MALTA: Thrinax of the Maltese
by Horatio Caesar Roger Vella
This Malta Classics Association’s Logo is reminiscent of Roman coinage minted in Malta with
representations from Greek mythology. On a number of coins we have the figure of Persephone on one
side, and the representation of our Logo on the other.
The two figures are intrinsically connected.
Persephone was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of
fertility, who came to be associated with death. As a
compromise with her mother, Hades, god of the
Underworld, contented himself to keep Persephone,
his wife, whom he had stolen from Earth, for only
six months of the year. This myth explains why
Earth is fertile generally for only half a year.
Because of her connection with death, the Romans
represented Persephone on the Maltese coins as
veiled.
The tripod, called in Greek “Thrinax”, was a threelegged stool, with a hole or holes in the seat, that was placed over a hole in the earth commonly believed
to be the omphalos of the world. Through this hole in the Mother-Earth, generally imagined to be a
“primeval hill” representing the pregnant earth, came the inspiration which passed through the hole or
holes of this tripod into the skirt of the priestess, Pythia, sitting on it. She, in turn, interpreted the
inspiration she received from the earth in enigmatic poetry.
Apollo, the twin-brother of the moon-goddess, came to be connected with this tripod and the Pythia,
because he had usurped that supremacy of the locality from Python, the “primeval serpent” or dragon (it
is the same in Greek), who protects Mother-Earth and all entrances into the Underworld. This serpent
was thought to be the ideal creature for this guardianship because, like Persephone, he shared life with
both the living and the dead since he lived on both levels, and was therefore cognizant of things above
the ground and of other mysterious things hidden from man, as hinted in the account of the Genesis.
The Virgin Moon-Goddess, sister of Apollo, was also connected with death. Both her waning phases and
her short absence from the sky within the lunar month, as well as her almost daily sinking into the
western horizon, associated with death, where Oceanus was imagined to flow out, helped to associate her
with death. Apollo’s sister received various names in Greek, such as Selene and Phoebe. Selene was the
sister of Helius and, therefore, aunt of another Phoebe. Later on, even Artemis herself was to receive that
name as an epithet, as her twin-brother was to receive that of Phoebus. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus
and Leto, and Leto the daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, brother and sister, husband and wife, two of the
twelve Titan gods, children of Uranus and Ge. This means that Artemis was a second cousin of
Phaethon, Phaethusa, Lampetia and Phoebe. This last Phoebe, the nymph Homer does not mention, was
Thrinacia herself, the Moon-Goddess venerated in the last of Odysseus’ landfall before he came to
Ogygia.
Death was also associated with fertility. Since the dead were thought to go down into the Underworld,
then Mother-Earth received its fertility precisely from the Underworld. Hence the connection of fertility
with Thrinax, Persephone, Apollo and Artemis. A Roman coin minted also in Malta represents a figure
holding a trident. Such an instrument was called in Greek precisely “Thrinax”, and it was used in
connexion with the threshing of corn. This trident was therefore associated with Demeter, goddess of
fertility, mother of Persephone, who, as said above, tied up the lives both of the Underworld and of the
Earth. Among his other attributes, Apollo was the god of help and healing, the protector of flocks and
cattle, the god of the Sun that gives light and energy to all things which grow. Similarly, Artemis, the
moon-goddess, averted evil and cured the suffering of mortals; she protected the young, the flocks and
the chase. She was also the goddess of child-birth in as much as the child passed from darkness into light
(Dea Lucina for the Romans) and of night activities in as much as she was the chief illuminator at night.
As a hunting goddess during night, she became associated with the snake, the reptile who seeks its prey
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at night. As such, she becomes identifiable with the Cretan Potnia Thērōn who holds the snakes in her
hands. As a moon-goddess, she is often, like Persephone, represented with a veil over her head.
Thrinacia, the last landfall of Odysseus before
Ogygia, was the lonely island South of Scylla and
Charybis, identifiable with the islands of the
Maltese archipelago. Malta has its name derived
from Melite, one of the 50 daughters of Nereus and
Doris. Both Melite and Thrinacia, daughter of
Helius, were granddaughters of Oceanus, the river
that poured into Death in the West. Malta and
Gozo were the “sacred islands” of the MotherEarth goddess of fertility in prehistoric times,
connected with the dead below, while Malta, Gozo
and Comino represent the triple dimensions of an
archipelago, formerly referred to by the name of
“Thrinacia”, the moon-goddess of the “triple”
phases of the moon. This name has the same root
as in Thrinax, the representation of the Malta
Classics Association’s Logo, the three-legged stool which was used in connection with all the elements
just discussed, namely, the Underworld and its Queen of the Dead, Persephone, as well as Apollo,
Python, the snake-dragon he defeated, and Artemis, the Moon-Goddess.
Such coins were used and found in the ancient City of Malta, called by the Romans "Melita", a city
which was reduced in size by the Arabs in the 9th century. This is the City Cicero refers to in his Verrine
Speeches, the entrance of which today was built by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and
Malta.
Cicero, In C. Verrem Actio 2, 4, 103-104:
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5
Insula est Melita, iudices, satis lato a Sicilia mari
periculosoque diiuncta1; in qua est eodem nomine
1 diiungo 3: to separate;
oppidum, quod iste numquam accessit2, quod tamen
2 accedo 3: to approach;
isti textrinum3 per triennium ad muliebrem vestem
3 textrinum, i n.: weaving;
conficiendam4 fuit. Ab eo oppido non longe in
4 conficio 3: to complete;
promunturio fanum est Iunonis antiquum, quod tanta
religione semper fuit, ut non modo illis Punicis bellis,
quae in his fere locis navali copia gesta5 atque
5 gero 3: to wage;
versata6 sunt , sed etiam hac praedonum multitudine
6 versor 1: to be engaged in;
10 semper inviolatum sanctumque fuerit. ...
