On the island of Gozo, in the middle of the Mediterranean, you can find one of the oldest man-made structures. Older than Stonehenge or the Pyramids, this is Ggantija – The Giant’s Tower.

The temples are roughly 5,500 years old and UNESCO has them on its World Heritage list. According to legend, a giantess named Sunsuna who ate nothing but broad beans and honey had an affair with a normal human man. She gave birth to a child and, while nursing the child, built the temples in one day and one night.

There are some great wine tasting options on the island of Gozo too.

Legends of giant vegan seductresses aside, we know a lot about the 10,000 square foot site from archeology:

1. They were the site of some cult that venerated women. Excavators found figurines of full-figured goddesses that show the existence of a matriarchal cult. Whether this was as simple as an Earth Mother image or something else is unknown. It is possible this temple was the site of pilgrimages but there is no evidence of this.
2. The Ancients used them for fertility rites. Researchers found many figurines and statues within the temples. Archaeologists have made educated guesses based on these, but we don’t know if this is true.
3. The Ancients used them for animal sacrifices. Excavators found various animal bones here. Maybe sacrificing animals was part of their fertility rite. Maybe a good meal was useful for fertility. Maybe this is what drove the vegans away.
4. They have some kind of astronomical significance. The temples face south-east like many other temples found in Malta. (The Mnajdra temples are also aligned with the equinoxes)
5. The Ancients built these temples before someone introduced the wheel to the islands. Archaeologists found round stones of various sizes at the site. These could have been used as ball-bearings to help hoist the large stones into place.

The authorities excavated and investigated the temples in 1827 but many people knew of them before this. French painter Jean-Pierre Houël drew a correct plan of the temples as early as the late 1700s¹.

Ġgantija is close to Marsalforn – the capital city that almost was.

The well-maintained site has a detailed visitors centre nowadays. While chatting with the staff there, I learnt that one of the large hills opposite Ggantija has an interesting story of its own. Archeologists believe that there may be another temple buried in the hill – indeed, the hill may just be a covered temple. Ground penetrating radar shows that there is something there too. There is no current plan to excavate just yet.

Have you visited any Earth Mother shrines? 

References

1. Women in 18th Century Malta’ to be launched at Ġgantija Temples; The Malta Independent; 2017-10-30[↩]

Remember: links were correct at time of publication.