Malta

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?Malta

When our ship cruised into the harbor of Valletta, the capital of Malta, many castles graced us on the left. The city of Valletta itself, at right side, looks like a giant fortress. Tall vertical defense walls make one feel the city is impregnable.

Historically, Malta, being in the middle of Mediterranean Sea, has been a springboard for the advancing forces. The islands have been changed hands many times. The current physical and cultural structure is largely shaped by the Great Siege of 1565. The Ottoman Empire, under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, organized a two hundred ship, forty thousand soldiers, expedition to take over Malta. At that time, Malta was governed by the Knights of St John, who had been driven out of Rhodes by the very same Ottoman forces not long ago. But on this occasion, the Knights, a tiny organization with seven hundred members, supported by around six thousand armed residents and mercenaries from around Europe, stayed their ground. After three months and huge casualty, the Ottoman forces withdrew. This battle was one of the most critical battles that turned the tide. Christians, from a retreating troops, began the confident advance for several centuries.

After the Great Siege, the Knights recognized the critical importance of heights in the age of guns. They moved the capital to the higher ground at the opposite side of the harbor and named it Valletta, the grandmaster who led the resistance. The choice of the capital reflected the importance of security and efficiency. The old town, with gentle slopes from the harbor, is much more efficient in trade and other activities. It naturally became the capital of Malta. But in an age of powerful, and not that powerful, guns, height became a crucial factor in determining the outcome of a war. When efficiency is not completely aligned with security, security, military or political, always trump efficiency. This has never changed. Indeed, most economic inefficiency we observed is the consequence for political security for the ruling class. But the main purpose of the mainstream economic theory is to distract us from this fact.

The then new city was heavily influenced by the experience of the war. The heart of the city is the Co-cathedral of St John, the patron saint of the Knights. The co-cathedral is a very emotional institution. The whole floor is filled with tombstones of prominent knights. The chapels inside the cathedral had many colorful stories. One is the chapel for St Mary. The knights would pray there before a fight. If they survived the fight, they would return to the chapel for thanksgiving. 

The most prominent painting of the cathedral and of Malta, and one of the most prominent paintings of the Western world, is the Beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio, a violent killer himself. Caravaggio fled Rome after killing a person. He found refuge from the Knights in Malta, and was knighted. He painted the beheading of John, a painting with intense light and emotion. Shortly after, he got into a brawl with another senior knight, got imprisoned and escaped to Napoli. There he was badly beaten. Soon he died mysteriously on his way to seek pardon from the Pope. He was 38.

Malta had been ruled by many people over its long history, mostly Indo-Europeans.  For a brief period of two centuries (870 - 1091 CE), it was ruled by Arabs. Yet the Maltese language is Semitic. Apparently, the Arabs wiped out the local population when they conquered the land.