Last time I talked about the earliest evidence of human activity on Malta. Over time, other groups would come. The Phoenicians arrived around the 8th century BC. Phoenicia was the coastal lands north of ancient Israel roughly compromising modern-day Lebanon. They were a sea-faring people, venturing across the Mediterranean. Solomon got cedars from them to build the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 5). He also sailed with them, bringing in exotic items from afar (1 Kings 10:22).
Phoenicia established a city in northern Africa called Carthage. After Phoenicia was taken out by Assyria, Carthage rose up to dominate the western Mediterranean around the same time as the city of Rome conquered the whole Italian peninsula. By 300 BC, the Mediterranean wasn’t big enough for both Rome and Carthage. After a series of three wars (called the Punic Wars) in the third century BC, Carthage was destroyed and Rome controlled all their former territory, including the small island of Malta. Thus Roman rule of Malta began.
Then one day around AD 60, a ship sailed near Malta, tossed by a ferocious storm. Crashing into sandbar, all on board made for shore as the ship broke apart. Seamen and soldiers, passengers and prisoners crawled onto shore exhausted. Among them was the Apostle Paul and his biographer, Luke. “Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.” (Acts 28:1)
What was there when Paul washed up on shore? Evidence of the Romans persists to this day, which we got to explore. First is the Domus Romana, a Roman home built in the first century BC. Today a museum sits over part of it with various ruins and artifacts inside.
We stopped at another site called “San Pawl Milqi”. This was an extensive Roman agricultural villa. Tradition has it that Publius, the Roman governor of the island, welcomed Paul near here: “There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days.” (Acts 28:7)
