As for the Knights of St. John, they ruled for 268 years. Without the Turkish threat, the Knights strayed away from their religious vows and became weak, allowing Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 to take Malta with barely a fight. Today, the remnant of the Order, now known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, has its headquarters in Rome and provides charitable aid to stricken regions around the world, especially medical aid.
On Thursday we explored Valletta, the capital of Malta and the historical 16th century city of the Knights of St. John. First, we visited the National Museum of Archeology which contained objects found at the prehistoric sites. Some of the items of interest were the spiral designed stone blocks used as decoration in some of the temples; the small 5000 year old figurines thought to be connected with some type of fertility worship (the small hole at the top of the �Fat Lady� statuette was believed to have allowed for the interchange of heads); and the special stones, about the size of cannon balls, thought to have been used to help move the megaliths (the large massive stone blocks). Even now, this prehistoric civilization presents the archeologists with more questions than answers. |
