Antiquity & Middle Ages

Phoenicians, Romans & Arabs

From around 800 BC, the Phoenicians colonized Malta as a trading post — their name "Malet" (refuge) gave the island its current name. The Phoenicians left behind tombs, pottery, and the Semitic linguistic tradition that lives on in today's Maltese.

The Romans (218 BC – 395 AD) made Malta a prosperous province. The famous Roman villa in Rabat (Domus Romana) with its exquisite mosaics testifies to the wealth of the era. According to tradition, the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked on Malta in 60 AD — an event that still shapes the island today and made Paul its patron saint.

After Vandals and Byzantines, the Arabs conquered Malta around 870 AD. They fortified Mdina (their name: "Medina"), introduced irrigation technology, citrus fruits, and cotton. Their most important legacy is the Maltese language: Maltese is an Arabic dialect with strong Italian and English influences — the only Semitic language written in Latin script.

Normans & Medieval Malta

1091 saw the Norman Count Roger I of Sicily conquer Malta from the Arabs — the beginning of the Christian reconquest. Malta became part of the Kingdom of Sicily and changed hands among various European rulers over the following centuries. The medieval period left behind the fortified city of Mdina, numerous village churches, and a feudal societal structure that was only dissolved in the 19th century.