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Museum Of Roman Antiquities
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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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