has been dated to

2534BC (Keller 1980: 40). 196 Diodorus v. 57: 2-5. 197 Weiss 1996: 30-6. 198 Mifsud & Mifsud 1997: 34-36; 38 et seq. 199 Pollen Analysis report by Katryna Fenech for Anton

Mifsud, 16/2/1999. Ash comprised 60% of the deposit. 200 Vide infra for the mriehel volcanic ash layer, and

supra for Graham‘s island. 201 Major sites of alluvial deposits in the Maltese

islands have been destroyed through human

intervention. Glaring examples include the the present

Maghtab mound and the Addolorata Cemetery at Tal-

Horr, where ancient human remains routinely turned

up during its excavation works (See Chief Secretary to

Government, Malta, to A. A. Caruana 4th December

1899, No. 4678 in Archives at Santo Spirito, Mdina). 202 National Archives of Malta (Santo Spirito): Lt.

Governor to Caruana 27th December 1902, and

Caruana to Lt. Governor 5th January 1903. 203 Zammit 1910: 34-37, 42. 204 Zammit, Peet & Bradley 1912: 21. 205 Griffiths 1920: 466. 206 Museum of Archaeology Reports 1973-74. 207 Mifsud 1999: 422-3. 208 Pers. comm. G. Zammit Maempel to Anton Mifsud,

October 1996; pers. comm. Sr. Terezina Saliba et al. to

Anton Mifsud, October 1996. 209 Mifsud & Mifsud 1997: 91; BM-3015. 210 Williamson MS 1840: 153; Knowles MS 1910: 9. 211 The skull was discovered at the Museum of Natural

Echoes of Plato‘s Island

63

History in London by Anton Mifsud in 1997. 212 Mifsud 1999: 422-3. 213 Vide supra. 214 Leith Adams 1870: 250-1. See also Trump 1990: 86.

Underwater cart-ruts have also been reported at the

Salini (pers. comm. Anthony Bonanno to Anton Mifsud

1999) and 3 kilometres northeast of St Julians Tower

(Zeitlmar 1999). 215 Leith Adams 1870: fig. 4 of sketch facing 244, 249-

50; Griffiths 1920: 449; 455-6. 216 Hyde 1955: 59, 103, 104, 107. 217 Castagna 1888 I: 8. 218 Trump 1999: 33. 219 Vella 1980: 22-3; Mahoney 1996: 73. The remains of

the temple have since been obliterated through the

restorations on the fortification and the construction of

the present ditch. 220 Friggieri & Freller 1998: 139. 221 De Boisgelin 1804 i: 58-9. See also Quintinus 1536

(Vella 1980: 23) and Pajoli 1694 (Zammit Ciantar 1998:

54). 222 Scicluna is known world wide for his underwater

archaeological activities and research, and has himself

led several underwater expeditions in the Central

Mediterranean. In 1960, he was responsible for the

recovery of several priceless artefacts from the Roman

wreck at Xlendi Bay. Commander Scicluna also

recovered the first four-pronged galley anchor of the

Order of St. John, besides several musket balls of the

Siege of Malta and swivel cannon of the 18th century.

Scicluna‘s expertise in underwater research earned

him at least two major commissions, one from the

British Navy and the other from the British

Committee of Nautical Archaeology (See Schiavone &

Scerri 1997: 514). 223 Scicluna 1994: 16. Graham Hancock pointed this

reference out to Anton Mifsud. 224 The photograph is in the possession of Joseph S.

