Religious landscapes and identities of the Maltese islands in a Mediterranean context, 700B.C.-A.D.500
Maltese religious practices in Classical antiquity are an area of research that has been neglected by scholars, particularly in recent years, in contrast to religious practices of the prehistoric periods. This has created a lacuna in Maltese archaeology that this thesis seeks to address. In doing so, the approach adopted in this thesis diverges from earlier accounts based largely on artefacts and sites divorced from their associated landscape. Instead, the approach pursued here focuses on the landscape context of religious practices of the Maltese islands. An important contribution of this thesis is the deliberately broad definition of religious phenomena in the Maltese islands to include aspects of private religion and rural religious contexts. This aim is achieved through a multidisciplinary, comparative, and interpretative approach that is widely adopted throughout the core of the thesis comprising five integrated case studies. To facilitate a better understanding and interpretation of the religious phenomenon in the Maltese islands, the thesis evaluates the case studies within the religious context of the wider Mediterranean region. Aided by syntheses and analyses of the data, this study examines âsacralisedâ
Azzopardi, George
Religious landscapes and identities of the Maltese islands in a Mediterranean context, 700B.C.-A.D.500. Maltese religious practices in Classical antiquity are an area of research that has been neglected by scholars, particularly in recent years, in contrast to religious practices of the prehistoric periods. This has created a lacuna in Maltese archaeology that this thesis seeks to address. In doing so, the approach adopted in this thesis diverges from earlier accounts based largely on artefacts and sites divorced from their associated landscape. Instead, the approach pursued here focuses on the landscape context of religious practices of the Maltese islands. An important contribution of this thesis is the deliberately broad definition of religious phenomena in the Maltese islands to include aspects of private religion and rural religious contexts. This aim is achieved through a multidisciplinary, comparative, and interpretative approach that is widely adopted throughout the core of the thesis comprising five integrated case studies. To facilitate a better understanding and interpretation of the religious phenomenon in the Maltese islands, the thesis evaluates the case studies within the religious context of the wider Mediterranean region. Aided by syntheses and analyses of the data, this study examines âsacralisedâ
religious landscape identity maltese island mediterranean context bc_ad maltese religious_practice classical_antiquity area neglect scholar particularly contrast religious_practice prehistoric_period create lacuna maltese archaeology seek_address adopt diverges earlier account base_largely artefacts site divorce associated landscape instead focus landscape_context religious_practice maltese island important deliberately broad definition religious_phenomenon maltese island include aspect private religion rural religious_context aim_achieve multidisciplinary comparative interpretative widely adopt_throughout core comprise integrated case_study facilitate well interpretation religious_phenomenon maltese island evaluate case_study within religious context_wider mediterranean_region aided synthesis analyse_data study_examines