Malta in the third century

Abstract

A short chapter on Malta in the third century. The picture of Malta in the third century presented here is hazy and lacunose to the extreme. This is no doubt due to the disappointing lack of evidence for the whole of the Roman period. The third century brought with it a remarkable upheaval in the whole Empire. The great economic, military and spiritual crisis of this century, which eventually laid the path for the final transformation and fragmentation of the Empire must certainly have affected the Maltese archipelago as well. It is only by carefully and scientifically conducted archaeological investigations that even the dimmest reflections of those changes in the third century might be gleaned.