Ancient Catacombs On Malta Reveal Christians, Jews, And Pagans Were Buried Together

Deep underground in the middle of the tiny island country of Malta lies a series of ancient catacombs, communal burial grounds that date back millennia. Malta has always been a way-station on journeys between Africa and southern Europe, with extraordinary diversity in its past and current inhabitants. The catacombs were no different, revealing that Pagans, Christians, and Jews were buried side-by-side during their use as burial places.

The catacombs of St. Paul on Malta's main island are located in the city of Rabat in an area known in the Arabic vernacular as tad-dlam or "place of darkness." Long before archaeological excavation commenced on the catacombs in the 19th century, the local people were well aware of the dead resting several meters underground.

Historical records of Malta's origins go back to the Phoenicians, a civilization that spanned northern Africa and the Near East. When they colonized the island in the 8th century BC, they named the city Maleth; its location high on a hill made it a natural administrative center for the island. During the Second Punic War between the Romans and the Phoenicians in the 3rd century BC, the city surrendered and was integrated into the Hellenistic province of Sicilia and became known as Melite. Its Punic culture remained, however, through the 1st century AD. After centuries of Roman colonial rule, Malta entered into Byzantine rule and then was captured and destroyed by the Aghlabids, a north African Arab dynasty, in the 9th century. In the 11th century, Malta was resettled by a Muslim community, and the city of Maleth/Melite became known as Mdina.

Originally located just outside the city walls of ancient Mdina are a series of underground tombs where the dead were buried in Phoenician and Roman times. The largest of these catacombs, now known as St. Paul's and St. Agatha's, cover an area of more than 2,000 square meters and are comprised of rock-cut passages and burial chambers.

The site from which the catacombs were carved originally served as a quarry. Large blocks of stone were cut out of the exposed rock, likely to form walls for the nearby city. These quarries formed terraces that have permanently shaped the landscape of Malta. The burials themselves were not made until the Late Phoenician period, around the 4th century BC, but continued to be used through the Roman period for both inhumations and cremation burials. Quarrying continued at the site of the catacombs in the 2nd century AD, destroying some of the older tombs and creating new areas for more burials. Reuse continued long into modern times, with looters stealing grave artifacts, churches using the space for worship, shepherds penning their animals in them, and people sheltering in them during WWII air raids.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/09/28/ancient-catacombs-on-malta-reveal-christians-jews-and-pagans-were-buried-together/#27c5ce443f9e