History & Culture

The land that is now Malta and Gozo rose from beneath the seas around fifteen million years ago. At that time this land was a southern extension of the Euro-Asian continental mass. The land bridge subsided some fifteen thousand years ago leaving Malta and Gozo as mid-Mediterranean islands. The Maltese archipelago was left uninhabited for thousand of years.

The Neolithic Period 5000 – 4100BC
Around 7000 years ago, a group of people from Sicily succeeded in crossing over on some pretty reliable sea-craft and to colonize the islands. The people who first colonized Gozo probably lived in the caves known as Il-Mixta on Ghajn Ghabdul plateau to the northwest of Gozo. Sherds unearthed on this site, reached through the village of Santa Lucija, are of a purer pedigree than any other pottery found elsewhere in the Maltese Islands.

This group soon spread in search of agricultural land and one of the next places to be inhabited was probably ix-Xaghra plateau. The place was destined to remain a focal point during the three prehistoric periods.

The Temple Period (4100 – 2500BC)
During the second or Temple Period, ix-Xagħra plateau was the most important site on the island. This is attested by the greatest undertaking of the pre-Phoenician Gozitans, the Ġgantija Temples (3600 - 3000 BC).

Ggantija Temples	Ggantija Temples Entrance	Ggantija Temples

This phase represents an important turning point in the cultural evolution of the prehistoric man in both Gozo and Malta. Another important site of this period is tal-Qaċċa Hypogeum. Ix-Xagħra was indeed the heart of Gozo during the Temple period.

The Ġgantija phase saw the construction of at least a dozen major temples built of massive limestone blocks. The interiors were decorated and fitted with altars. Sculptures of ‘fat ladies’ were displayed and there are chambers which were used by priests acting as oracles. The present remains of the interiors of temples are open to the sky but when in use they were roofed with timber, hides and brush wood. The Ġgantija phase was the most active in terms of temple construction. The Ġgantija temples take their name from the Maltese term “Ġgant” meaning “giant”, a name which testifies the huge size and height of the megaliths with which the temples were built.

The Temples are separate and each has a single entrance on a common façade in front of which there is a very extensive plaza. They are built of massive stones quarried on the spot and on a five-apse plan — the plan refers to the goddess that is the head, the shoulders and arms, and the legs folded beneath the thighs.

The South Temple, dating from about 3600 BC, is manifestly the older of the two, as well as the larger and better preserved. The entrance is over a huge flat threshold slab. In the first pair of apses, to the right, there are two rectangular altars, the left one still preserving traces spiral decorations. The second pair of apses on a slightly higher level are larger. In the left apse there are three niches complete with capstones; a symbol of the goddess. These niches were flanked by a phallic symbol on the right and a slab with a long relief carving of a snake on the left — preserved at the Museum of Archaeology. Both suggest that fertility rites took place in this particular apse.

In the right apse, there are the remains of a fire-reddened circular stone hearth, possibly for an eternal flame, as well as the remains of what was probably a small enclosure from where oracles were delivered. The larger apse at the rear of the temple is on an even higher level, the high threshold presenting a pitted pattern on the outer face. The visitor is bound to remain spellbound by the sheer size and imposing height of the surviving remains. The cornerstones and rear wall of the South Temple are simply impressive. One massive stone weighs some seventy metric tones and this has led to the belief that the temple was built by giants.

The North Temple, built over one thousand years later, is considerably smaller but with a more evolved four-apse plan having its rear apse replaced by a shallow niche. The entrance is very similar to that of the first temple, only the threshold is narrower and shorter.

A Guinness Book of Records entry confirms these Temples as "the oldest free standing structures in the world".

Bronze Age (2500 – 700 BC)
The third period, the Bronze Age (2500-700 BC) ushered in a new epoch. The people were of an entirely different race and carried a total different culture. They were a warlike people using copper and bronze tools and weapons. They preferred to live on hills that were easily defensible against the peoples that began navigating the Mediterranean and making frequent landings on the islands. The temples of ix-Xagħra were probably abandoned and the focal point of the island was shifted to the Citadel hill.

Clearly the Bronze Age in Gozo and Malta was less rich culturally and economically than the temple culture. The Maltese islands were probably not capable of supporting as many people as previously. Warlike conditions must have made agriculture less efficient and possibly resulted in a greater reliance on livestock instead of agriculture.

Phoenicians and Carthaginians (700 – 218BC)
The Phoenicians established many colonies in the Western Mediterranean and when their homeland in the Levant was overrun, the area around Tunis or Carthaginia, became the new base of their activities.

The Phoenicians attracted by the local harbours, established a colony in Malta and Gozo. Around 550 BC, the Phoenicians of Carthage took over and the Carthaginians, as they are better known, remained masters of the islands until 218 BC. The Carthaginians built several important temples on the Maltese islands, including one that has been excavated at Tas-Silg near Marsaxlokk.

Romans (218 – AD 535)
From the fourth century BC the power of Rome in Southern Italy increased and eventually came into conflict with that of Carthage. Malta lay in the zone of contact between the parties and began to acquire a value, not only as a refuge harbour and trading station, but also as a military base. During the course of the First Punic War the Romans captured the island. The Carthaginians regained possession but in 218BC, in the Second Punic War, Rome acquired undisputed control.

In Gozo the Romans created a municipium, autonomous of that of Malta with a republican sort of Government that minted its own coins. Under the Romans, Christianity reached the shores of the island for the first time. In AD 60, Saint Paul the Apostle, while journeying to Rome was shipwrecked in Malta.

Byzantines (535-870)
During the fifth century AD Roman power in the Mediterranean decline and the Vandals were able to found a kingdom in North Africa. The invaders established a navy and began to raid Malta and Sicily. There is no proof that these vandals established themselves on the islands. In the sixth century the Byzantines took control of the islands and held them till AD 870. Due to insufficient records it is difficult for historians to picture life in this period of Malta’s history.

Arabs (870 – 1127)
The Arabs conquered the island in AD 870. The conquest was not easy, there was resistance and the archaeological evidence suggests that some important buildings were destroyed. The Maltese language and the majority of the place-names of the island are of Arabic origin.