 | |
 An outside view of Abbatija Tad-Dejr catacombs | |
 | |
| Location | Rabat, Malta |
|---|---|
| Type | Hypogeum |
| Website | www.heritagemalta.org |
The Abbatija Tad-Dejr hypogeal complex is a paleochristian burial site in Rabat, Malta.
Although much smaller in size than those of Rome, the catacombs in Malta, especially the ones in Rabat, are among the most important early Christian burial sites south of Rome. [1]
The site is managed by Heritage Malta and is currently closed for conservation.
The early catacombs comprised a singular shaft and chamber tombs dug from the vertical face of a quarry. Between the fourth and the ninth centuries AD, four larger complexes were added.
The most important of the four small catacombs is the largest one; with its rows of carefully placed baldacchino tombs, it is possibly one of the few catacombs that saw some sort of pre-planning during excavations. Baldacchino tombs are often considered to be the richest out of the array of tomb types found in Maltese catacombs; at least three of such tombs in this complex are heavily decorated with reliefs.
In the post-Roman period, the largest catacomb was enlarged and turned into a small church.
The presence in the hypogeum of a stone altar and the number of crosses carved into the rock surface suggest early Christian use. A fresco that, until recently, decorated the apse over the supposed location of the original altar is now housed in the National Museum of Fine Arts.
The catacombs underwent various other phases of use. Amongst other uses, they were used as cow pens and for the quarrying of stone used in the production of lime. The latter has resulted in extensive damage. Some of the truncated shaft and chamber burials can be viewed from the low roof of the quarry.
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called immurement, although this word mainly means entombing people alive, and is a method of final disposition, as an alternative to cremation or burial.
The Catacombs of Rome are ancient catacombs, underground burial places in and around Rome, of which there are at least forty, some rediscovered only in recent decades. Though most famous for Christian burials, either in separate catacombs or mixed together, Jews and also adherents of a variety of pagan Roman religions were buried in catacombs, beginning in the 2nd century AD, occasioned by the ancient Roman ban on burials within a city, and also as a response to overcrowding and shortage of land. The most extensive and perhaps the best known is the Christian Catacomb of Callixtus located near the Park of the Caffarella, but there are other sites, both Christian and not, scattered around the city, some of which are now engulfed by modern urban sprawl.
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
Mosta is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest unsupported dome, and displays a replica of a German bombshell that famously crashed through the dome but did not detonate upon impact.
Saint Peter's tomb is a site under St. Peter's Basilica that includes several graves and a structure said by Vatican authorities to have been built to memorialize the location of Saint Peter's grave. St. Peter's tomb is alleged near the west end of a complex of mausoleums, the Vatican Necropolis, that date between about AD 130 and AD 300. The complex was partially torn down and filled with earth to provide a foundation for the building of the first St. Peter's Basilica during the reign of Constantine I in about AD 330. Though many bones have been found at the site of the 2nd-century shrine, as the result of two campaigns of archaeological excavation, Pope Pius XII stated in December 1950 that none could be confirmed to be Saint Peter's with absolute certainty. Following the discovery of bones that had been transferred from a second tomb under the monument, on June 26, 1968, Pope Paul VI said that the relics of Saint Peter had been identified in a manner considered convincing. Only circumstantial evidence was provided to support the claim.
The catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa is a historical archaeological site located in Alexandria, Egypt, and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.
Ħaġar Qim is a megalithic temple complex found on the Mediterranean island of Malta, dating from the Ġgantija phase (3600–3200 BC). The Megalithic Temples of Malta are among the most ancient religious sites on Earth, described by the World Heritage Sites committee as "unique architectural masterpieces." In 1992 UNESCO recognized Ħaġar Qim and four other Maltese megalithic structures as World Heritage Sites. V. Gordon Childe, Professor of Prehistoric European Archeology and director of the Institute of Archaeology in the University of London from 1946-1957 visited Ħaġar Qim. He wrote, "I have been visiting the prehistoric ruins all round the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, Greece and Switzerland, but I have nowhere seen a place as old as this one."
The Catacombs of San Gennaro are underground paleo-Christian burial and worship sites in Naples, Italy, carved out of tuff, a porous stone. They are situated in the northern part of the city, on the slope leading up to Capodimonte, consisting of two levels, San Gennaro Superiore, and San Gennaro Inferiore. The catacombs lie under the Rione Sanità neighborhood of Naples, sometimes called the "Valley of the Dead". The site is now easily identified by the large church of Madre del Buon Consiglio.
