Malta’s original name as told by an ancient coin

Malta’s original name as told by an ancient coin

The modern name of “Malta” derives from “Malitah” which was the Arabic corruption of the classic Graeco-Roman “Melita”.  Melita was the name of both the island and its city: names which eventually changed to “Malta” for the island and “Mdina” for the ancient Punico-Roman city which originally covered not only present day Mdina but almost one half of its suburb of Rabat too, all the way to St.Paul’s Church.  The name “Mdina” itself derives from the Arabic word “Medina” which simply means “the City”.

Given that humanity’s presence in Malta extended to at least three thousand years before the era of Graeco-Roman influence, it is only natural to speculate on what the island’s name was in such earlier times.  What the historic and prehistoric evidence tells us is that Malta was first inhabited by the prehistoric migrants from Sicily who eventually developed the highly sophisticated megalithic temple culture which gave the world its first complex monuments built in stone.  After these people mysteriously and inexplicably died out, they were replaced by a Bronze-Age prehistoric people, also migrating from Sicily, who were more warlike and defensive in nature as evidenced by the fortified remains of the Bronze Age Village at Borg in-Nadur in Birzebbuga.

Maltese prehistory (ie that period of human existence before writing was invented), gave way to historical times and their written records with the arrival of the Phoenicians; those great traders who originated from modern-day Lebanon and whose trading network extended beyond the Straits of Gibraltar to Britain in the north and West Africa in the south.  The Phoenicians’ most important contribution to global civilisation was the alphabet which used letters representing sounds instead of the more cumbersome symbols and pictograms to denote writing used previously by more ancient civilisations such as the Egyptians with their hieroglyphics and the Sumerians with their cuneiform. The Phoenicians wrote from right to left as in modern day Arabic.

The Phoenician alphabet revolutionised writing and from it evolved all the major alphabets of the ancient and classical world: Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and eventually Cyrillic.  Quite an achievement for a small people who achieved fame by establishing themselves as the used-car salesmen of the Mediterranean!

But lets get back to Malta.  So the Phoenicians arrived here with their trade and their alphabet around 800BC and eventually Malta’s lot fell under the influence of their great colony of Carthage in modern day Tunisia.  By this time, coins were introduced for the first time in Malta and the historical findings suggest that these coins were the same as the ones used within the Phoenician colonies.  The Phoenicians populated the Maltese Islands and ruled for some 600 years and such was their influence that the Maltese continued to speak their language for hundreds of years after the Roman conquest of 218BC, so much so that the Apostle Luke, writing about St. Paul’s shipwreck in Malta in the Bible’s Acts of the Apostles in 60AD describes the Maltese as “barbarians”: a description not because of their savagery but merely to highlight the fact that they spoke neither Latin nor Greek.

And here comes the subject of this story, which, you will recollect, deals with Malta’s original name as told by an ancient coin.  While all of the first coins used in Malta were imported varieties, there was a very short period of about 200 years between 212BC and 15BC, when Malta and Gozo were allowed by the Romans to mint their own bronze coins: a privilege given to Roman municipia in Sicily under whose administrative control the Maltese Islands lay.

During this period around twelve different types of coins were minted, including one specifically by the Island of Gozo suggesting that the smaller island possessed a level of autonomy from Malta.  Eventually this practice was discontinued as the evolution of Rome from a Republic to an Empire under the Caesars led to a single, uniform coinage throughout the whole Empire.  The different types of coins feature the name of Malta or Gozo either in Greek or Latin but there are also a few which feature Malta’s name in Punic, the language of the Phoenicians.  The pictures in this post, of a Maltese triens coin from 85BC, show a sacrificial tripod on the reverse side, and, most importantly, Malta’s original Phoenician name as represented by the three characters:

                                                                               

which represent the Phoenician letters (from right to left) aleph, nun and nun or A, N and N.  The letters are reasonably visible in the photos.

The sound of the three letters, which signify Malta’s original and older name from the time of the Phoenicians, has been differently interpreted as “Ann” or “Ghonan” given that the Phoenician alphabet did not have vowels but merely consonants like the modern Arabic alphabet.  The best way to represent the word would be ‘nn.  This word best translates into “ship” or “vessel” and has been tentatively attributed to the ship-like profile of the Maltese Islands as viewed from the distance by an approaching ship.  The Hebrew word for ship which also features a similar root is oni.

