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Museum Of Roman Antiquities

Roman Mosiac, Rabat, Malta This small Museum is built over the site of the ancient Roman House. It is situated just outside the walls of Mdina, close to the Greeks' Gate.

The Museum entrance, beneath a columned portico, opens into the main hall where a range of Roman relics are displayed in glass showcases or on the floor. Brief details are given on some of the main exhibits. Starting from the main gallery, these include: i) A granite-olive pipper, found at Marsaxlokk, which was used to crush olives and to separate the pips from the pulp from which oil was then extracted; ii) A large tombstone, bearing a Greek inscription, in memory of a comedian and lyre-player who died circa 150 AD iii) Huge marble cornices, columns, pediments and tablets with Latin inscriptions, mostly from the ruins of ancient Melita; iv) A display of Punic, Roman and Byzantine saucer-like wick lamps with pagan and Christian symbolic reliefs; v) A collection of glass bowls and phials of green and blue hues, all irridiscent because of their long burial underground; vi) Several terracotta masks and various trinkets;

On the landing of the staircase, which leads to the basement, stands a bulky pedestal of a statue, bearing a long Latin inscription indicating that the city of Melita enjoyed the status of a Municipium. Interesting items on the lower floor, which is the site proper of the Roman House, include: a) Life-size marble statues and busts of Roman deities or personalities. b) Terracotta amphorae, broken columns and other vestiges found on the site. c) Chunks of various types of mosaics from this house and from other Roman sites elsewhere.

In a tiny annex behind the 'Triclinium' are displayed a range of Moslem stone tombstones inscribed with texts from the Koran in Kufic script. These were recovered from the graves dug on the site during the Arab occupation. Several exhibits, which used to be displayed here, have now been transferred to the Roman Room at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

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