Ellul. The photography session was carried out on the

13th July 1999. 225 Zeitlmar 1999, in Borg 1999a, 1999b. Aaccording to

one report, the Department of Museums were not able

to reach the site for confirmation of the finds. 226 The sightings have been made by members of the

Buddies Dive Cove at Ramla Bay, Marfa

(www.buddies.com.mt). Chris Agius Sultana has

reported several larger canals radiating out of the

northeastern coastline. 227 This period follows the Pleistocene, and extends

from 8000BC to the present day. 228 Illies 1981: 163-4; Martineau 1967: 23; Reuther

1984: 5-6. 229 Illies 1981: 158; Hyde 1955: 59; Reuther 1984: 10. 230 Martineau 1967: 19, fig. 1. 231 Griffiths 1920: 449; Reuther 1984: 10; Brockman

1975: 77. 232 The central island of the Maltese archipelago is

Comino. The Greeks called it ‗Haephestia‘, meaning

volcanic (See Agius de Soldanis 1794 [1999: 193];

Farrugia Randon & Farrugia Randon 1995: 1).

Furthermore, Haephestus and Athena championed the

cause of the Athenians against the Atlanteans (See

text). 233 Castagna 1888, i: 8-10. 234 Zammit Maempel 1981: 256, 257. 235 Presently the St. Theresa Girls‘ School. 236 Zammit Maempel 1981: 243-260. 237 Zammit Maempel 1981: 251, 258. 238 Zammit Maempel 1981: 259. 239 Pers. comm. Keith Buhagiar to Anton Mifsud

October 1999. 240 Zammit Maempel 1981: 258. 241 Although attributable to Pantelleria and Lipari, the

obsidian expert Robert Tykot was unable to confirm

this in November of 1998. On two successive occasions

Tykot was not granted access to examine the obsidian

in the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. 242 Folliot 1984: 49. 243 Verne 1862: 108; Verne 1958: 42; Verne 1959: 86. 244 Critias 114 E. 245 Perriccuoli Borzesi 1830: 13, quoting Eumalos of

Cyrene. 246 Critias 112 B-C. 247 Critias 116 B-C. 248 Encyclopaedia Britannica CD-ROM 1997. 249 Critias 119 A-B. 250 Pliny vii: 56. 251 Timaeus 23 D, 24 D. 252 Trump 1995-6, 6: 173-7. 253 Mifsud 1999: 422-3. 254 Mifsud 1999: 422-3. 255 Both the Burmeghez and Hypogeum dates are in

uncalibrated radiocarbon years. 256 Mifsud & Mifsud 1999: 164-5. 257 Critias 111 B. 258 Pliny 1566: 246 (Lib. vi, Cap 31). 259 Odysseus x: 508. 260 Quaestiones Naturales. 261 Somnium Scipionis. 262 Cicero Lib. iii. 263 Biblioteca Storica, i. 264 Bunbury i: 288. 265 Aeneid iv: 481. 266 Diodorus v.12.1-3. 267 Oldfather 1952: 129. 268 Ventura & Galea 1993: 6. 269 Argonautica v. 1230. 270 Lucanus Lib. ix, v. 652. 271 Herodotus, iv: 179. 272 Bunbury 1879, i: 286; Rieu 1975: 214-5. 273 Timaeus 25 D. 274 A mariner‘s coastal guide. 275 Periplus — Canaan, col. 498. 276 Strabo iii: 170. 277 Palefatus, Cap. 32. 278 Critias E 108-9 279 Timaeus 24 E5, 25 A2, 25 A 4. 280 Critias 109 A. 281 Ptolemy Lib. iii, tab. 2, Cap. 3; Lib. iv, Cap. 3. 282 Diodorus v.12.1-3. 283 Folliot (1984: 59) confirmed these two designations

for the seas described by Plato. It was well known in

antiquity that the Maltese islands lay on the Pelagian

block at the head of the African plate — on this basis,

St. Augustine included the Maltese islands with Africa. 284 The Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary (1956:

798) defines ‗pelagic‘ as ‗deposited under deep water

conditions‘, such as the Maltese and Pelagian islands

have been. 285 Augustine, De Civitatis Dei: xvi, Cap. 17. 286 Ptolemy Lib. iii, tab. 2, Cap. 3; Lib. iv, Cap. 3. 287 See Liddell & Scott 1890: 1170, 1254 respectively

for usage of pelagos and pontos in ancient Greek

authors. 288 Timaeus 25A. 289 Griffiths 1920: 468-9; 477. 290 These rock-canals are distinct from the canal dug

from the seaside, and which measured 300 ft in width,

100 ft in depth and 50 stadia in length. 291 Plato used the verb , signifying ―to plough‖ or

