A presentation entitled ‘A lucky throw every time: ancient maritime religion and Roman anchors from Malta’ will be held today as part of the Archaeological Society’s lecture programme.

The speaker will be Amelia Brown, senior lecturer in Greek history and language in the classics and ancient history discipline of the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Several lead anchor stocks of the Roman era retrieved from the sea off Malta connect the island to the ancient network of traders and travellers who frequented Roman Malta, from the 3rd century BC into late antiquity. The anchors bear images in relief, ranging from the names of the Egyptian gods Isis and Sarapis to astragaloi, knucklebones used as dice in the ancient world.

Each bone is shown with a different face up, showing good luck, especially for sailors at sea, as enacted and replicated whenever the ancient sailors cast this anchor overboard. They provide important evidence of symbolic and practical pagan maritime rituals.

The presentation will take place today at 6pm at the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, 173, St Christopher Street, Valletta. It forms part of The Archaeological Society Malta’s lecture programme, which is supported by APS Bank. For more information, visit www.archsoc.org.mt.