The analysis focuses on the architectural culture developed in the western Mediterranean area between the 4th and 3rd century BC. Specific case study is the Maltese archipelago, part of the Carthaginian eparchy until the Second Punic...
moreThe analysis focuses on the architectural culture developed in the western Mediterranean area between the 4th and 3rd century BC. Specific case study is the Maltese archipelago, part of the Carthaginian eparchy until the Second Punic War.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, which identifies the “Punic-Hellenistic” period with a period of stagnation in the shadow of Carthage, recent analyses show the cultural vitality and complexity of that phase, with the development of original solutions in a context that was naturally inclined to exchanges and contaminations and also to the typical insular features.
In order to understand such context – that has no accurate basis for comparison due to the above-mentioned reasons - it is crucial to broaden the perspective to what happened in the western Mediterranean area, thus identifying the specific elements of a language under various influences yet at the same time deeply rooted in its cultural identity.
The Tas-Silg sanctuary, located on the main island close to one of the most important harbours in Malta, the port of Marsaxlokk, was a place of worship frequented since the Neolithic (with the typically megalithic architectural shapes of the archipelago). Without interruptions, it was later chosen by the Phoenician people who colonized the archipelago. There, using part of the previous sanctuary, they established an international place of worship dedicated to Astarte. The conservation of the main megalithic temple is a tangible trace of the conservatism that permeated the site during the whole historical period.
If the Phoenician phase is difficult to reconstruct in detail due to the subsequent changes, the 4th-3rd building phase strongly remodels the sacred landscape of the hill and applies original solutions of great interest in an area – the Punic religious architecture - which is not popular at all.
Though many elements testify the connection with the Siceliot area (the presence of the altar with the cippi and the platforms for the offerings, the use of Doric capitals), the Egyptian influences are not only recognizable from the consolidated features of the Punic architectural language (the cavetto mouldings), but also from solutions that have no accurate basis for comparison, like the capitals with double cavetto crown mouldings and the composite shapes used for minor architecture. Furthermore, the exquisite Eolic lesene capitals are of great interest: their smooth carving and the plasticity of the vegetal elements, together with the emphasis on the decoration, make the Maltese pieces stand out from their coeval examples (e.g. Tharros) and show strong similarities with the later capitals of the Mausoleum B of Sabratha. Therefore it is possible to hypothesise the presence of a common (Alexandrine) model, which is currently missing.
The multiplicity of cultural traditions involved in the Maltese context finds a new meaning in the general concept that, together with the prehistoric pre-existence and its local peculiarities, connotes the religious identity of the place of worship and its frequenters, who recognize the “international” vocation of the sanctuary.
At the same time such dynamism is included in a greater flow of models. Though following common trends, it creates new and significant solutions for the local culture in the western Mediterranean area; to some extent it anticipates the eclectic architectural language that will characterize the well-known elements of the so-called Numidian royal architecture.
