ROUGH STONE MONUMENTS 



an upright stone with two hanging spirals cut on 

 it in relief, and at its foot a horizontal slab. Both 

 the altar and the carved stone are covered with 

 small pit-marks. 



In the outside wall of the building, quite un- 

 connected with the interior, is a niche partly 

 restored on old foundations, in which stands a 

 rough stone pillar 6\ feet high. In front of this 

 pillar is a vertical slab nearly 3 feet high, narrowing 

 towards the base, and covered with pit-markings. 

 This pillar can hardly be anything but a baetyl, 

 or sacred stone. 



The temple called the Gigantia, on the island 

 of Gozo, is no less remarkable than the two which 

 we have already described ; in one place its wall 

 is preserved up to a height of over 20 feet. The 

 plan is similar to that of Mnaidra, though here 

 the two halves seem to have been built at one and 

 the same time. Several of the blocks show a 

 design of spirals in relief, while on others there are 

 the usual pit-markings. Another bears a figure 

 of a fish or serpent. At the foot of one of the 

 trilithons was found a baetyl 51 inches in height, 

 now in the museum at Valletta. 



That these three buildings were sanctuaries of 

 some kind seems almost certain from their form 

 and arrangement. We do not, however, know 

 what was the exact nature of the worship carried 

 on in them, though there can be no doubt that 

 the stone tables supported by single pillars and 



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