# The Phoenicians in Malta: Traders Who Forged an Island

An episode of [The Story of Malta: The Fortress Island of the Mediterranean — Fexingo History](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1895465859), 22 Jul 2026, 7:45.

Audio: https://audio.fexingo.com/history/the-story-of-malta/episode-0172.mp3

Long before the Knights or the Romans, another seafaring people left an indelible mark on Malta: the Phoenicians. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the arrival of these master traders from the Levant around the 8th century BCE, and how they transformed Malta into a vital hub in their Mediterranean network. They explore the founding of settlements like Maleth (modern Mdina) and the creation of unique Phoenician-Maltese cultural blends, from the fusion god Melqart-Heracles to the Phoenician-influenced pottery that still surfaces in fields today. Lucas explains how Phoenician commercial savvy—and their alphabet—laid the groundwork for Maltese identity long before the island became a fortress. Luna asks about the mysterious 'cart ruts' and whether they tie back to Phoenician activity. The episode also covers the sanctuary of Astarte at Tas-Silġ, the rivalry with the Greeks, and the eventual absorption into the Carthaginian sphere. A surprising look at Malta's first global age, where trade, not war, shaped a civilisation. #Phoenicians #Malta #MediterraneanHistory #Melqart #Astarte #TasSilg #Maleth #Mdina #AncientTrade #CartRuts #PhoenicianAlphabet #Carthage #GreekColonisation #Archaeology #AncientHistory #History #FexingoHistory #IslandHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

## Transcript

Lucas: If you've been stepping into history with us episode by episode, you know Malta as a fortress island — Knights, Ottomans, World War Two. But today we're going way, way back, to a time before any of that. Before the Romans, before the Greeks, before the Knights even existed.
Luna: So before the Bronze Age temple builders too? We covered them in episode 161.
Lucas: Actually, after. The temple builders — the ones who raised Ġgantija and Ħaġar Qim — those were around 3600 BCE, so that's the Neolithic. The people we're talking about today arrive around the 8th century BCE, so that's the Iron Age. And they come from the east — from the coast of what's now Lebanon, Syria, northern Israel. They're the Phoenicians.
Luna: The Phoenicians — the great traders of the ancient world. I've always associated them with Carthage and purple dye.
Lucas: Right, but they had a huge presence in the central Mediterranean long before Carthage became a power. And Malta was a key stop on their trade routes. They called the island 'Maleth', which some scholars think means 'refuge' or 'port' in their language. That later became 'Melita' in Latin, and eventually 'Malta'.
Lucas: Now, we know from archaeology that the Phoenicians didn't arrive to an empty island. There were still people living there — descendants of the Bronze Age population. But the Phoenicians brought something new: a commercial network that stretched from the Levant to Spain. Malta became a hub for that network.
Luna: So they weren't conquerors in the usual sense? More like settlers and merchants?
Lucas: Exactly. They established settlements — the main one was on the high ground inland, which later became Mdina. They also used the natural harbours. And they brought their gods, their language, and their alphabet. That alphabet was a huge deal — it's the ancestor of almost every alphabet in the West, including the one we're using now.
Lucas: By the way, speaking of things we use now — this show is completely ad-free, and that's a deliberate choice. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. We think history conversations work better without interruptions.
Luna: Absolutely. And it's listener support that keeps it that way. So if you're enjoying these deep dives, that's the place.
Lucas: So back to the Phoenicians. One of the most interesting sites is Tas-Silġ, on the southeast coast, near what's now Marsaxlokk. That was a sanctuary — first used in the Bronze Age, but the Phoenicians rededicated it to their goddess Astarte. Later, the Romans would associate her with Juno, and the site remained a religious centre for over a thousand years.
Luna: Astarte — that's the same as Ishtar, isn't it?
Lucas: Yes, that's right. Phoenician religion was closely tied to the broader Near Eastern world. Their chief god was Melqart, who was also associated with Heracles by the Greeks. In Malta, there's evidence of a Melqart temple — possibly in the area of what later became the church of St. Paul's Shipwreck in Valletta. But the archaeological record is fragmentary.
Lucas: What we do have is a lot of pottery — Phoenician-style amphorae, bowls, and lamps — found in tombs and settlements. And also inscriptions. There's a famous bilingual inscription from Malta, written in Phoenician and Greek, which helped scholars decode the Phoenician script.
Luna: Wait, a bilingual — like the Rosetta Stone but for Phoenician?
Lucas: Exactly that. It's called the 'Cippi of Melqart', two marble pillars found in Malta in the 17th century. One side is in Phoenician, the other in Greek. They were dedicated to Melqart, and they date to around the 2nd century BCE. That inscription was key to understanding the Phoenician language.
Luna: I've seen those in the Louvre — they're stunning.
Lucas: They are. And they show how deeply intertwined the Phoenician and Greek worlds were in Malta. Because the Greeks were also present. From the 7th century BCE, Greek colonists from places like Rhodes and Crete established a settlement on the island, possibly at what's now Marsa. And there was cultural exchange, but also competition.
Lucas: But the Phoenicians had the edge in trade. Their ships were the best in the Mediterranean — they had advanced hull designs and navigation skills. And they weren't just trading goods like wine, oil, metals, and purple dye. They also traded ideas. The alphabet is the most obvious, but also religious concepts, art styles, even urban planning.
Luna: So Malta was a kind of melting pot even then.
Lucas: Absolutely. And that mix of cultures is what later made Malta so distinctive. But around the 6th century BCE, the political landscape shifted. Carthage, which had been a Phoenician colony in North Africa, became the dominant power in the western Mediterranean. And Malta fell under Carthaginian influence — what scholars call the 'Punic' period.
Luna: Punic meaning Carthaginian, derived from Phoenician.
Lucas: Yes. So from about the 6th century onward, Malta was part of a Carthaginian sphere. But it wasn't a hostile takeover — more a gradual integration. The Maltese continued to speak a Phoenician-derived language, which some linguists argue is the ancestor of modern Maltese. And they continued to worship Phoenician gods, though with some Carthaginian additions.
Luna: Now, what about those mysterious cart ruts we see all over Malta? Could they be Phoenician?
Lucas: That's a great question. The cart ruts — parallel grooves carved into the rock — are found at dozens of sites. Some are definitely prehistoric, dating to the Bronze Age. But others have been found near Phoenician settlements, and they might have been used for transporting goods, perhaps from the quarries to the harbours. It's still debated.
Lucas: One thing we do know is that the Phoenicians were expert stone workers. They built in ashlar masonry — large, finely cut blocks — and some of the walls in Mdina and on the coast might have Phoenician foundations. But because later civilisations built on top, it's hard to separate layers.
Luna: So when did the Phoenician era end in Malta?
Lucas: It ends with the Romans. In 218 BCE, during the Second Punic War, the Roman Republic took control of Malta from the Carthaginians. But here's the thing — the culture didn't disappear. The Phoenician language continued to be used for centuries, alongside Latin and Greek. And the religious traditions persisted. The sanctuary at Tas-Silġ was active well into Roman times.
Lucas: So the Phoenician legacy in Malta is really a foundation layer. Their alphabet, their commercial networks, their religious ideas — all of that fed into what Malta became. And when you walk through the streets of Mdina today, you're walking on a site that Phoenician traders first settled nearly three thousand years ago.
Luna: It's humbling to think how deep the history goes. Next time I'm there, I'll be imagining those ships arriving from the east.
Lucas: And that's exactly what we want — to see the island not just as a fortress, but as a crossroads. A place where people have been meeting, trading, and mixing for millennia. Until next time.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.