valleys, each within sight of the other and of the little rocky island of Filfla.
The temple of Mnaidra is the simpler of the two in plan (Fig. 21). It consists of two halves, the more northerly of which was almost certainly built later than the other. Each half consists of two elliptical chambers set one behind the other. The south half is the better preserved. It has a concave façade of large orthostatic slabs with horizontal blocks set in front of them to keep them in position. In the centre of this opens a short paved passage formed of fine upright slabs of stone, one of which is 13 feet in height. The first elliptical chamber (E) into which this passage leads us has a length of 45 feet. Its walls (Pl. III) consist of roughly squared orthostatic slabs over 6 feet in height, above which are several courses of horizontal blocks which carry the walls in places up to a height of nearly 14 feet. This combination of vertical and horizontal masonry is typical of all the Maltese temples. To the left of the entrance is a rectangular niche in the wall containing one of the remarkable trilithons (a) which form so striking a feature of Mnaidra and Hagiar Kim. It consists of a horizontal slab of stone nearly 10 feet in length, supported at its ends by two vertical slabs about 5 feet high. To the right of the entrance is a window-like opening (b, behind the seated figure in Pl. III) in one of the slabs of the wall, preceded by two steps and giving access to an irregular triangular space (F). In the north-west angle of this triangle is fixed a trilithon table (c) of the usual type, 32 inches high; at a like height above the table is fixed another horizontal slab which serves as a roof to the corner. The south corner of the triangle is shut off by a vertical slab, in which is cut a window 29 inches by 17. Through this is seen a shrine (?) consisting of a box (d) made of five well-cut slabs of stone, the front being open. The aperture by which F is entered was evidently intended to be closed with a slab of stone from the inside of F, for it was rebated on that side, and there are holes to be used in securing the slab. When the entrance was thus blocked F still communicated with E by means of a small rectangular window 16 inches by 12 in one of the adjacent slabs (visible in Pl. III).
| Temple of Mnaidra, Malta. Apse of Chief Room | |
| Plate III | To face p. 100 |
Returning to the area E we find in the south-west wall an elaborate doorway (Pl. II, Fig. I, p. 82) leading to a rectangular room H. The doorway consists of two tall pillars with a great lintel laid across the top. The space between the pillars is closed by a fixed vertical slab in which is a window-like aperture similar to that which gives access to Room F. All the stones in this doorway are ornamented with pit-marks. The rectangular room H has niches in its walls to the north, south, and west. Each niche is formed by a pair of uprights with a block laid across the top. The west niche is occupied by a horizontal table or slab (e) supported at its centre by a stone pillar 39 inches in height, of circular section narrowing in the centre (visible through the doorway in Pl. II, Fig. I). The southern niche contains an ordinary trilithon table (f): the northern niche is damaged, but apparently held a table like that of the western.
The area I consists of only half an ellipse, the southern half being replaced by the area H, which we have already described. It has a rectangular niche to the west containing a fine trilithon with a cover-slab nearly 10 feet long.
The whole of the southern half of the Mnaidra temple is surrounded by a wall of huge rough blocks of stone, presenting a great contrast to the dressed slabs of which the inner walls are formed. They are placed alternately with their broad faces and their narrow edges outwards. The roughness of this enclosure wall gives the structure a remarkably wild and craggy appearance from a distance. The northern half of Mnaidra is clearly a later addition.
There is no doubt as to the way in which the areas were roofed. In the apse-like ends of the elliptical rooms the horizontal courses are corbelled, i.e. each course projects slightly forward over the last. Thus the space narrows as the walls rise, until the aperture is small enough to be roofed by great slabs laid across. The corbelling of the apse is just perceptible in Pl. III. Whether the roofing of the Mnaidra temple was ever complete it is impossible to say: in any case the system we have described could only be applied to the apsidal portions of the areas, and their centres must either have been open to the sky or roofed quite simply with slabs.