Malta under the Romans

Abstract

From around 700 BC the central and western Mediterranean started to be contended for by two maritime and commercial powers, the Phoenicians and the Greeks, both of whom having their original roots in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. Although the western Phoenicians and the western Greeks waged several wars between them, mostly on Sicilian soil, there is no indication that the Maltese islands ever got involved in them. They did get involved, however, with the rise of another formidable power, that of the Romans, which had its epicentre right in the middle of the Mediterranean. We know it from a Latin historian, Titus Livius, that Malta was captured by the Roman army under the command of Tiberius Sempronius Longus, one of the two consuls of 218 BC, at the beginning of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. Till then the island had been controlled by the Carthaginians. No battles were fought, says Livius. Instead, at the approach of the Roman fleet, the commander of the Carthaginian garrison, together with a little less than 2000 soldiers, the town and the rest of the island surrendered.