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According
to folklore, the temples at Ggantija on the island of
Gozo were built by a giantess (hence the name). The
site was a regular stop on the European ‘Grand
Tour’ and has been described and illustrated by
numerous antiquarians. Unfortunately, the site has never
been properly excavated. It was partially cleared in
the 1820’s by Colonel John Otto Bayer, the British
lieutenant governor, but the only record is a series
of watercolours by Charles de Brochtorff done shortly
afterwards. The fullest descriptions of the remains
are by Alberto de la Mamora, published in 1836, and
by Albert Mayr, published in 1901. The latest work on
the site was done by Charles Zammit who put in a few
trenches in the 1930’s.
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The
complex is made up of two temples, which sit side by
side on the same axis and enclosed by the same massive
wall. The larger of the two, Ggantija South, is five-apse
temple and was built sometime around 3500 BC during
the Ggantija phase (the typical pottery of the period
was first identified here). John Evans believed that
the original structure was a three-apse temple very
similar to that at Skorba in appearance. Substantial
renovations took place later in the Ggantija or the
beginning of the Tarxien Period (ca. 3100 BC). These
involved the dismantlement of most of the northern part
of the external wall to make room for a new, four-apse
temple, Ggantija North. Evans believed that the expansion
of Ggantija South occurred at the same time or just
after. He noted that the outer pair of apses were unusually
small and thought that this may have been because so
much space was taken up by the new temple. The temples
share the same forecourt but each has its own concave
façade. Unfortunately the junction between them
proved unstable and has since collapsed—the blocks
are lying there. Where it is reasonably well-preserved,
the façade consists of upright slabs at the base
supporting courses of roughly shaped stone blocks. The
buildings face onto a level, terraced forecourt about
35 metres across at its widest. This platform was held
in place by a retaining wall of large, unworked blocks
some of which can be seen today.
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Ggantija. Ground
Plan of the Temples
Click
the plan to open a larger version into a new window |
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The
interior walls of both temples were made of rough boulders
of various sizes piled on top of one another. Only in
the passageways and at the corners of the apses is dressed
stone used for structural purposes. The construction
of the common exterior wall is different for each building—not
surprising, if they were built at different times. Around
the southern temple it consists, at its lower level,
of broad slabs alternating with narrow pillars set at
right angles to them and projecting slightly outwards.
The stones are massive—the largest is 5.7 metres
across,3.8 metres tall and weighs approximately 50 tonnes.
The stretch of wall around the northern temple, on the
other hand, is generally made out of smaller stones
and the scheme of alternating broad slabs and pillars
disappears at the back of the building.
Ggantija
South. View of the western stretch of the outer wall
Ggantija South
The entrance to Ggantija South was suitably monumental—the
façade of roughly hewn Coralline blocks still
stands to a height of over 7 metres. There is an enormous
stone threshold, 5.66 metres long, 2.4 metres wide and
25 centimetres thick, immediately in front of the doorway—now
broken into a number of pieces. The 1933 excavations
revealed an inverted offering bowl containing 158 seashells
along with the horn core of a bull or cow.
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initial passageway is a little over 2 metres across
and was lined with six tall Globigerina orthostats.
At the inner end there was a pair of even taller
uprights set outside the others and overlapping
them. These inner stones have been drilled with
bar holes, four on each side. Inside this setting
are four smaller slabs, about 1.8 metres high, which
narrowed the width of the passage to about 1.35
metres. The passage was paved with three large flagstones,
each stepped slightly above the previous one. The
outermost flagstone was T-shaped to accommodate
the inner range of orthostats and the others were
carved to hold small, cubical blocks that had been
drilled with patterns of dots. A conical hole had
been bored right through the last paving stone at
the left-hand end as you enter the inner court.
It looks very much like the socket for a doorpost.
