Based on the author's doctoral dissertation, this large volume presents data and interpretation on the archaeology of Punic Malta, c.900BC to c.AD200.

Supported by numerous colour photographs by Daniel Cilia, this well-presented book surveys the archaeological heritage of Malta, focusing on the classical period rather than the island's more celebrated prehistoric past. Photographs, plans and reconstruction drawings present archaeological sites, tombs, coins, ceramics, artworks, extraordinary objects and other items from everyday life, dating to the Phoenician, Punic and Roman periods in turn, representing 1,500 years of history. Bonanno's narrative discusses this material evidence and considers what it reveals about the identity, culture, interaction, funerary beliefs, economy and government of Malta's rulers. The physical organisation of the island is explored through maps while inscriptions are examined as sources for religion and administration. Significant archaeological remains survive from these periods, including towns, villas and harbours, demonstrating the significance of Malta within the Mediterranean as a major trading stop. This book provides an invaluable guide to that heritage.

This book synthesizes the archaeology of the Maltese archipelago from the first human colonization c. 5000 BC through the Roman period (c. 400 AD). Claudia Sagona interprets the archaeological record to explain changing social and political structures, intriguing ritual practices, and cultural contact through several millennia.

A revisionist exploration of identities and interactions in the 'Punic World' of the western Mediterranean.

Ancient artefacts that comprise the private collections of Malta came largely from the Phoenician and later Punic burial grounds of the archipelago. In many respects, the perception of the island's ancient population as depicted in recent historic accounts has suffered from a limited knowledge of what has been found in the islands over the last few centuries. Co-authored with Isabelle Vella Gregory and Anton Bugeja, this book forms a companion volume to Claudia Sagona's “The Archaeology of Punic Malta (2002, Peeters) and “Punic Antiquities of Malta and Other Ancient Artefacts Held in Ecclesiastic and Private Collections (2003, Peeters). More than 700 objects, many brought into the public arena for the first time, are documented in this volume. The artefacts are held in three collections: that of Joseph Attard Tabone, of the Palazzo Parisio (Naxxar) and of St George's Parish Church (Qormi). While much of the material is characteristically Phoenician and Punic, imported Cypriot, Greek, Italian and other wares demonstrate that the islands were drawn into the ancient economic and political exchanges of the Mediterranean region.

The papers in this volume derive from the First International Conference on Archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean (Malta, 1985). The field remains divided between the view supporting the existence of a universal belief in an all-pervading and all-embracing Mother Goddess – of which the fertility cult is just one, albeit important, aspect – and the view questioning the very bases of that theory. This conference showed that there seems to be a greater disposition for further dialogue. The fertility content in Near Eastern and Classical religions remains indisputable. The conference proved to be also, not accidentally, of special significance to Maltese archaeology. The volume is divided into four sections: Section I. Prehistory; Section II. Prehistory, Malta; Section III. Phoenician and Near Eastern Religions; Section IV. The Greco-Roman World.

The Phoenicians created the Mediterranean world as we know it-yet they remain a poorly understood group. In this Handbook, the first of its kind in English, readers will find expert essays covering the history, culture, and areas of settlement throughout the Phoenician and Punic world.