Description

Becker's studies of Malta's early Christian and Jewish sepulchral art are well-researched and exceptionally thorough. Most authors who later wrote on the subject refer to Becker in one way or another. Yet, due to the difficulties posed by the language, many of Becker's important findings and results remain unknown. In this new translation, the author has opted for clarity, accuracy and shorter sentence structures that enable the reader to follow Becker's detailed descriptions. However, Becker's choice of terminology has been scrupulously translated. Every chapter contains endnotes by the translator that provide further explanations, updates or translations. The original version is littered with quotes in Latin, Greek, English, French, Italian and Hebrew, none of which Becker translated. For this English translation, these quotes have been translated in the endnotes. Furthermore, when dealing with the inscriptions found in Malta, Becker often refers to inscriptions published in the Corpus Inscriptiones Latinarum (CIL) and in A. A. Caruana's 1882 publication, both of which are here provided in the endnotes, together with their translations where possible. Only some plans of the various hypogeal described by Becker were available when he was in Malta. The plans published later by Caruana and Buhagiar, to which Becker simply refers, have also been added and corrected where possible. The history and development of the Maltese Jewish and early Christian burial grounds is by no means a closed chapter today. The reader must bear in mind that many more hypogea have been discovered since Becker's 1913 publication, in Malta and abroad, and that many more papers have been published since. These new discoveries have added considerably to our knowledge. It is hoped that with this English translation of Malta Sotterranea, Becker's results and observations will form a more active part of the discussion.