Nowadays visitor traffic is such that a wooden walkway
now covers the original pavement. |
View
from Apse 7 through Courts 4 and 1and out the
entrance passage |
The
entrance passage is part of a longer corridor that leads
through a pair of small courtyards to a large terminal
apse at the rear of the building. The floor is paved for
much of its length and rises steadily as it goes. The
same effect is noticeable in Egyptian temples where it
is used to heighten the sense of mystery and awe but in
this case it may have been simply for purposes of drainage
(if one assumes that the paved areas were open to the
elements)
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The interior of Apse
2 (Brochtorff) |
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it may simply reflect the natural slope of
the hill.
The
first courtyard [1] is flanked
by a pair of apses whose layout is remarkably
similar to that of the outer apses at Tarxien
South. In this case, the right-hand apse
[2] was the one that was elaborately
furnished. There was a line of stone blocks
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Limestone
Heads |
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interrupted
by an opening with a semi-circular threshold that looks
much the same as the arrangement in Apse 3 at Tarxien.
In both cases the blocks bore spiral decoration—although
at Ggantija the reliefs are so badly weathered that they
are scarcely visible today. The Brochtorff painting shows
a trilithon altar flanked by orthostats—similar
to the arrangement at the rear of Tarxien South—but
only a few broken fragments survive today. Two
battered limestone heads belonging to round-faced women
(right) with cropped hair were found in front
of the niche. The hairstyle is similar to that found on
figurines and statuettes found on other sites and they
were probably part of a composite figure, perhaps made
of wood.
| Apse
2. Trilithon Altar |
| Apse
2. Decorated Block |
Apart
from a couple of recumbent slabs and a circular stone
with a pair of holes bored through it, Apse 3 is now
devoid of any sort of furnishings. However, when the
site was re-examined in 1933 the excavators removed
a compacted mass of clay that Bayer assumed was the
remains of an altar. It turned out to be nothing more
than debris but the wall behind it showed clear evidence
of having been plastered. The rough stone
walls of this room (and presumably the others, as well)
were packed with clay, which was then smoothed and covered
with a coat of lime plaster about 5mm thick. Traces
of red paint were found on the plaster but not enough
evidence has survived to reconstruct the designs. The
curvilinear and spiral patterns on the ceilings at the
Hypogeum at Hal Saflieni suggest some possibilities,
however.
Court
1. Threshold at the entrance to the passageway
A short, paved passage leads to a small inner court
[4] and the three apses that make up the rear
of the temple. There was a raised threshold slab with
pitted decoration at the entrance to the corridor, which
lined with orthostats. These probably supported a series
of lintels but no trace of these has been found. The
paving slabs had been drilled with a series of four
‘libation holes’ similar to those found
at Skorba—reinforcing Evans’ notion of an
original three-apse temple.
Ggantija
South. Brochtorff's sketch of Apse 5
Apse
5, on the right as you enter the court, contained
a line of low stone blocks, decorated with patterns of
dots, when Brochtorff did his sketch of it. At its eastern
end was an upright slab with a round hole near the top
and another further down, near the left-hand edge. Just
inside the room is a circular stone hearth about 1 metre
in diameter—similar to one in Tarxien Central. There
was also a flat slab about 1.35 metres long and 0.6 metres
across that had a relief of a snake running along one
edge. Unfortunately, it does not appear to have been found
in situ. Brochtorff also shows what appears to
be a hollow altar somewhat similar to the one that contained
the
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and flint knives at Tarxien South. A ledge was cut
about halfway up the face of a large slab of globigerina
and the surface above that was cut back so as to
leave a raised rectangular frame for a square opening.
In front of it was a setting of uprights resting
on a horizontal slab, which may have been the lower
part of an offering table. We will never know for
sure because, apart from the hearth and the slab
with the relief (now in the Museum of Gozo in the
Casa Bondin), none of this furniture has survived.
