https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/108362 2026-04-14T16:10:37Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/107617 Title: Art, patronage and resistance : three altar paintings and the aftermath of the 1614 Ottoman attack Authors: Debono, Sandro Abstract: This paper seeks to discuss the significance of a select group of altar paintings as commissions in response to the 1614 razzia. It seeks to read the history of the razzia and its aftermath through the evidence which the paintings provide, in visual and document form, define the profiles of some of the patrons behind particular altar paintings and how their views and direct experience of the 1614 razzia relate to their painting. 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/87284 Title: Pottery from the 1972 excavation at the Zejtun villa Authors: Anastasi, Maxine Abstract: Being durable, cheap to produce, and used to make any desired shape, fired clay vessels were the utilitarian objects par excellence of the ancients. That is why a study of the pottery from a villa site like the one at Żejtun promises to throw important light on past secular activities in a Maltese rural context. Nearly 40 years after the excavation of the Żejtun villa, several crate-loads of pottery were selected for a detailed contextual study. In doing so, a wealth of new data concerning the span of the site’s occupation and its function have been brought to light. This short paper aims to highlight the methodology used, the types of pottery identified, and presents some results about the function and activities once performed on this site. 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/39939 Title: Past and present excavations of a multi-period site Authors: Bonanno, Anthony; Vella, Nicholas C. Abstract: The remains of the Żejtun Roman Villa lie on the highest point of a long, somewhat flat ridge that stretches for about 1 km roughly in an east-west direction (Fig. 1). This point is located close to the east end of the ridge. Beyond Dun Lawrenz Degabriele Street that borders the Girls Secondary School grounds on the east side, this ridge starts dipping rather rapidly towards Tas- Silġ and Delimara, along the road leading to those destinations. The ridge dips slightly less rapidly to the north, beyond Luqa Briffa Street, even less rapidly to the south, beyond the Żejtun Bypass (Anton Buttigieg Street) while it maintains more or less the same altitude to the west up to Bir id-Deheb from where the ground starts rising again towards Gudja and the parish church of Ħal Għaxaq. The ground level of the Villa remains, therefore, is a couple of metres higher than that of the old parish church of Santa Katerina (the present St Gregory’s church) and considerably higher than that of the present Żejtun parish church 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21158 Title: The south east of Malta and its defence up to 1614 Authors: Fiorini, Stanley Abstract: The object of this presentation is to give an overview of how the south-east of Malta comprising the Cappella of Sancta Catherina, that is the Parish of Ÿejtun, was geared for enemy attacks before 1530 and after the arrival of the Order of St John until the last invasion of 1614, whose fourth centenary is being commemmorated. It is shown how the coastal watch, the so-called Maoeras, for this district, originally organized by the Mdina Universitas came to be dependent on St Angelo towards the mid- fifteenth century and how, at about the same time, fortification of the old Parish Church was undertaken to defend the villagers, in view of the distance of the parish from Mdina. The dependent hamlet of Ÿabbar was one of the identified Dejma (land force as opposed to the coastal Maoeras) centres. It is suggested that one reason why the Port of Marsaxlokk appears to have been singled out by the Moorish corsairs for especial attention was retaliation for its use as the hub of Christian provocation, especially after 1530. 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z