Malta, V.

[David Morris]

Malta is the home of the oldest temples (underground & constructed) on the
planet. "Paola <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paola,_Malta>" (remember
her?) is the location of one of them.  Malta's temples were wombs, and
explicitly devoted to worship a female deity (see "White Goddess").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypogeum_of_%C4%A6al-Saflieni

The *Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni* is a subterranean structure dating to
the Saflieni
phase <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saflieni_phase> (3300-3000 BC) in
Maltese prehistory, located in Paola
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paola,_Malta>, Malta
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta>. It is often simply referred to as
the *Hypogeum* (Maltese <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_language>:
*Ipoġew*), literally meaning "underground" in Greek. The Hypogeum is
thought to have been originally a sanctuary, but it became a necropolis
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necropolis> in prehistoric times
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prehistory>, and in fact, the remains of
more than 7,000 individuals have been found. It is the only known
prehistoric underground temple <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple> in
the world.

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/april-2011/article/of-temples-and-goddesses-in-malta

LONG BEFORE THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT, and before the great
ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia were raised, there were monumental temples
being erected on the island of Malta. Associated with them were carvings
and an assemblage of figurines that speak to us today, though in a language
not clearly understood. Scientists and scholars continue poring over the
evidence.  Linda Eneix, a noted expert on the ancient remains and temple
culture of Malta, relates in first person her thoughts about this
fascinating ancient legacy and what it might mean.

https://sacredsites.com/europe/malta/temples_malta.html


http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/malta/malta.html


The prehistoric temples of Malta are unique in all the world. They are the
oldest standing stone structures which remain to us from ancient times. The
temples date from 4000 - 2500 BC. They are older than Stonehenge, older
than the Pyramids. Their architecture is beautiful and inspiring, their
scale impressive yet human. Excellently preserved, they were covered with
soil from early times and ignored by the long march of history. They were
rediscovered and carefully restored by European and native Maltese
archaeologists beginning in the 19th century. Because of their uniqueness
and beauty, the major temple complexes are deservedly designated as UNESCO
World Heritage Sites.

Little is known about the people who built these megalithic temples. The
original inhabitants of the Maltese Islands probably crossed over by sea
from Sicily, which lies 58 miles to the north, sometime before 5000 BC. The
temple builders were farmers who grew cereals and raised domestic
livestock. They worshipped a mother goddess whose type is known from early
statuettes found scattered around the Mediterranean. Similar statues are
also found on Malta, several being of uniquely large size. We know from
physical evidence that worship in the Malta temples included animal
sacrifice; beyond this, little is known about the rites and rituals that
took place there. Although the temples are large in overall extent, their
interior chambers do not have enough room to hold more than a few people at
one time. Therefore public worship in large groups, as practiced in typical
churches and temples today, would not have been possible.

David Morris

On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 10:55 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Right......but ? Key place in V., yes?
>  "the June Disturbances (as they came to be called) ended"...."The primary
> question, that of self-rule, was as of 1956 still unresolved." --last page
> of V.
>
> "Draw a line from Malta to Lampedusa. Call it a radius. Somewhere in that
> circle....a water-spout appeared.........Astartre's throat naked to the
> cloudless weather....whitecaps, kelp islands, any of a million flatnesses
> which should catch thereafter part of the sun's spectrum--showed nothing at
> all of what came to lie beneath, that quiet June day."---last paragraph in
> bits of V.
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 11:21 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Pre-Reformation, EVERYTHING was Catholic (except for everything that was
>> Per-Catholic).
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 10:07 AM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Did we know this?:
>>>
>>> "Yes, the Order of Malta is Catholic."
>>>
>>> More previously unknown V. resonances for me, anyway. Including
>>> possibly, ideationally, autobiographical, from our once-devout dally
>>> Mass-attending Catholic writer.
>>>
>>
>>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20170109/dd9bee98/attachment.html>