Malta:

64

―to cut lengthwise‖. 292 Translation by Horatio Vella (23.12.99). Quarries

are frequently associated with ruts in Malta; a quarry

can also be interpreted as a ditch. Trump accepts the

possibly secondary nature of these cart-ruts as water

catchment areas (Trump 1990: 33). 293 Plato refers to the sea as , which several

ancient authors like Herodotus and Homer identify

with the Mediterranean, and not with the Aegean Sea

(Liddell and Scott 1999: 357). 294 Critias 118D, E. 295 Trump 1990: 32; 1998: 35. 296 Gracie (1954) and Evans (1971) criticize Zammit

(1931) for the absence of a map, so that the ruts ―run

predominently [sic] from the valleys up to the heights‖

(Evans 1971: 203). However Zammit included an

excellent set of five aerial photographs among his

plates, and these transmit their message even better

than a map. 297 Critias 116 C et seq. 298 Ward Perkins 1954: 962. 299 Piggott 1954: 205-7. 300 Ward Perkins 1954: 962. 301 Piggott 1954: 205-7. 302 Evans 1954: 131. 303 Daniel 1972: 7. 304 Renfrew 1994: 6. 305 England 1998: 10. 306 Foster 1991: 1. 307 Savona-Ventura & Mifsud 1999: 56. 308 Today Ogygia is traditionally associated with the

sister island of Gozo. 309 Strabo Lib. i, 7. 310 Odysseus Lib. i, 8. 311 Catullus Lib. iv, Eleg. 1. 312 Tibullus Lib. iv, Eleg. 1. 313 Bibischok 1525. Lib v, Cap. 15: 47. 314 Geography of Ancient Sicily, Lib. 2, Cap. 16; De

erroribus Ulyssis, fol. 474. 315 ‗Eumalos‘ is the archaic Doric equivalent of

‗Eumelus‘, and is translated literally as ‗rich in sheep‘.

See Liddell & Scott 1890: 606, 607. 316 Ancient ‗Sicania‘ is modern Sicily (Diodorus Siculus

v. 6.1-5).317 Eumalos vi, cited in Perricciuoli Borzesi 1830: 5-6;

See also Grongnet 1854: 619 & Godwin 1880: 11. 318 Eusebius 1529, i: 41, 2: 65; Clinton 1834, 1: 263;

Layard 1849, 2: 217. See Bishop 1965: 5, fn. §, 6 fn. ‡. 319 Levy 1948: xv, 138, plates XVIII c to f; Zammit

1927: 26-28. 320 Pers. comm. Reuben Grima to Anton Mifsud,

September 1998. 321 Times of Malta 16th October 1999: 11. 322 Vide supra. 323 Archaeology 52 (6): 19. 323 The recent ‗discovery‘ of a secret chamber beneath

the Egyptian Sphinx is expected by Robert Bauval to

lead to the retrieval of ancient Egyptian texts relating,

amongst other things, to Plato‘s Island (Bauval 1999).

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Echoes of Plato’s Island

This inscription on Mesa Vouno in Thera reads: “To Poseidon, god of the sea, Artemidoros has engraved in the everlasting rock a dolphin, considered friendly to humans, in honour of the gods.” Plato associated the god Poseidon (on right) with Atlantis.

In this 1598 version of Ptolemy’s map, Aphricae II, the chartographer has included dolphins in the Central Mediterranean area. Dolphins are also traditionally associated with the survivors of Atlantis. (Marika was the first to point this out to us) Ptolemy’s map also shows the location of the Tritonis marsh (arrowed), frequently alluded to as lying in close proximity to the straits of Heracles and Plato’s Island (see text).

