Tas-Silġ Archaeological Site

For nearly 5,000 years, the sanctuary site at Tas-Silg lured worshippers to its idyllic island setting overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean, evolving and adapting as new religions emerged.

Marcus Tullius Cicero introduces this temple on the small Mediterranean island of Malta in his prosecution speech against Caius Verres, governor of Sicily between 73-71 BC, describing the significance of this remote sanctuary site.

The story of this site starts during Malta’s Temple Period, when a Tarxien Phase (c.3100-2500 BC) megalithic temple was built on the hill now known as Tas-Silg. The temple was very large with a peculiar is rectilinear layout.  In the early Phoenician period, Tas-Silg˙ demonstrates its uniqueness, being the only known example of a prehistoric structure on Malta that was used by the Phoenicians for their own religious needs whom they dedicated to Ashtart. During the Roman period no major reconstruction occurred but now the temple was dedicated to the roman goddess Juno and her Greek equivalent, Hera. By the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD, the temple was transformed into a Christian basilica, and much of the Classical structure abandoned. Although only ruins can be seen today, the horseshoe plan of this temple is still visible in the eastern end. The temple show that the prehistoric activity in the area was not limited to this small temple, but consisted of at least another two temples.