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MALTA

(Gk. Melítē)

Ancient Melita, the largest of the Maltese islands, ca. 100 km. (60 mi.) S of Sicily. The Phoenicians may have established a trading colony on the island; later Carthage, another Phoenician settlement, controlled Malta, giving the island its Punic character. In the Second Punic War (218 b.c.) Malta became part of the Roman Empire.

The ship carrying Paul as a prisoner to Rome was destroyed and all those on board landed on Malta (Acts 28:1). During the three-month stay on the island, Paul survived a snake bite and worked cures (Acts 28:3-9). The inhabitants were described as bárbaroi (Acts 28:2), probably reflecting that they did not speak Greek (NRSV “natives”; KJV “barbarous people”). Inscriptions confirm that the local leader of the island was titled prṓtos (“first man” or “chief man”), which is the title of Publius in Acts 28:7. Other islands have been proposed as the site of the shipwreck, but Malta remains the most probable with the traditional St. Paul’s Bay, 13 km. (8 mi.) NW of modern Valletta, as the likely spot for the landing.

Bibliography. C. J. Hemer, “Euraquilo and Melita,” JTS n.s. 26 (1975): 100-11.

Douglas Low

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

MALTA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)