Plate 1. Poseidon and the dolphin 73

Malta:

The extract at the top is a French translation (1566) of Pliny the Elder’s Historia Naturale, and it preserves the mention of the island/s of Atlantis in the Central Mediterranean close to Carthage and the small Mount Atlas. The extract in the centre is an Italian translation by Grongnet (1854) which preserves the mention of the battle between the Atlanteans and Athenians, which was fought with wooden sticks hardened with fire, because of a lack of iron. The third extract is another Italian translation by Perricciuoli Borzesi of Siena (1831), which has preserved the account of Eumalos of Cyrene.

Plate 2. Secondary sources for the ancient texts 74

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Volcanic ash layer (E) of recent deposition. It was discovered by George Zammit Maempel in 1965 during excavation works on the Mriehel Primary School. The ash layer was 45 cm thick. The origin of the ash has not been identified outside the Maltese islands. (Photograph courtesy of George Zammit Maempel).

Sites similar to the Mriehel ash deposit are to be found all along the Mriehel by-pass road, which is rapidly building up with construction sites. This photograph shows the same soil deposit underlying a layer similar to the ash deposit, but which cannot be tested at this stage. (Photograph – Anton Mifsud).

Plate 3. Volcanic ash at Mriehel 75

Malta:

The valley through Mriehel to Birkirkara and Hamrun towards Marsa. The dark arrow points to the site where volcanic ash was discovered by George Zammit Maempel in 1965. Transparent arrows show other sites where similar deposits have been described — the arrow pointing left shows the site described by Cooke (see text.) The vertically hashed arrow points to the site of the St Monica school, where the Fleur de Lys man in the clay was salvaged by George Zammit Maempel.

Dr. George Zammit Maempel (on left) is the palaeontologist in charge of the Museum of Natural History at Ghar Dalam, Birzebbuga. The showcases in the background display a fraction of the vast numbers of animal fossil remains found in the cave. These represent the remains of dwarf elephant, hippopotamus, red deer and small carnivores. Zammit Maempel was responsible for the excavation of the man in the clay at Fleur de Lys and for the discovery of volcanic ash at Mriehel — the source of the ash could not be identified after detailed scientific analysis in corroboration with volcanic experts in the Mediterranean.

Plate 4. George Zammit Maempel and the distribution of volcanic ash areas 76

Echoes of Plato’s island

Il-Milghuba is a phenomenon which is well known to old local fishermen. A minor version was recorded at the Salini, Malta, on the 9th of July 1973. An initial lowering of sea level by a few feet was soon followed by a rise which covered a 400-foot stretch of normally dry land. Although no earthquake were reported at the time, volcanic activity on Mount Etna was reported to be very pronounced a few days before. The cause of the phenomenon was most probably attributable to submarine seismic activity. (Photograph courtesy of Times of Malta).

Msida on the 25th March 1983. Normally the site of flooding following intense rainy episodes, no cause was initially apparent on this occasion. However an earthquake registering 6.4 on the Richter scale had occurred a few hours previously near the Ionian island of Kefallinia, 217 miles west of Athens. (Photograph courtesy of Times of Malta).

Plate 5. Flooding events associated with Mediterranean seismic activity 77

Malta:

Aerial photograph (1935) of the Valletta harbours, showing the underwater valley (white arrow) running along the Grand Harbour, the site of the submerged temple (black arrow) with massive blocks, as initially described by Quintinus in the early sixteenth century, and also confirmed by later visitors - “The ruins lie scattered through many acres of land; the foundations of the temple cover a large part of the harbour, even far out into the sea.” (Vella 1980: 23) (Photograph - courtesy of Joseph Ellul)

Aerial photograph (1935) of the Sliema – St. Julians area showing submerged land areas on the bottom right and, in top right hand corner, the feature which led to the discovery of the underwater structures described by Zeitlmar in July 1999. (Photograph - courtesy of Joseph Ellul)

Plate 6. Aerial views of submerged structures 78

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Cart ruts along the south-western coastline at high altitudes above sea level, showing the outline of the well-preserved survivors (above). Some are interrupted at the cliff edge (top right photographs, with the Grupp Arkeologiku Malti), and others continue across deep chasms (right – from Bradley 1912, plate 53), thus showing that significant land movements have occurred on the Maltese Islands since the advent of the first humans to settle there.

