Malta affords a fine field for antiquarian research; and in no part more so
than in the neighbourhood of Citta Vecchia, where for some distance the
ground is dotted with tombs which have already been opened.
Here, in ancient times, was the site of a burial-place, but for what
people, or at what age, is now unknown; and here it is that archæologists
should commence their labours, that in the result they may not be
disappointed. In some of the tombs which have been recently entered in this
vicinity, fragments of linen cloth have been seen, in which bodies were
enveloped at the time of their burial; in others glass, and earthen
candlesticks, and jars, hollow throughout and of a curious shape; while in
a few were earrings and finger-rings made of the purest gold, but they are
rarely found. {82}
There cannot be a doubt that many valuable antiquities will yet be
discovered, and in support of this presumption I would only refer to those
now known to exist; the Giant's Tower at Gozo, the huge tombs in the
Bengemma Hills, and those extensive and remarkable ruins at Krendi, which
were excavated by order of the late Sir Henry Bouverie, and remain as a
lasting and honourable memento of his rule, being among the number.
An antiquary, being at Malta, cannot pass a portion of an idle day more
agreeably than in visiting some singular sepulchral chambers not far from
Notabile, which are built in a rocky eminence, and with entrances several
feet from the ground. These are very possibly the tombs of the earliest
Christians, who tried in their erection "to imitate that of our Saviour, by
building them in the form of caves, and closing their portals with marble
or stone." When looking at these tombs from a terrace near the Cathedral,
we were strongly reminded of those which were seen by our lately deceased
friend Mr. John L. Stephens, and so well described by him in his _Incidents
of Travel_ in eastern lands. Had we time or space, we should more
particularly refer to several other interesting remains now scattered over
the island, and, among them, to that curious sepulchre not a long time ago
discovered in a garden at Rabato. We might write of the inscription on its
walls, "In pace posita sunt," and of the figures of a dove and hare which
were near it, to show that the ashes of those whom they buried there were
left in peace. We might also make mention, more at length, of a tomb which
was found at the point Beni Isa in 1761, having on its face a Phoenician
inscription, which Sir William Drummond thus translates:
"The interior room of the tomb of Ænnibal, illustrious in the
consummation of calamity. He was beloved. The people, when they are
drawn up in order of battle, weep for Ænnibal the son of Bar Malek."
Sir Grenville Temple remarks, that the great Carthaginian general is
supposed, by the Maltese, to have been a native of their island, and one of
the Barchina family, once known to have been established in Malta; while
some writers have stated that his remains were brought from Bithynia to
this island, to be placed in the tomb of his ancestors; and this
supposition, from what we have read, may be easily credited.
Might I ask if there is any writer, ancient or modern, who has recorded
that Malta was not the burial-place of Hannibal?