Malta and Melita but also ‘nn or Ghonan.  One wonders what other names this little island had before writing was invented when the temple builders and their Bronze-age successors lived here.  A question which will probably go unresolved forever given that there are no more fantastic coins inscribed with ancient alphabets waiting to be discovered!

 

A tale of two cities

A tale of two cities

Being the paradoxical island that it is, Malta presents a number of wonderful examples of its larger than life nature. In spite of its minute dimensions, in a Lilliput-like fashion, the island features most of the elements found in larger countries but in miniature.

Take the matter of cities for example. Already a miracle for some that the island actually sustains a sophisticated capital in lieu of some sorry excuse for a city, it becomes amazing when one is confronted by the fact that Malta actually has two capitals: an old capital and a (relatively) new one!

Mdina and Valletta: two cities, two capitals. Both walled-cities but otherwise opposites in many respects. Different worlds, although a mere twelve kilometres apart. The first in splendid isolation, embraced by countryside, on high ground and as far away from the sea as possible, the second right on the coast between two great harbours and surrounded by an expanding conurbation. Mdina is the traditional historical settlement with a millennial history and with layer upon layer of different eras sitting on top of each other. Valletta is the quintessential fruit of the Renaissance: a new city built totally on plan where nothing existed before.

Melita, Mdina, Città Vecchia, Città Notabile, the Silent City: names that evoke images and memories of the past rulers and colonisers who built this ancient city and adapted it to their needs and realities across the centuries. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Castilians, Aragonese and the Knights. A city which at its peak extended up to St Paul’s church in Rabat with the line of catacombs in its suburb establishing the line of the original city wall, given that the Romans only allowed burials outside the walls of their cities.

The city was capital of Malta, and the centre of its administrative and religious life, until it was eclipsed by the new city of Valletta, il-Belt, Città Humilissima, that started to be constructed after the Great Siege of 1565, in which the Maltese and the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem emerged victorious after a four and a half month siege by around 30,000 Turkish Ottoman troops sent to capture Malta by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

The building of Valletta shifted Malta’s seat of power from the geographical centre of the island to its major harbours, signifying a huge change in attitude towards the outside world. Mdina signified an inward looking Malta, a citadel located on high ground as far away as possible from the coast and the danger of sudden raids by corsairs. It protected the countryside and the peasants, ready to seal itself to the outside world and weather out a siege. On the contrary, Valletta was a port of call, open and welcoming to trade and shipping. Whilst similarly defensive in nature, it stood prominently visible, guarding the gateway to Malta rather than lurking inland, as if trying to hide from trouble.

Over the past four and a half centuries, the two cities established a practical modus vivendi. Each has retained a respective element of importance vis-à-vis the other. Valletta became the seat of government and commerce. Mdina retained the seat of the Catholic Church and remained the base of the Maltese nobility. Malta being one diocese means that it has one Bishop. One bishop normally signifies one cathedral. Mdina and Valletta each possess a distinct Roman Catholic cathedral: St Paul’s and St. John’s respectively. But it is the one in Mdina which is the actual cathedral. Valletta’s St John’s merely bears the inferior title of co-cathedral. This, in spite of its opulence and grandeur. The fruit of the historical tensions between the Knights and the local church which saw the former entrench themselves in their new city and the latter remain in the old city.

These two historically-linked cities continue to play a very important role in Malta today. They are two of Malta’s most visited tourist locations and both are benefiting from European funds aimed at restoring them to their former glory. The ravages of time and the results of barbarian insensitivity are being slowly purged and removed. Mdina is already almost totally car-free and pedestrianised and has had all its cabling and wiring transferred underground. Valletta poses greater challenges owing to its greater size and more vibrant activity. However, it too is undergoing a strong transformation which will give it a new lease of life as the 21st century historic capital of a modern European state.

Malta is indeed privileged to have not one but two capital cities. Not an old capital in ruins replaced by a modern one, but two living, functional cities, each of which is an architectural gem and a historical marvel.

Città Notabile and Città Humilissima, L-Imdina and il-Belt Valletta, the old and the new. Two living cities on an island-state which is smaller than most cities elsewhere.

This story was first published on http://www.maltainsideout.com, an excellent reference site which appropriately describes itself as being, “….about  ’insiders’  – anyone in the know  – passing on  tips, experiences, knowledge and insights on living, working, playing and holidaying in Malta or moving here.”