“The rock is of a great height, and absolutely perpendicular from the sea for several miles. It is very singular, that on this side there are still the vestiges of several ancient roads, with the tracks of carriages worn deep in the rocks. These roads are now terminated by a precipice, with the sea beneath; and shew to a demonstration, that this island has in former ages been of a much larger size than it is at present; but the convulsion that occasioned its diminution is probably much beyond the reach of any history or tradition. It has often been observed, notwithstanding the very great distance of mount Etna, that this island has generally been more or less affected by its eruptions, and they think it probable, that on some of those occasions a part of it may have been shaken into the sea.” (Brydone 1775, i: 225).

Plate 7. Cart ruts on elevated areas – interrupted by land movement 79

Echoes of Plato’s Island

Ruts

Silos

Fort S. Giorgio

Extent of the cart ruts at St. George’s Creek in 1870 (above, top), as depicted by Leith Adams (Plate VII No. 4), Today they have been reduced to a few feet (above left and right). The ‘storage pits’ or ‘silos’ have also suffered. Leith Adams described them as ‘rock-pits’ (arrowed), seventy to eighty in number, and measuring four to five feet in depth. (See text p. 42). Cart ruts leading to the sea can still be seen at Salini and at Ghadira Bay (below, right and left). John Samut-Tagliaferro and Grupp Arkeologiku Malti pointed these out to us.

Plate 8. Cart ruts leading to the sea along the northeastern coastline 80

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The importance of the cart ruts was still not fully appreciated in the early decades of the twentieth century. The museum of Natural History at Ghar Dalam in Birzebbuga was built over their course.

These cart ruts at Ta’ Planka in Gozo disappear into the fields behind the rubble walls which have been put up in the Maltese Islands since time immemorial. (Courtesy of Grupp Arkeologiku Malti)

The greatest enemy of these exposed features has been erosion through climatic agencies. These cart ruts leading to the sea at Qala in Gozo are fast disappearing into non- existence. (Courtesy of Grupp Arkeologiku Malti)

Plate 9. The disappearing cart ruts 81

Malta:

St. George’s Creek, Birzebbuga — David Trump points out the submerged ruts and ‘storage pits’ to members of the Archaeological Society of Malta (top left). A few feet of rut length presently remains (top right), and the remainder has been covered over by the developed coast road. The ‘storage pits’ or ‘silos’ lie very close by (left). Several lie at the water’s edge, and several others are presently submerged. These submerged features form part of a series of man-made structures which now lie below sea level along the northeastern coastline of the Maltese islands. Jean Quintinus recorded a submerged temple in Grand Harbour, and recently Commander Scicluna and Hubert Zeitlmar have reported similar structures at St. Julians. See text for reports of other cart ruts leading to the sea along the same coastline, and which were reported during the nineteenth century.

Plate 10. Submerged man-made structures at St. George’s Creek. 82

Echoes of Plato’s Island

The Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) was responsible for the first archaeological investigation underwater in the seas of Turkey during the 1960’s. The INA has been to Malta four times since last October, and will be undertaking major projects in underwater archaeology of the Maltese waters next year. Aysa Atauz is seen here together with Anthony de Bono, President of the Archaeological Society of Malta, and INA co-ordinator Timothy Gambin before her talk at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta in July this year. The deeper waters will also be investigated, and according to Ms. Atauz, “there is no limit to the depth which can be reached with the present technology available to the INA.”

The Maltese waters have also attracted the attention of Channel Four of International Television in the United Kingdom. Well-known author Graham Hancock (third from left) is investigating the Maltese sea bed together with geologist (extreme left) for inclusion in the projected television documentary series Underworld. He is seen here with two of the authors during discussions of the local material available for inclusion in the series.

