From the tragic girl of Għar il-Kbir to the ants that supposedly stopped the Ottomans
When people hear about the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, they usually think of the Knights of St John, Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette, Fort St Elmo, Birgu, Senglea and the vast Ottoman armada sent against Malta.
But some of the most fascinating stories of the Great Siege of Malta are found far away from the famous forts.
Travel towards Mdina, Malta’s ancient capital, and another version of 1565 begins to emerge.
Here, history becomes tangled with folklore.
There are frightened Maltese families hiding underground. A young woman offered as part of a desperate bargain. The cavalry of Mdina charging towards the Ottoman camp at a crucial moment in the siege.
And then there are the ants.
Yes.
Ants. 🐜
Welcome to the wonderfully strange world of Malta’s Great Siege legends.
What happened during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565?
The Great Siege of Malta began in May 1565, when a huge Ottoman expedition arrived to seize Malta from the Knights of St John, also known as the Knights Hospitaller.
What followed became one of the most famous military confrontations in Mediterranean history.
For months, Ottoman forces attacked the Knights and Maltese defenders concentrated around Fort St Elmo, Birgu, Senglea and Fort St Michael.
But Malta was much more than its fortifications.
Beyond the main battlefield were thousands of ordinary people trying to survive a war that had suddenly arrived on their island.
And some of their stories survive not in glorious battle scenes, but in Malta’s legends and traditions.
One of the darkest takes us underground.
Għar il-Kbir: A forgotten Maltese story from the Great Siege
Not far from Mdina lies Għar il-Kbir, literally the Great Cave.
According to Maltese tradition, around sixty Maltese sought refuge there during the Ottoman invasion of 1565.
Imagine their situation.
An invading army is moving across your island.
You aren’t a knight.
You aren’t a soldier.
You have no fortress.
You have your family, whatever possessions you can carry and an enormous cave in which you hope the enemy will never find you.
For those sheltering at Għar il-Kbir, however, the refuge was not enough.
Tradition preserves an extraordinary and tragic story concerning a young Maltese woman who was reportedly offered by her own people as part of a desperate bargain with Ottoman soldiers.
Her fate was witnessed by members of the Mdina cavalry.
It is precisely the sort of story that disappears beneath the grand narrative of war.
History remembers commanders.
History remembers sieges.
History remembers victories.
But wars are also experienced by people whose names rarely make it into the history books.
And that is why stories such as the Maltese girl of Għar il-Kbir matter.
They remind us that the Great Siege wasn’t merely a contest between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of Malta.
It was happening to Malta’s people.
The cavalry of Mdina enters the Great Siege
By August 1565, the situation around Malta’s fortified harbour had become desperate.
The defenders were exhausted and Ottoman forces appeared to have gained the upper hand.
Then came one of the siege’s most dramatic interventions.
The cavalry based at Mdina attacked the Ottoman camp at Marsa, creating havoc behind the Ottoman lines at a critical moment. Your source describes a force of roughly 200 men whose intervention helped trigger an Ottoman withdrawal.
It was an extraordinary contribution from Malta’s old capital.
And according to Maltese tradition, the Ottomans wanted revenge.
An Ottoman force headed towards Mdina.
Which brings us to one of the strangest legends of the entire Great Siege.
Did ants really save Mdina from the Ottomans?
Somewhere around Saqqajja Hill, immediately outside Mdina, tradition tells us that the Ottoman troops encountered a formidable new Maltese fighting force.
Not the Knights of St John.
Not the cavalry.
Not artillery.
Not even one of Malta’s conveniently airborne saints.
Ants. 🐜😂
The place became known as Tan-Nemlija, meaning “The Ant Hill.”
According to the legend, Ottoman soldiers disturbed an enormous ants’ nest. The furious insects swarmed over them, biting the soldiers and supposedly helping drive them back.
Apparently even Suleiman’s army hadn’t prepared for the Maltese Insect Division.
A glorious victory for the 1st Ant Regiment. 🫡🐜
There is, however, one rather important problem.
Is the Tan-Nemlija ant story true?
Almost certainly not quite as the legend tells it.
And that distinction matters.
We shouldn’t take a wonderful piece of Maltese folklore and quietly transform it into documented history simply because it makes a cracking story.
The tradition associates Tan-Nemlija near Saqqajja with Ottoman troops, an ants’ nest and the Great Siege. But the tale of an army being defeated by hordes of heroic Maltese ants belongs to the world of legend and folk memory, rather than something we can confidently present as a documented military engagement.
Even our original telling makes this distinction explicitly: “Did ants really save Mdina? Almost certainly not quite as the legend tells it.”
But that doesn’t make the legend worthless.
Quite the opposite.
Because legends can preserve memories of places, fears and events long after the precise historical circumstances have become blurred.
And behind the ridiculous image of Ottoman soldiers fleeing Malta’s smallest defenders may lie a more complicated historical memory.
