The Romans in Malta

Abstract

Lying in the centre of the Mediterranean. the Maltese archipelago was ideally placed on the direct. open-sea route used by the semitic Phoenicians. those intrepid navigators and traders hailing from the eastern coast of the Middle Sea. to conduct their intensive commercial activities in the western basin of the same sea, and later on to keep in c lose contact with their colonies there. This is borne out by several ancient writers, in particular the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus who attributed the prosperity and advanced way o f life of the Maltese inhabitants to the assistance they received from these semitic sea-merchants. The island was also a very convenient port of call. especially from the fifth century onwards, for any trading seacraft that plied between Greek Sicily and Punic Tripolitania.