Plate 11. The INA and ITV 83

INDEX Acholla – 32. Agius de Soldanis – 20, 61, 63. Alexandria – 2, 8, 10, 12, 20, 28, 48. Ancient texts – 2, 4, 6, 14, 16, 20, 56. Architecture – 1, 40, 54. Ash, volcanic – 12, 14, 36, 44, 58, 62. Atlantika – 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 46, 48, 52, 56, 58, 60. Atlantikos – 10, 12, 61. Augustine – 52. Babylon - 30, 56, 58. Battus – 32, 56. Berlitz, Charles – 60, 61. Bighi – 30. Biogeography – 26, 28. Borg, J. J. – 14, 61. Borzesi, G. P. – 14, 56, 63, 64. Burials – 30, 38, 40, 48. Burmeghez – 40, 46, 48, 63. Callimachus – 4, 56. Canals – 42, 44, 54, 63. Cart ruts – 12, 24, 26, 42, 44, 52, 54, 58, 62, 63, 64. Caruana, A. A. – 38. Chaldea – 30, 58. Chronology – 2, 12, 16, 36, 46, 58. Cleopatra – 8, 12. Cluverius, Philipp – 56. Comino – 20, 24, 42, 52. Constantinople – 4, 6, 14. Copernicus – 6. Crete – 1, 6, 14, 28, 30, 36, 46, 52, 56. Cult of the Bull – 10, 52, 58. Dating – 1, 4, 40, 44, 46, 58, 60. Diodorus Siculus – 12, 48, 52, 56, 64.

Dolomieu, Deodat de – 16, 61. Donnelly, Ignatius – 14, 60, 61. Egypt, Egyptians – 1, 2, 8, 10, 12, 14, 26, 28, 30, 36, 46, 48, 52, 58, 61, 62, 64. Eumalos of Cyrene – 46, 56, 60, 63, 64. Eusebius – 2, 6, 58, 60, 64. Evans, Arthur – 1, 6, 8, 56. Filfla – 14, 24, 26, 28, 52. Flloding events – 8, 18, 36, 38, 40, 48, 58. Galanopoulos, A. G. – 14, 61. Galileo – 6. Goddio, Frank – 8. Gozo – 1, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 30, 40, 42, 44, 52, 54, 60. Graham’s Island – 12, 18, 60, 62. Grongnet, Giorgio – 14, 61, 64. Hagar Qim – 14, 24. Heracles, Straits of – 4, 10, 14, 48, 52. Hypogeum, Hal Saflieni – 1, 24, 38, 40, 48, 54. James, Peter – 14, 46, 61. Josephus – 2, 60. Krantor – 10, 12. Land movements – 44.

Libia – 10, 28, 30, 32, 56, 61. Library of Alexandria – 2, 4, 56. Linosa – 26, 34, 44, 46, 52, 58. Magri, Emanuel – 24, 32, 38. Malta, Maltese – 1, 2, 6, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64. Manetho – 2, 60. Marcellinus, Ammianus – 10, 12, 61. Marinatos, Spyridon – 8, 14. Mavor, James – 8, 14, 46, 61.

Mayr, Albert – 1, 30, 60, 62. Mediterranean – 1, 2, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 48, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 61, 63. Megalithic structures – 1, 14, 30, 32, 40, 42, 44, 54, 56, 58, 61. Mnajdra – 14, 24, 30, 40, 62. Mountains of the Moon – 8, 20. Nabta – 30. Pantelleria – 12, 16, 26, 28, 30, 34, 44, 48, 58, 63, 66. Parthenon – 10, 12. Pelagian block, islands – 6, 16, 26, 28, 32, 34, 48, 52, 58, 60, 61, 63. Pelagos – 20, 52, 58, 60, 63. Piri Reis – 4, 8, 20, 60. Plato – 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 18, 28, 40, 42, 46, 48, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60. Pliny the Elder – 4, 6, 12, 14, 46, 52, 60, 61, 63. Podarcis – 26, 28. Precious metals – 46. Psonchis – 8, 10, 12. Ptolemy I – 2. Ptolemy, Claudius – 4, 6, 8, 18, 20, 24, 52, 60, 61, 63. Quintinus, Jean - 1, 24, 42, 61, 63. Ruwenzori – 8. Sais – 8. San Dimitri – 12. Schliemann, Heinrich - 6. Skulls – 28, 38, 40, 62. Skylax – 48. Socrates – 10, 12. Solon – 8, 10, 12, 61. Stelae – 30. Strabo – 8, 10, 12, 61, 63, 64. Submerged structures – 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 24, 36, 40, 42, 44, 48, 56, 58.

