San Pawl Milqi

San Pawl Milqi
Roman remains at San Pawl Milqi
Map
LocationBurmarrad, St. Paul's Bay, Malta
TypeRoman villa
Websitewww.heritagemalta.org

San Pawl Milqi ("Saint Paul the welcome or the healer" in maltese[1]) are the ruins of a Roman period agricultural villa and pagan temple, the largest ever discovered in Malta. A Christian church was built on the site based on the Biblical mention of the shipwreck of Saint Paul on the island. In the place of the current chapel there was a temple dedicated to the Greek god Apollo and a Roman villa. According to religious tradition, the villa is where Saint Publius, Governor and first Bishop of Malta, received Saint Paul after his shipwreck.[2] [3]

Apart from the account of the Acts of the Apostles there are no other authors who narrate the episode and no later writer complements the tradition. [4] There has even been a controversy about whether the event occurred in Malta, since the Greek text says Melite (traditionally understood as Malta).

There is no archaeological evidence in support of Christian claims, and it is considered a name dating to the Middle Ages. Evidence of Christian worship on the site only dates back to the building of the first chapel in the fourteenth century.[5][6] According to Anthony Bonanno, archeological research in the entire area of St Paul’s Bay found no evidence of the Christian tradition related to the supposed shipwreck in the area.[7]

  1. ^ "San Pawl Milqi decoded". 21 September 2008.
  2. ^ Caruana, A. A. (1883). Report on the PHOENICIAN and Roman antiquities in the group of the islands of Malta (Report). pp. 144–147.
  3. ^ Ellis, Edward Earle; Son, Sang-Won (2006). History and Exegesis: New Testament Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis on His Eightieth Birthday. A&C Black. p. 86. ISBN 9780567028013.
  4. ^ Caruana. D., V. (1916). "San Publio nella storia (con.)" (PDF). La Diocesi. 1 (7): 140.
  5. ^ Buhagiar, Mario (1993). "The St. Paul Shipwreck Controversy an Assessment of the Source Material" (PDF). Proceedings of History Week. Malta: The Malta Historical Society: 181–213.
  6. ^ Buhagiar, Mario (1993). "The St. Paul Shipwreck Controversy an Assessment of the Source Material" (PDF). Proceedings of History Week. Melitensia: 181–213.
  7. ^ Bonanno, Anthony (1995). "Underwater Archeology: A New Turning-Point in Maltese Archeology" (PDF). Hyphen. 7 (3): 107.