Sciberras Peninsula

Last updated
Sciberras Peninsula
Sciberras Peninsula.jpg
Port of Valletta as viewed from the ISS, at the centre of the Sciberras Peninsula
Malta relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Sciberras Peninsula
Geography
Location Grand Harbour in the south and Marsamxett Harbour in the north.
Coordinates 35°53′43″N14°30′29″E / 35.89528°N 14.50806°E / 35.89528; 14.50806
Administration
Malta

The Sciberras Peninsula is a peninsula in the South Eastern Region of Malta, between the Grand Harbour in the south and Marsamxett Harbour in the north. [1] [2] At its end stands the Mount Sciberras, which gave its name to the peninsula. [1] [3] [4] During the Arab occupation the peninsula was called Mu'awiya, which has been taken up in Maltese as Xagħriet Mewwija (uncultivated and undulating heaths). [5]

Contents

Valletta, the capital of Malta, is located on the Sciberras Peninsula, as is its suburb Floriana. [6]

Some authors maintain that the name comes from the old Maltese family name Sciberras or Xiberras, who would have owned the land. [7] Recent scholarly studies indicate that the phrase Xeberras is a Punic phrase which means the headland, or the middle peninsula, which is exactly the geographic characteristic of the Valletta-Floriana peninsula. [8]

Mount Sciberras

Valletta and the Grand Harbour Valletta and the Grand Harbour.jpg
Valletta and the Grand Harbour

Mount Sciberras is a hill in Valletta, Malta, which rises 56m above the Grand Harbour to the south and Marsamxett Harbour to the north. [9] [10] It is upon this hill that the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Jean Parisot de Valette commissioned the construction of the new city of Valletta in 1566 after the Great Siege of Malta. [11]

This hill gives its name to the peninsula. [11] [12] The name could also be a mispronunciation of the name Shahrbaraz [11] [13] which was a noble Persian title given to a ruler who gained Mediterranean access from the Byzantines in the Middle Ages.

In Spain, there is a unique surname originating in Malta: "Chippirrás." This surname arrived in Spain from Valletta, the capital of Malta, via the Rock of Gibraltar, brought by gentlemen from the city of Cardiff (present-day Wales, United Kingdom). After passing through Valletta, the capital located on Mount Sceberras, they moved to Spain via the well-known "Rock" of Gibraltar. Due to the diversity of Castilian dialects, the surname has taken on different spelling variations as it has been recorded in various Spanish civil registries. It is known as Chippirrás, Chipirrás, Chippirráz, or Chipirrás, with the most common form being "Chippirrás.", one of these descendants is the well-known criminologist and lawyer Ramón Chippirrás.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Blondi 1997, p. 78.
  2. ↑ Auzias & Labourdette 2002, p. 128.
  3. ↑ Blasi 2013, p. 38.
  4. ↑ Allison 2013, p. 8.
  5. ↑ Delbeke & Schraven 2012, p. 215.
  6. ↑ Auzias & Labourdette 2002, p. 155.
  7. ↑ Guillaumier 2002, p. 869.
  8. ↑ Vella, John (2022-01-02). "Thalassic imaginaries: witnesses to (an) unwritten history" . European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire. 29 (1): 1–41. doi:10.1080/13507486.2021.1916444. ISSN   1350-7486. S2CID   239631719.
  9. ↑ Blondi 1997 , p. 78
  10. ↑ Auzias & Labourdette 2002 , p. 128
  11. 1 2 3 Allison 2013 , p. 8
  12. ↑ Blasi 2013 , p. 38
  13. ↑ Hämeen-Anttila, Jaakko (September 2022). "The Letters of Shahrbarāz and Middle Persian Historiography on the Last Great War of Late Antiquity" . Journal of Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies. 1 (1–2): 65–93. doi:10.3366/jlaibs.2022.0005. hdl: 20.500.11820/3aa80b20-d52d-4c1d-ac09-20c5db9fa94d . ISSN   2634-2367.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.