Two curved settings of smaller stones run out from
the rear of the apse, enclosing a slightly raised
torba surface. |
Apse
5. Hollow Altar
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Apse
5. Snake Relief |
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Apse
6. Trilithon Niches |
Brochtorff
depicts a series of altars in Apse 6—three
trilithon niches within a setting of four taller
orthostats. These had been almost totally destroyed
by 1900 but have since been repaired and reconstructed.
The niches are of different sizes, with the largest
in the centre. They are roughly the same height
(about 1 metre), each consisting of a capstone
supported by a pair of uprights and a back wall
of dressed stone blocks. The horizontal slab of
the central niche is cracked and is supported
by a central pillar, presumably added in more
recent times. Much the same thing seems to have
happened to the right-hand niche as well. On either
side of the central niche is a tall pillar (2.5
and 2 metres high respectively) and there are
shorter uprights at either end. On each side of
the setting of niches is a low wall set in front
of the wall of the apse proper. The one on the
right is only about 25cm high but that on the
left is made out of thin slabs about 75cm high.
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Ggantija
South. Brochtorff's sketch of Apses 6 & 7 |
Apse
7, the terminal apse, is a very imposing structure
with walls nearly 5.5 metres above ground level and
about 10 metres higher than the entrance to the temple.
They were made of rough boulders and curve inwards towards
the top The floor of the apse is raised and separated
from the rest of the temple by a kerb of three stone
megaliths 60cm high, decorated with a pattern of deeply
drilled holes. Two of them have been bored right through.
Apart from a low kerb about 30cm high near the back
of the room, little was found in the way of features.
Ggantija
North
Ggantija
North. Entrance
The entrance to Ggantija North is similar to that of
its neighbour but somewhat shorter. There is a threshold
out front flanked by a pair of low blocks of stone.
The passageway is flanked by two pairs of slabs about
1.9 metres high (although the outer pair have been cut
down at the front, possibly to facilitate the removal
of the capstone at a later date) and there is a third,
even taller pair flanking the inner doorway and marking
the ends of the two apses. Bar holes and shallow grooves
in the uprights indicate that there was a secure door
here. There are holes (for tethering ropes) in the third
pavement slab and a pair of circular hollows near the
outside edge of the last one.
Ggantija
North. Court 8 & Apse 9
The inner court [8] and two flanking apses [9 &
10] contained little of interest apart from a conical
stone that appears in one of Brochtorff’s sketches
that may have been a baetyl. There is an unusual setting
of stones on either side of the entrance to the passage
that leads to the inner apses. Next to the terminal
stone of each apse is a horizontal slab, probably an
altar, resting on a course of smaller stones. Brochtorff
shows drilled decoration on both altars and their supports.
Next to each altar was another stone upright, set with
its broad side facing into the court.
Ggantija
North. View from Apse 12 to Apse 13 with Altar 14 on
the right
The corridor leading to the rear of the temple was more
or less a scaled-down version of the entrance passage.
Originally, there were three pairs of uprights—two
on each side of the passage and another pair of pillars
overlapping them and framing the inner door. However,
apart from the pillars, only the stones on the left
side have survived and only one of the original paving
slabs. Apse 12 is separated from Court 11 by a low wall
60cm high consisting of three courses of blocks with
three long slabs on top. A considerable amount of bones
and potsherds were found in the area behind the wall
under a deposit of ashes. At the back of Apse 13 there
are the remains of a table niche, consisting of two
pairs of uprights flanked by a pair of low slabs.
Ggantija
North. View of Altar 14 from the passageway
The
innermost part of the temple [14] is almost entirely
taken up by the remains of a table niche 1.4 metres
high. The horizontal slab is supported by a pair of
uprights, which were themselves flanked by another pair
of uprights set with their broad sides facing into the
court. These last two were each braced by to smaller
blocks set at their base. The space behind was covered
by horizontal slabs that rest partly on the uprights
and partly on a low wall of small stones. This wall
was carried upwards using larger stones so that it blocked
the area behind the niche. In Brochtorff’s sketch
the outer face of the horizontal slabs was decorated
drilled holes but no trace of these have survived.
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