Temple of Proserpina
| Temple of Proserpina | |
|---|---|
| Tempju ta' Proserpina | |
| General information | |
| Status | Destroyed |
| Type | Temple |
| Architectural style | Ancient Roman |
| Location | Mtarfa, Malta |
| Coordinates | 35°53′29.6″N 14°24′4.6″E / 35.891556°N 14.401278°E |
| Construction started | Unknown |
| Renovated | 1st century BC or AD |
| Destroyed | Unknown, ruins cleared 17th–18th centuries |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Marble |
The Temple of Proserpina or Temple of Proserpine (Maltese: Tempju ta' Proserpina) was a Roman temple in Mtarfa, Malta, an area which was originally a suburb outside the walls of Melite. It was dedicated to Proserpina, goddess of the underworld and renewal. The date of construction is unknown, but it was renovated in the 1st century BC or AD. The ruins of the temple were discovered in 1613, and most of its marble blocks were later used in the decoration of buildings, including Auberge d'Italie and the Castellania in Valletta. Only a few fragments still survive today.
The only epigraphic evidence of the temple is the Chrestion inscription, which was discovered among its ruins in 1613. It records that the temple was already old and was threatening to collapse during the reign of Augustus in the 1st century BC or AD, and it was restored by Chrestion, the procurator of the Maltese Islands. This inscription is the earliest known Latin text that was found in Malta. It read:
CHRESTION AVG. L PROC
INSVLARVM MELIT. ET GAVL
COLVMNAS CVM FASTIDIIS
ET PARIETIBVS TEMPLI DEÆ
PROSERPINÆ VETVSTATE
RVINAM IMMINIENTIBVS
................... RES
TITVIT SIMVL ET PILAM
INAVRAVIT.
The temple was built out of marble and its columns were in the Corinthian order.
A chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas was eventually built near the site of the temple. In 1613, while digging the foundations for a statue of that saint near the chapel, many large blocks of marble from the temple were found, together with pillars, cornices, capitals and carved slabs including the Chrestion inscription. The chapel no longer exists, but the statue of St. Nicholas still stands on the site of the temple.
The discovery of the temple was recorded by Giovanni Francesco Abela in his 1647 book Della Descrizione di Malta Isola nel Mare Siciliano con le sue Antichità, ed Altre Notizie.
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