History of Malta - The Phoenicians
Their homeland a narrow coastal plain, and hemmed in by their enemies between the mountains and the Mediterranean, the only direction in which the Phoenicians could expand was seawards. The Maltese islands with their fine natural harbors were one such outpost, which the Phoenicians founded around 800 BC. As it was in other countries, so it was in Malta: having gained a foothold as traders, they gradually intermarried and integrated with the bronze-age farmers. This assimilation did not, of course, take place overnight, but when it eventually did happen, the new race became the rootstock of the Maltese People, and the language of these people the basis of the Maltese Language. The larger island was now called M-L-T (Malet: meaning shelter) and the smaller island was named G-L (Gol, after the broad beamed trading vessel). In this period of the story of Malta we are in the realm of written history, and it is recorded that overlooking the two main harbors in Malta were famous temples dedicated to Phoenician Deities - one in what is now the Grand Harbor, probably under the foundations of Fort St. Angelo, sacred to Melkart and another dedicated to Astarte in the aforementioned Tas-Silg area. In the case of the Maltese Islands the Phoenicians did venture inland because their remains have been found in several places, even as far as Rabat in the center of the island of Malta. The weaving industry that flourished before the arrival of the Phoenicians probably received an added boost and a wider export market Pottery was now thrown on a wheel instead of being coiled, as was previously the case. The links between the Phoenician colonies and the Mother Country were never very strong and when the Phoenician homeland was overrun it was the Phoenician colony of Carthage that took over the role of Mother Country. In many sectors of the Mediterranean littoral the Phoenicians/Carthaginians strove to establish a sphere of influence, their chief rivals in this respect being the Greeks. Surprisingly, in the Maltese Islands these differences did not seem to exist: it is not known how many Creeks lived, co-existed rather, with the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians on the Island, but some undoubtedly did - civic institutions resembled their Greek counterparts and Greek coins and pottery have been found on the islands.
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