Malta through the ages (3) : a Roman conquest

Abstract

The third Punic War meant that the Roman Republic had rid itself of the only remaining rival to the west of Italy, namely Carthage. Eventually, they also took control of Mediterranean countries to the east, among them Greece. However, that was by no means the last of the Roman conquests, and it was from one such military campaign that the foremost military general emerged, Julius Caesar. While he was securing the conquest of Gaul during 58-50 B.C., the Roman Republic was torn with civil strife, with several military generals vying with each other for leadership. As fate would have it a conflict arose between Caesar and his son-in-law, another general, Pompey, which eventually escalated to the level of a civil war from which Caesar emerged victorious. By this time many lands had been incorporated within the Republic to the extent that Caesar felt it was necessary to have a stricter form of government, with power resting in the hands of one man - himself. This novelty in the existing situation was bound to cause resentment and those around him soon plotted to murder Caeser. Eventually, Caesar's nephew, Octavian won the battle for the throne, becoming Augustus, the first Emperor of the Roman Empire, by which time Malta was already part of this complex set-up.