Malta – Sir Temi Zammit 1973 Silver Lira (Pound) 31mm (10.01 grams) 0.987 Silver (0.3173 oz ASW) Reference: KM# 19 MALTA, Coat-of-Arms. TEMI ZAMMIT £M1 1973 1864-1935, Portrait of Sir Temi Zammit facing left.
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Sir Themistocles “Temi” Zammit CMG (or Żammit; 30 September 1864 – 2 November 1935) was a Maltese archaeologist and historian, professor of chemistry, medical doctor, researcher and writer. He served as Rector (1920–26) of the Royal University of Malta and first Director of the National Museum of Archaeology in his native city, Valletta.
After graduating in medicine from the University of Malta, Zammit specialised in bacteriology in London and Paris. His 1905 discovery of contaminated milk as the vector for transmission to humans of Brucellosis melitensis present in the blood of the goat greatly contributed to the elimination from the islands of undulant fever, earning him the knighthood.
Author of several literary works in the Maltese language, Zammit was conferred the DLitt Honoris Causa by Oxford University. He was knighted in 1930, having previously been admitted as a Companion to the Order of St Michael and St George. He also published a history of the Maltese islands and excavated important archaeological sites, such as the Hypogeum and the megalithic Tarxien Temples, Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, which have since been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Zammit’s scientific approach to archaeology further enhanced his international reputation. A permanent display of some of his findings may be viewed at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
The main Assembly Hall of the University of Malta bears Zammit’s name. He is depicted on a commemorative Maltese 1 Pound coin dated 1973 and a commemorative Maltese 5 Pounds coin dated 2006.
Zammit signed most of his works with his initials T. Z.
Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta’ Malta), is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. With a population of about 475,000 over an area of 316 km2 (122 sq mi), Malta is the world’s tenth smallest and fifth most densely-populated country. Its capital is Valletta, which is the smallest national capital in the European Union by area at 0.8 km.2 The official languages are Maltese and English, with Maltese officially recognised as the national language and the only Semitic language in the European Union.
Malta has been inhabited since approximately 5900 BC. Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French, and British. Most of these foreign influences have left some sort of mark on the country’s ancient culture.
Malta became a British colony in 1815, serving as a way station for ships and the headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet. It played an important role in the Allied war effort during the Second World War, and was subsequently awarded the George Cross for its bravery in the face of an Axis siege, and the George Cross appears on Malta’s national flag. The British Parliament passed the Malta Independence Act in 1964, giving Malta independence from the United Kingdom as the State of Malta, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and queen. The country became a republic in 1974. It has been a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations since independence, and joined the European Union in 2004; it became part of the eurozone monetary union in 2008.
Malta has a long Christian legacy and its Archdiocese is claimed to be an apostolic see because Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on “Melita”, according to Acts of the Apostles, which is now widely taken to be Malta. While Catholicism is the official religion in Malta, Article 40 of the Constitution states that “all persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship.”
Malta is a popular tourist destination with its warm climate, numerous recreational areas, and architectural and historical monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni, Valletta, and seven megalithic temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.
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