In the 'Malta Insight Heritage Guide' published recently about St. George's Basilica in Gozo, there are certain statements that are simply inaccurate and I cannot understand how certain people feel unashamed in publishing such outright untruths which utterly debase an otherwise exquisite publication with spectacular coloured illustrations and fine printing.

I quote from the back cover: "St George's Basilica, historically known as San Ġorġ tal-Ħaġar, rises at the heart of il-Ħaġar, the prehistoric walled settlement... ."

Now my remarks:

a) Nobody calls St George's Basilica San Ġorġ tal-Ħaġar. This appellation refers only to a stone statue of St George in Library Street corner with St George's Street, Victoria, and definitely not to the Basilica.

b) St George's Basilica rises in the heart of Rabat, Gozo, and not in the heart of Il-Ħaġar. There is no such a place as Il-Ħaġar in Gozo. This is only an unfortunate invention based on unscientific etymology.

c) Neither is St George's Basilica sited in the heart of a "prehistoric walled settlement". The people of Gozo's prehistoric temple period lived in peace and needed no walled settlements.

d) Moreover, Gozo's Borg in-Nadur Phase Bronze Age people lived on hilltops, especially Nuffara and Citadel Hill for defence purposes, something which has now been scientifically proved to be true; but they built no defensive walls, neither did they inhabit the lower geological fault basin in the central part of Victoria.

Now I take another quotation from page 4. "The Basilica rises from the heart of a site where Gozo's prehistoric ħaġar, the Berber-Arabic word for "walled settlement" grew. Berber is the oldest known language to have been spoken in the Maltese islands and across the central and western side of the Mediterranean."

My remarks:

These are all fantasies of a fertile imagination.

a) No name has survived from prehistoric times.

b) Ħaġar is not a Berber-Arabic word. It is a Maltese word derived from Arabic, a collective noun meaning 'stones' or 'stone'. Even if it were a Berber-Arabic word, it could not have survived in association with St George's statue, simply because the cult of St George in Gozo could not be earlier than the Aragonese period (1283-1530). So much so that when the Aragonese Admiral Ruggiero de Lauria attacked Gozo in 1283, the place where St George's Basilica now stands was already called Rabat, as recorded by Ramon Montaner, the Aragonese chronicler:

"...e combatté la vila e hach lo raval tantost."

These Catalan words mean "and he attacked the town and seized its suburb". So lo raval is Rabat, the suburb of la vila, the Medina of the Arab period. So you see! There is no mention of ħaġar but the word Rabat, lo raval, was already in existence. Incidentally, since lo raval, the suburban settlement was seized so easily, it is obvious proof that no defensive walls existed. Therefore, it was not a walled settlement. Only la vila, the town, was walled. The Aragonese Admiral attacked it, but then he came to terms with the Gozitans, and before he departed from Gozo he left 100 Catalans (soldiers) to guard the Castle, which was a fortified tower in the town itself:

" e llexa li per guarda del Castell qui es ab la vila ensemps C Cathalans," which means "and he left there to guard the Castle which is incorporated in the town, one hundred Catalans (soldiers)".

Unfortunately, many students of history confuse the word Castell, as used here, to mean the whole town, the Grand Castello, which is not the case. Here it means the fortified administrative tower which was located in the town itself (Castrum terrae Gaudisii, the Castle of the town of Gozo), like the Castrum Civitatis which likewise was located in Mdina, Malta, and which was demolished in 1450 by permission of the king himself (Vide Charles Dalli, Iż-Żmien Nofsani Malti PIN 2002, p. 229, Castrum Civitatis: il-kastell ta' l-Imdina, imwaqqa' wara l-1450 bil-permess tas-sultan).

About the same time, the Castrum terrae Gaudisii was in ruins and parts of it were being hired to third persons, but a history dilettante thought that the whole town of Gozo sited on Citadel hill was in ruins and was being rented to third persons!

Incidentally, he was the same person who wrote the inaccuracies and untruths referred to above.

 

Anton F. Attard

Victoria