The planet's first city is Catul Hayuk (

The Temple Period (4300 - 2200 BC) This phase represents an important turning point in the cultural evolution of prehistoric man. The greatest undertaking of the pre-Phoenician Gozoitans are undoubtedly Ggantija Temples (3600 - 3000BC) situated in Xaghra, and documented as the oldest freestanding structure in the world.

It is possible but not likely that Malta was a sacred island where which entertained larger gatherings from the mother culture. The explanation would explain the lack or corresponding temples elsewhere. as there is a the dearth, or near-absence, of settlement sites contemporary with the temples in Malta. Recently at a 2003 Archaeology conference held on Malta it was pointed out that even nearby Sicily did not have settlements which corresponded with the people who used and erected the Neolithic temples of Malta.

Phoenician seamen were preceded only by the Minoans, who were active about 3000BC. The Minoans, based on the island of Crete produced a singular civilization in antiquity: one oriented around trade and bureaucracy with little or no evidence of a military state. The island of Crete's first archaeological remains date to 7000 BC

The prehistory of the Maltese islands started round about 5000 BC, but the people who built the temples are said to have mysteriously disappeared from the island. on a clear day it is possible to see Sicily and the islands and this is where the first settlers of the the Copper Age are most likely to have come from although it is easy to make the case they were seafarers from elsewhere in the Mediterranean. 

Bronze Age (2200 - 700BC) Unlike their predecessors, these people were warlike people who used copper and bronze tools and weapons and who cremated their dead instead of burying them. Among the interesting remains, there are three dolmens on Ta' Cenc plateau. These consist of a horizontal, roughly shaped slab of limestone supported on three sides by blocks of stone.

Phoenicians and Carthaginians (700 - 218BC) The first known people to settle in Malta were the Phoenicians, who reached these shores on their trading ventures in the 9th century BC. The Phoenicians came originally from the Levant , which is the area around modern Lebanon . They had a great tradition as sailors and traders. Phoenicians attracted by the local harbours, established a colony in Malta and Gozo. For a time the Phoenicians lived alongside Bronze-age man approximately 700 years before Christ. The Phoenicians did not live only on the coast but ventured inland and founded what today is known as Mdina.   When Carthage was established as a colony in 814BC, and continuing until 146BC, it became the centre for expeditions and sailing training.

Around 550BC, the Phoenicians of Carthage took over and the Carthaginians,  or Punic culture remained masters of the islands until 218BC. There are remains of a Punic rock-cut sanctuary at Ras il-Wardija, on the outskirts of Santa Lucija village, on the south-western tip of Gozo. The great City of Cathage rose nearby to Malta located where Tripoli, Tunis now stands. Carthage inherited Phoenica's settlements on the coasts of Sicily and Spain and on the adjoining isles. Not only were these islands valuable possessions in themselves—Malta as a cotton plantation but also also useful as naval stations to preserve the monopoly of the Western waters.

At Tas-Silg, in Marsaxlokk one still finds the remains of the renowned Temple of Juno, a temple so venerated that Cicero himself felt outraged when it was robbed by the corrupt Roman consul, Caius Verres.

In AD 60, Saint Paul the Apostle, while journeying to Rome, was shipwrecked in Malta. The Maltese were introduced to Christianity by the Apostle of the Nations, St. Paul.

St Paul's Bay, where the  shipwreckedSt. Paul, came ashore after drifting for 14 days while traveling to Rome via Crete

 The site where this event allegedly took place is St. Paul’s Bay. The narration of the shipwreck of St. Paul is still told to this day on the 10th February, a national holiday and a religious feast.

During his stay on the islands, St. Paul healed the father of the Roman Governor Publius who later became the island’s first bishop. Tradition says that Publius’ house was the site where the first church (the Mdina cathedral) was erected. Publius was eventually martyred in one of the fierce persecutions against Christians in Rome.

 

HOW THE FUTURE ARCHITECT OF CHRISTIANITY CAME TO MALTA:

Fortunately his stay was 90 days not seven years like Malta's other famous shipwrecked hero, Odysseus

 Upon Paul's arrival in Jerusalem with the relief funds, Ananias the High Priest made accusations against him which resulted in his imprisonment (Acts 24:1-5). Paul claimed his right as a Roman citizen to be tried in Rome, but due to the inaction of the governor Felix, Paul languished in confinement at Caesarea Palaestina for two years until a new governor, Porcius Festus, took office, held a hearing, and sent Paul by sea to Rome, where he spent another two years in detention (Acts 28:30).

Acts describes Paul's journey from Caesarea to Rome in some detail. The centurion Julius had shipped Paul and his fellow-prisoners on a merchant vessel, on board which Luke and Aristarchus were able to take passage. As the season was advanced the voyage was slow and difficult. They skirted the coasts of Syria, Cilicia, and Pamphylia. At Myra in Lycia the prisoners were transferred to an Alexandrian vessel transporting wheat bound for Italy, but the winds being persistently contrary a place in Crete called Goodhavens was reached with great difficulty and Paul advised that they should spend the winter there. His advice was not followed, and the vessel driven by the tempest drifted aimlessly for fourteen whole days, being finally wrecked on the coast of Malta. The three months during which navigation was considered most dangerous were spent there, where Paul is said that he healed the father of the Roman Governor Publius from fever and other people who where sick and preached gospel, but with the first days of spring all haste was made to resume the voyage.

Acts only recounts Paul's life until he arrived in Rome, around 61; Paul's own letters cease to furnish information about his activities long before then.
 wiki/Paul_of_Tarsus

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