Tal-Barrani is a primarily agricultural area in Malta that extends from the town of Żejtun to the villages of Santa Luċija, Ħal Tarxien and Ħal Għaxaq, lying across many south-eastern communities in Malta. The land gives its name to a nearby chapel dedicated to Saint Lucy. In a notarial document dating from the 16th century, the area near this estate was known as bitalbarrani, that is, the stranger's or outsider's land. This name may indicate that the land under cultivation at Tal-Barrani belonged to some outsider, either someone from outside a village community, or a foreigner. Moreover, the same land contained another area which was called Tal-Misilmin. At least from the 17th century onwards, Tal-Barrani was a recognised agricultural estate, and was documented in the 1654 property book of the Order of St. John, the Cabreo Magisteriale.
The Tarxien Temples are an archaeological complex in Tarxien, Malta. They date to approximately 3150 BC. The site was accepted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 along with the other Megalithic temples on the island of Malta.
St. Paul's Catacombs are some of the most prominent features of Malta's early Christianity archeology. The archeological clearing of the site has revealed an extensive system of underground galleries and tombs dating from the third to the eighth centuries CE.
The Tal-Mintna Catacombs are a hypogea complex in Mqabba, Malta. The complex dates to at least to the fourth century AD.
The Salina Catacombs are a cluster of small catacombs located near the Church of the Annunciation in Salina, Naxxar, in Malta. Although small when compared to the catacombs of St. Paul and St. Agatha in Rabat, they are an important record of the sizeable community that must have lived in the area in around the last half of the first millennium AD.
There are hundreds of catacombs in Malta, principally found in Mdina, the former capital of the island. The catacombs are very small, but are in good preservation.
Roman funerary art changed throughout the course of the Roman Republic and the Empire and comprised many different forms. There were two main burial practices used by the Romans throughout history, one being cremation, another inhumation. The vessels used for these practices include sarcophagi, ash chests, urns, and altars. In addition to these, mausoleums, stele, and other monuments were also used to commemorate the dead. The method by which Romans were memorialized was determined by social class, religion, and other factors. While monuments to the dead were constructed within Roman cities, the remains themselves were interred outside the cities.
Melite or Melita was an ancient city located on the site of present-day Mdina and Rabat, Malta. It started out as a Bronze Age settlement, which developed into a city called Maleth under the Phoenicians, and became the administrative centre of the island. The city fell to the Roman Republic in 218 BC, and it remained part of the Roman and later the Byzantine Empire until 870 AD, when it was captured and destroyed by the Aghlabids. The city was then rebuilt and renamed Medina, giving rise to the present name Mdina. It remained Malta's capital city until 1530.
The Hypogeum of Vibia is part of a small complex of pagan burial chambers in Rome which were constructed along the Via Appia in the late 4th century CE. It is named for the burials of a woman named Vibia and her husband Vincentius, a priest of the Thraco-Phrygian god Sabazios. The hypogeum is notable for the paintings that show the deceased figures in mythological scenes and in the underworld, and for their accompanying inscriptions. Numerous other decorated tombs and inscriptions were found in the complex.
The Għar Għerduf catacombs at Ta' Kerċem, also known as Għar Gerduf, are the only surviving early Christian catacombs or paleochristian hypogea in Gozo, Malta. Għar Għerduf is a unique Roman burial site in Gozo, which has for centuries attracted the attention of scholars interested in Maltese archaeology. The site was visited by erudite visitors who often included a description of the place as they did for Ġgantija and the Xagħra Stone Circle.
The Ħal Resqun catacombs at Gudja, are interpreted as early Christian catacombs or paleochristian hypogea in Malta. The Ħal Resqun catacombs are especially notable for their carved decorations, and other features which are uncommon in Maltese catacombs, and of exceptional value. Some historians have suggested that, unlike other catacombs, those at Ħal Resqun portray enough Christian markers to be classified as paleochristian remains, while others view these features to be inconclusive. Some of the graffiti, interpreted by a number of historians as portraying a biblical scene, are thought to be unique in the world, and considered one of the most important remains from Late Antiquity in Malta.