That is where folklore becomes fascinating.
Why are Malta’s legends important?
The Great Siege of Malta generated heroes, villains, miracles, saints, myths and stories that Maltese communities continued telling long after 1565.
Some can be supported strongly by contemporary evidence.
Others became embellished.
Others belong primarily to oral tradition.
And sometimes history and folklore become almost impossible to prise completely apart.
That is part of what makes exploring Malta’s legends so rewarding.
At Għar il-Kbir, a story preserves the fear and desperation of ordinary Maltese caught in an invasion.
At Tan-Nemlija, folklore transforms tiny insects into unlikely defenders of Mdina.
Behind both lies the same enormous event:
The Great Siege of Malta of 1565.
But seen from ground level.
Mdina’s forgotten role in the Great Siege of Malta
Visitors interested in the history of the Great Siege naturally gravitate towards Valletta and the Three Cities.
And they should.
Birgu, Senglea and the harbour fortifications are fundamental to understanding what happened in 1565.
But exploring Mdina and the surrounding countryside reveals another layer of the story.
The old capital served as an important centre away from the principal siege zone, while its cavalry could move against Ottoman forces elsewhere on Malta.
The tradition of Tan-Nemlija, the stories surrounding Għar il-Kbir, and memories associated with the Mdina cavalry demonstrate how deeply the Great Siege became embedded in the landscape around the city.
Sometimes that history is preserved in an imposing building.
Sometimes in a cave.
Sometimes in a tiny roadside shrine most visitors walk straight past.
And occasionally…
in ants.
Where is Tan-Nemlija?
Tan-Nemlija is associated with the area around Saqqajja, just outside Mdina.
Thousands of visitors pass through this area every year while travelling towards Malta’s ancient capital, often without realising that a local tradition connects this landscape with the Great Siege.
That is one of our favourite things about Malta.
The enormous stories aren’t always hiding inside museums.
Sometimes they’re sitting beside the road.
Where is Għar il-Kbir?
Għar il-Kbir, or the Great Cave, lies in the area of Siġġiewi, in the Maltese countryside.
The site has a history extending far beyond the events associated with 1565, but Maltese tradition also connects it with people seeking refuge during the Ottoman invasion.
And it gives us something the famous battlefields cannot:
A glimpse into how the Great Siege affected ordinary Maltese civilians
What are the best places in Malta to discover the Great Siege of 1565?
For travellers fascinated by the Knights of Malta, Ottoman history and the Great Siege, the story extends across the island.
Birgu and Senglea place you at the centre of the fighting.
Fort St Elmo guards the entrance to the Grand Harbour and became the site of one of the siege’s most famous battles.
Mdina introduces another side of the conflict — cavalry, countryside, civilians and legends.
And places such as Għar il-Kbir and Tan-Nemlija take you beyond the famous names altogether.
Together, they remind us that Malta itself is one enormous historical landscape.
Or, as we rather like to call it:
One giant open-air museum.
An Award-Winning Approach to Experiencing the 1565 Great Siege of Malta
Malta Themed Tours specialises in creating immersive, niche-specific and story-driven experiences for travellers searching for something beyond the traditional tourist trail.
It is an approach that was recognised at the Malta Tourism Awards 2025, when Malta Themed Tours received not one but two awards — achieving a historic double win on its very first entry.
Our Great Siege tours continue that same philosophy.
History.
Storytelling.
Authenticity.
And the opportunity to discover a side of Malta that many visitors never experience
Choose Your Great Siege of Malta Tour
There is more than one way to experience the Great Siege with Malta Themed Tours.
For visitors wishing to join other travellers, the Scheduled Great Siege Walking Tour offers an accessible and entertaining introduction to the events of 1565.
Prefer a more personal experience?
Our private Malta tours include two different Great Siege experiences.
1565 Great Siege CLASSIC Walking Tour
The 1565 Great Siege CLASSIC Walking Tour combines Birgu’s major historical attractions with hidden corners and off-the-beaten-track locations.
Following the same route and format as our scheduled Great Siege experience, the private Classic tour is ideal for travellers seeking an immersive introduction to Malta’s greatest battle at a comfortable and relatively easy pace.
1565 Great Siege EXPLORER Walking Tour
Want to venture even further from the traditional tourist trail?
The 1565 Great Siege EXPLORER Walking Tour is an almost entirely off-the-beaten-track adventure through Birgu.
Explore hidden fortifications.
Discover forgotten gun batteries.
Visit secret defensive positions.
And venture into some of Birgu’s lesser-known historical locations.
Expect steep stairs.
Uneven ground.
Plenty of walking.
And a much deeper and more adventurous exploration of the Great Siege of Malta.
Not for the faint-hearted.
Or the short of breath.
But worth every step and every breath.
Step into the Great Siege of 1565 with a Maltese guide who can lead you through knights, corsairs, Ottoman fury and Birgu’s darkest hours….. all before your first proper coffee wears off
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