The present international political scenario established Malta as a member of One Europe. Not that we were waiting for the Copenhagen Declaration for our rightful claim of being a European nation. Moreover, at the Helsinki Conference of 1975 Malta insisted emphatically on recognition of its Euro-Mediterranean heritage and parenthood. Malta made it abundantly clear that there could be no positive and fruitful discussion on the future of Europe without considering the Mediterranean dimension.
After all the Mediterranean has been the cradle of civilisation. And that is not something to be thrown away or forgotten. Indeed some thinkers and historians put back the birth of this civilisation to the story of Ancient Greece.
Plato's dialogues
Going back even further we have to reckon with the most creative and progressive thinker and philosopher born in Athens circa 428 BC. Plato used two of his dialogues to push the date of European civilisation many centuries earlier. It is true that many disclaim Plato's dating as purely legendary conjecture. And yet at his time this was not so. Indeed there are many archaeologists who still work on the assumption that in the far distant and nebulous past an island continent by the name Plato gave it could well have existed.
Plato used two of his dialogues to describe Atlantis. In Timaeus he recounted how the continent of Atlantis was a powerful island empire. It was seeking to dominate the Mediterranean until it was defeated by the Athenian army. Even then the empire was still a power to be reckoned with.
Atlantis, according to Egyptian priests, was a politically advanced empire. They went so far as to posit their opinion that Atlantic knowledge of mathematics, engineering, navigation and astronomy were centuries ahead of their times. They were great temple builders which they constructed to a sophisticated plan and design. Their construction was free-standing.
Archaeologists identified the temples at Ggantija, Mnajdra and Hagar Qim as probably some such temples. Predating Stonehenge by about a century and the Pyramids by approximately half a century, they are considered wonders of the world. In effect UNESCO inserted them in the World Heritage List.
Where does all this lead us? And how is it that the narration of prehistory is concerned with the present scenario mentioned in my introduction?
Malta remains of Atlantis
Francis Galea's monograph Malta fdal Atlantis, published by Agius and Agius this year, takes up the two dialogues of Plato, Timaeus and Critas. The philosopher described in detail and at length the island continent of Atlantis and places it near the Pillars of Hercules that is modern Gibraltar, He also described how it sank beneath the waves. In Critas Plato described the ideal political system of Atlantis.
Galea's thesis is that Malta is one of the Mediterranean islands that remained after Atlantis sank beneath the sea. He based his thesis not only on Plato but he found out that Giorgio Grognet de Vassé was not only the architect of Mosta's Rotunda but was also deeply versed in archaeology, as far as the discipline of archaeology was known at his time. Grognet drew plans of the megalithic temples, which some theorists feel had influenced his planning of the Rotunda.
He was so convinced of the reality of Plato's description in the Timaeus dialogue that he based his drawing of the map of Atlantis on Plato's description and measurements. He was so far engrossed in Plato's account that he gave as his considered opinion that the faults, cliffs, valleys, hills and other physical features of Malta and Gozo are the results of the catastrophe that befell Atlantis.
Position of Atlantis
Some scholars of Plato position Atlantis beyond the Pillars of Hercules that is, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Plato as interpreted by Grognet and their disciple Francis Galea claim that the present Mediterranean was in fact the Atlantic Sea from Gibraltar towards the east as far as Greece, while the Mediterranean was to the east of Greece as far as Egypt and Asia Minor with Atlantis between the two seas.
The general conclusion of all this is that Malta at the dawn of pre-history formed part of a land bridge joining Europe to Africa.
There is no denying that what happened to the builders of the Maltese megalithic temples forms a blank chapter in our prehistory. We know about the result of their engineering knowledge in the construction of the temples. Their knowledge of astronomy is amply shown in the Mnajdra temples.
What happened between their building of the temples and the coming of the Phoenicia traders and seafarers is not known. It is still a mystery.
Departing for the moment from the science of archaeology and history one may clutch at the tenuous tendrils of conjecture. In this way one can arrive at a conclusion, albeit not conclusively proved, as to whether the story of Atlantis is a legend, myth or the truth. On these lines, who can prove conclusively that Malta is not the top part of a mountainous plateau that once rose above the sea? That as a result of earthquakes and the end of the Ice Age Malta surfaced as it is at present?
In any case, if one is to act on the maxim that history repeats itself one may draw certain conclusions: it is not at the beginning of the 21st century that Malta officially, legally, socially, economically and politically forms part of Europe in the Euro-Mediterranean dimension. It has always been like that. Only the idiosyncrasies of man did not admit as much.
At the end of the day who can tell for certain that Malta did not form part of a land bridge? And could not this land bridge be the lost continent of Atlantis that was sunk at the centre of the Mediterranean Sea? Could not this sinking create a fault in the land mass that may have joined Europe to Africa? And could not the Sahara once have been covered by a sea? Who can tell?