Survival of Punic culture during the roman period : Malta and other central Mediterranean islands

Abstract

This study aims to trace surviving Punic cultural elements during Roman rule in three chosen areas in the central Mediterranean - the Maltese islands, Pantelleria and western Sicily - by taking a look at different socio-political and cultural aspects that are generally analysed in such comparative studies, namely administration, economy, language and religion. The notably Punic nature of the archaeological record of the Maltese islands after the establishment of Roman authority over the archipelago in 218 B.C. and well into the 2nd century B.C. was what inspired this study in the first place. The survival of Punic culture in Roman Malta has been frequently referred to in archaeological literature on the Maltese islands, though it has never been studied in depth. For this reason, the Maltese islands will be the main focus of this dissertation, but instead of looking at the Maltese islands on their own and in abstract fashion, this study will also endeavour to strike comparisons with the neighbouring islands of Sicily (with a strict emphasis on the western region of the island, as explained below) and Pantelleria, which more or less passed through similar political and cultural changes. Moreover, if we are to make any claims about any interaction of the Punic culture with the new political and cultural regime, we have to place the Punic culture in context and map the contemporary Greek and/or Roman custom. Thus, in the following chapters, the discussion will also take into consideration any Hellenizing influences as well as the emerging phenomenon of Romanization (discussed in section 1.3).