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The dark ages of ancient Greece only reached back to 1200 BC The first civilizations, first cities, in places like Sumer, only dated back to 4500 BC Akkadia had been settled around 2400 BC, and Babylon, supposedly, 1900 BC Even Stonehenge, the closest ht to have been created in 2400 BC—which was still over a thousand years after so temples on the isolated island of Malta There was no explanation for Malta’s alithic structures; their history, and the history of the people who built thees

Historians and archaeologists still debated the birthplace of civilization Many argued that settlements had arisen in the Indus Valley of present-day India or the Yellow River Valley of present-day China, but the overwhel, permanent huo soion of the Fertile Crescent—thousands of miles from Malta

Yet the remains of those primitive settle; a stark contrast to the undeniable, comparatively impressive, and technically advanced stone structures on Malta—which may have predated them An isolated civilization had thrived here, had erected structures to soher power, but had so no history, save for the temples where they had worshiped

The first settlers on Malta to leave a historical record were the Greeks, followed by the Phoenicians around 750 BC About three hundred years later, the Carthaginians succeeded the Phoenicians on Malta, but their reign was cut short with the arrival in 216 BC of the Romans, who conquered the islands in a few short years

During the Roovernor had built his palace in Mdina Almost a thousand years later, in 1091, the Normans had conquered Malta and altered the city of Mdina forever The Nordic invaders had built defensive fortifications and a wideMdina from the nearest town—Rabat

Perhaps the end of Mdina, however, was that of St Paul In the year AD 60, the apostle Paul had lived there after having been shipwrecked on Malta So this time

Paul had been on his way to Roainst his will The man that would later be declared an apostle was to be tried as a political rebel Paul’s ship was caught in a violent storm and wrecked on the Maltese coast All aboard swam safely to land, some two hundred seventy-five people in total

Legend has it that the Maltese inhabitants took Paul and the other survivors in According to St Luke:

And later we learned that the island was called Malta

And the people who lived there showed us great kindness,

and they made a fire and called us all to warm ourselves…

Luke’s testament relates that as the fire was lit, Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake but suffered no ill effects The islanders took this as a sign that he was a special man

According to tradition, the apostle took refuge in a cave in Rabat, opting to live a hu the cos offered to him

During the winter, Publius, the Roovernor of Malta, invited Paul to his palace While Paul was there, he cured Publius’s father of a serious illness Publius is then said to have converted to Christianity and was made the first Bishop of Malta In fact, Malta had been one of the first Roman colonies to convert to Christianity

“Where should we land?” Ka David’s reverie

“In the square,” David said

“At the Church of St Paul?”

“No The catacombs are a little farther away Put us down in the square I’ll lead the way”