Fr Eugene Paul Teuma’s feature (The Sunday Times, February 27) was worth reading but unfortunately was not complete in its findings. I have to mention two particular aspects which relate to “the Acts of Peter and Paul” and various Roman writings.

The Acts of Peter and Paul, although apocryphal, have been given great importance by Christians. It is only through this source that we know the details of the martyrdom of both St Peter and St Paul. I quote verbatim from these Acts:

“And Paul, having received the two men sent with the letter on the twentieth of the month of May, became eager to go, and gave thanks to the Lord and Master Jesus Christ. And having sailed from Gaudomeleta, he did not now come through Africa to the parts of Italy, but ran to Sicily, until he came to the city of Syracuse with the two men who had been sent from Rome to him.”

There is absolutely no doubt that “Gaudomeleta” refers to the two islands of Gozo (Gaudos) and Malta. The ship is said to have arrived in Syracuse during the last week of May (Julian calendar).

If the ship had been travelling from the Adriatic Sea it would not have sailed further south to Syracuse but would have gone through the Messina Straits.

This reference also counters Fr Teuma’s assertion about winter sailing in the Mediterranean. No sailor worth his salt would have dared to travel during February and March, both months renowned for the dreaded gregale. Paul arrived in Malta in February and left three months later, in May, as the above quote clearly indicates.

The fallacy that Paul was shipwrecked in November is based on a wrong calendar interpretation, as I have written in great detail in the past. I earnestly hope that no ‘scholar’ will keep repeating such false assertions. In fact, Fr Teuma does end his article with such a reference to Syracuse.

My second point regards the Alexandrian grain carrier. By its very description such a ship plied the route between the grain fields and mainland Italy. North Africa had been described as the “granary of Rome” by many Roman writers.

The great Roman cities of Leptis Magna and Sabratha in Libya and others in Tunisia are ample proof of Roman settlements. The bulk of grain was cultivated and exported from North Africa and thus any grain carrier would have used Malta as a transit port and would not waste time by moving up the Adriatic.

I hope Fr Teuma will include these references in future articles.