A (Brief) Beginner’s Guide To Maltese History Part 3: The Carthaginians
When it comes to history, Malta is one of those countries which has more on its plate than it wishes to. Our Game of Thrones-esq shenanigans range from tornadoes, failed poisoning attempts, cringy fashion choices and one too many sieges. Last week the Phoenicians were covered with gusto, now this week we have a new age we would like to talk about.
We at Lovin Malta have decided to start a new series of watered-down historical posts which will make readers more aware of what went down in our past. Sit back and get your learning hat out, we will teach you so hard you will pass any history test in no time. Today’s lesson will be the Carthaginian era, mostly famous for olive trees and carobs.
To give you a bit of a background, Phoenicia was eaten up in 539 BC by Carthage, and like most Phoenician colonies, we fell into the hands of the Carthaginians — our new daddies!
By the late 4th Century BC, we were one of the busiest trading posts linking Tripoli to Sicily. This resulted in the introduction of new architectural and styles synonymous with the Hellenistic style, a Greek form of art which started from the time of Alexander II’s death.
We can see proof of this Greek influence over our islands brought over by the Carthaginians in certain localities like the Żurrieq tower and later remains from the Tas-Silġ temple. It was around this time that the Greek language started being used on our island, proof of this are the Cippi of Melqart.
Although we did share these features with Greeks, there is no proof that we were ever a Greek colony.
We can find six towers from this era around the island, with evidence showing that they were used to defend Malta.
Some of these towers were built using recycled material — pre-historic temples and stuff were destroyed and re-used to build these towers. Seems like we have a thing or two to learn from these guys.
Although only the bases of these towers remain, some artefacts were found in these locations which are nowadays on display at local museums. Among these towers there’s the Ta’ Wilġa Tower in Rabat, Għajn Klieb in Rabat, tas-Santi also in Rabat, ta’ Ġawhar in Safi, Tal-Baqqari in Żurrieq and Ta’ Ċieda in San Ġwann. Some of these towers even have cisterns underneath them.
By Nitramserolf – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/…
Apart from the Greek influence, we can also find Egyptian influences and cultural connections thanks to them.
The Carthaginians in Malta mostly produced stuff like carobs and olives along with some textiles and clothing. In the end, though, they only stayed here for 200 years, so it’s not like they had much time to leave their influence behind as far as conquerors go.
Photo by Stephen Psaila
The Carthaginians were later on kicked out during the second Punic war, when the Romans won the island over, transforming it into Melita, which will be our next topic for the Beginner’s Guide to Maltese History.