Ras ir-Raħeb

The site of Ras ir-Raħeb, formerly known as Ras il-Knejjes, is located on a high promontory overlooking the Malta-Gozo channel and Fomm ir-Riħ. It’s location, overlooking the cliffs with the remains of the important Punic-Roman temple site of Ras il-Wardija in Gozo in the distance seems to indicate that this, too, was a temple site. The remains of small Herculean statuettes and at least one fragment of an ivory plaque may show that this was a temple dedicated to Hercules. This, we have the possibility that this is one of the two temples mentioned on Malta by the ancient geographer Strabo.

Today, what remains of these structures are a number of rooms around what appears to be a central courtyard. Two monoliths set at one end of the site may be the remnants of earlier structures that had been re-used in this possible temple site, just like the Phoenicians did on the larger temple to Ashtarte at Tas-Silġ.

The site also preserved the remains of a small stone quarry, possibly the same used to acquire the blocks required for the construction of this structure.