Syrtis – 48. Tantalis – 14. Tectonics – 14, 16, 32, 34, 44, 58. Temples – 1, 2, 8, 10, 12, 16, 24, 30, 32, 40, 42, 46, 48, 52, 54, 58, 60, 61, 63. Tilting – 34, 62. Verne, Jules – 63. Volcano – 12, 14, 32, 34, 36, 38, 44, 46, 58, 60, 62, 63. Wrangel Island – 62. Zammit Maempel, George - 44, 63. Zammit, Themistocles - 24, 30, 38, 40, 54, 58, 60, 62, 64.

Anton Mifsud is a senior consultant in Paediatrics at St. Luke’s Hospital in Malta. His main interest outside of medicine is Maltese prehistory, and he is the co-author with Simon Mifsud of Dossier Malta – Evidence for the Magdalenian (1997), and with Charles Savona Ventura of Prehistoric Medicine in Malta (1999) and Ghar Hasan (2000). He is co-editor with Charles Savona Ventura of Facets of Maltese Prehistory (1999).

Simon Mifsud is a senior registrar in Paediatrics at the Gozo General Hospital. His main interest outside of medicine is Maltese prehistory, and he is co-author with Anton Mifsud of Dossier Malta – Evidence for the Magdalenian (1997).

Chris Agius Sultana is a professional artistic designer with an interest in underwater exploration. He is responsible for triggering off this investigation into Plato’s Island.

Charles Savona Ventura is a consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St. Luke’s Hospital in Malta. His main interest is Maltese Medical History and Natural History. He is the author of Outlines of Maltese Medical History (1997), and co-author with Anton Mifsud of Prehistoric Medicine in Malta (1999) and Ghar Hasan (2000), and co-editor with Anton Mifsud of Facets of Maltese Prehistory (1999).

The authors

86

"Filfla sits solitary in a silver sea, remnant of a great expanse of hill and valley which once stretched unbrokentowards what was to be Carthage, the Atlas ... and lost Atlantis. " Eric Brockman

The search for Plato's Island has now moved into the Mediterranean, and Malta alone fits Plato's description.It is the only architectural civilizalionwhich predates that of Egypt by a thousand years. The ancient text ofPlato is now supplemented by that of the Theran, Eumalos of Cy.rene, who identified the Central Mediterraneanas the site of Plato's Island. But does the scientific evidence confirm this?

"Like Anton Mifsud's other work on Malta's mysterious past, this highly readable book is a piece of first classhistorical detective work. Thoroughly researched and filled from front to back with convincing evidence andreasoning, it makes a persuasive, thought-provoking and extremely original case." Graham Hancock, authorof Fingerprints of the Gods, The Sign and the Seal, Heaven's Mirror.

The theme of the publication will be appearing in the ITV documentary series (Jnderworldon Channel Four,and on RAI Tre television. It has been included in the Cabinet's consular correspondence over the EuropeanUnion question, and also in the brochures of the;Malta Tourism Authority for its publicity campaign worldwide. It will also be featured together with Dossier Malta - Evidencefor the Magdalenian in Graham Hancock'sforthcoming publication, Underworld.

MALTA: ECHOES OF PLATO,S ISLAND

ISBN 99932-t5-02-3

The Prehistoric Society of MaltaThe Aton Penthouse

Olive Street, Lower Gardens,

St. Julians STJ 12Printed by Proprint Company Limited Mosta