Erat praeterea magna vis eboris7 , multa
7 ebur, oris n.: ivory;
ornamenta, in quibus eburneae Victoriae antiquo
opere ac summa arte perfectae8. Haec iste omnia, ne
8 perficio 3: to accomplish;
multis morer9, uno impetu atque uno nuntio per servos
9 moror 1: to delay;
15 Venerios, quos eius rei causa miserat, tollenda10 atque
10 tollo 3: to carry away;
asportanda curavit.
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Comments:
Cicero here refers to the island of Malta and its town which had the same name, and which is situated at
the centre of the island towards the West and had inside it a factory manufacturing women's clothes. He
also refers to the temple of Juno situated at the south-eastern corner of the island, previously used as a
Neolithic shrine dedicated to Mother-Earth, goddess of fertility, and its male paramour, subsequently
recognized by the Phoenicians in Malta as Astarte and Melqart, by the Romans as Juno and Hercules.
Cicero calls this shrine as "holy" to such an extent that even barbarians like Masinissa returned objects
stolen from it, but not the Roman Verres, Pro-Praetor of Sicily.
1 iudices: This speech was a forensic one delivered successfully by Cicero at the beginning of his
career as a lawyer.
3 numquam accessit: Malta is only 55 miles from Sicily, and Verres had his headquarters at Syracuse
towards the South of the island. Despite this, he never visited Malta, but used other people to manage
his factory for three whole years.
5 Ab eo oppido non longe: This is relatively true. From Mdina, the present name of the Roman Melita,
to Tas-Silġ near Marsaxlokk harbour takes three hours on foot. For Cicero, who never visited Malta,
distances within a small island must have meant short.
7 illis Punicis bellis: There were in fact three Punic Wars. By the end of the first Punic War, the
Romans conquered Sicily, but not Malta. Since the war was about Sicily, sea-battles took place
around it, also in the Sicilian Strait where Malta is situated. Malta was taken by the Romans at the
beginning of the second Punic War in 218B.C.
9 hac praedonum multitudine: The whole Mediterranean was infected with pirates, until Pompey the
Great reduced them. Because of inlets and caves found in Malta, pirates often hid their bases here; yet
it was never heard that they pillaged the sanctuary of Juno.
15 per servos Venerios: To hide his real intentions, Verres sent servants from the temple of Venus at
Eryx to transport the goods found at the temple of Juno in Malta as if he were transferring them from
one temple to another.
Questions and tasks
1. Which Latin historian deals with the Punic Wars?
2. Which passage in his account refers to the Roman occupation of Malta?
3. Was this gate (see picture above) the one which the Romans built?
4. Why does the Roman coin (see picture above) have Greek script?
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Inscription over the gate of Mdina
1
ANTIQVISSIMAE HVIVS VRBIS,
QVAM PATRES DIXERE NOTABILEM,
INSVLAE METROPOLEOS1,
2
QVAE, DIVI PAVLI PROVIDO NAVFRAGIO FIDEM EDOCTA ,
5
PRIMVM PRAESVLEM3 DIVVM PVBLIVM PATRITIVM HABVIT,
1 metropolis, is f.: chief
city;
2 edoceo 2: to instruct;
3 praesul, is m.:
president;
D[OMINVS] ANT[ONIVS] MANOEL DE VILHENA
M[AGNVS] M[AGISTER], EGREGIVS ET PIISIMVS PRINCEPS,
IN HONOREM APOSTOLI EIVSQ[VE] DISCIPVLI,
AMOREM ET TVTELAM4 POPVLI,
10
MVNIMENTA5 PAENE COLLAPSA RESTAVRAVIT ET AVXIT6
ANNO SAL[VTIS] MDCCXXIV, PRINCIPATVS SVI III.
4 tutela, ae f.:
protection;
5 munimentum, i n.:
fortification;
6 augeo 2: to enlarge
Comments:
This inscription is at the top of the arch
leading to the Old City of Mdina, formerly
called "Melita". Grand Master Manoel de
Vilhena, Bailiff of Acre from Portugal, set
up this inscription after shifting the
entrance and bridge from the right (see
picture). He also built Valletta's suburb,
Floriana, fortified an island which now
bears his name, and built a theatre in
Valletta, still in use today.
1 ANTIQVISSIMAE HVIVS VRBIS:
This city was, in fact, originally built
by the Phoenicians and taken over by
the Romans in 218B.C. It was reduced
in size by the Arabs in the ninth
century, and reinforced by the Order of
the Knights of St John after 1530.
4 PROVIDO NAVFRAGIO: St Paul
got shipwrecked in Malta in 60B.C. on his journey to Rome to appeal to Emperor Nero for having
been condemned to prison already for two years in Palestine. The site of the shipwreck is a jut of land
in a beach within a bay which today bears the saint's name. Close by was the summer residence of
Publius, President of the Council in Malta.
8 DISCIPVLI: According to tradition (not the Acts of the Apostles), Publius was converted to
Christianity by St Paul after the cure of his father by the same apostle. Tradition further holds that he
became a bishop and a saint. This is highly improbable since Nero would not have permitted his
governor on the island to become a Christian Bishop. Also, St Publius was another bishop from Asia
Minor where he lived several years after the episode of St Paul's shipwreck.
Questions and tasks
1. Which writer gives an account of St Paul's shipwreck?
2. Who were the Knights of St John?
3. What does this church (see picture above) represent at Mdina?
4. Give the Latin name of "Council".
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