Malta tra Africa e Sicilia : indizi dei contatti marittimi nel II millennio

Abstract

There is no doubt that the Maltese archipelago has an ideal geographical location to serve as a commercial and cultural bridge between the coasts, overlooking the Mediterranean center of the African continent (especially the stretch that includes Tripoli and Sirtide), on the one hand, and Sicily from on the other. But this port of call was not carried out before the open sea navigation was practiced. Although the record of this type of navigation is often attributed to the Phoenicians, there are sufficient indications to suggest that it was practiced occasionally by the Mycenaeans, if not also by their predecessors, the Minoans. Unfortunately the archaeological evidence of this port of call of the Maltese Islands for the second millennium BC are minimal, almost non-existent, while the literary evidence are far more eloquent though not entirely obvious.