Borzesi, Guiseppe Pericciuoli

Giuseppe Pericciuoli Borzesi published a guide to Malta in 1830 ^[589]+. In it, he informs us that when originally occupied by the Phaeacians it was called Hyperia. In 1519 BC the Phoenicians established a colony there, eventually taking control of the island, which they named Ogygia. The next major change came in 736 BC when the Greeks invaded and again changed its name to Melita. Sometime later the Carthaginians arrived on the island and in due course they also became rulers. This was followed by the Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Templars and French until 1813 when it became a British possession until independence was finally achieved in 1979.

Borzesi met Grongnet de Vasse and was clearly influenced by his Atlantis theory[p.50]. In an Appendix to a second edition published in 1832 or 1833, he expanded further on this Atlantis connection.

Borzesi refers to the cart ruts, which he describes as ‘tracks of wheels’ which leave the island and disappear into the sea “will induce the observer to reflect seriously, whether the three islands of which we are speaking, did not once consist of but one island, much more extensive than what any writer has proposed”

He ends the book with the rhetorical question “Can it be possible that Malta, Comino and Gozo are the remains of the ancient Athalanta?”

^[589]+ https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=HW4DAAAAQAAJ&pg=GBS.PA90&hl=en *