When you know there is more under your feet than pavements…but are too afraid to ask?

Malta was conquered by the Romans 200 years before the birth of Christ, (It was a side effect of the Punic Wars) and it became another piece of land annexed by chance more than design as other pieces did by way of Rome's world war with Carthage. Beginning the long history of Malta’s strategic place  in relation to the Mediterranean made it a strategically useful place to be in possession of. Yet, there is very little of Rome's footprint that remains, particularly in way of discovered towns and cities, which is a little odd as there will be by definition of its size, no Pompeii, no Londinium, but there is nothing of a smaller size, no defined town or capital as there would have been. Through works by historians such as Livy we know there were towns in Malta, indeed it would have by Roman standards, a municipal centre, where the appointed governor, or governor legate administered Rome's interests.

Visiting the Roman Domus (house) today, I was struck by the wealth that was obviously here, decerned from the quality of the floor mosaics and the cost which would have been available to only a wealthy family, yet it was discovered as flooring, any building encasing it had long ceased fallen down into disrepair or had been scavenged for materials to build other properties, as befell many Roman sites with the advent of the dark ages. No signs of the 'usual suspects', a place for citizen games? No bath houses discovered? Temples? There were some nice pieces of statuary on display, one of Claudius in fact, so we have an imperial evidence base and strong proof of the wealthy, perhaps importing the latest fashions or required pieces of stone work. The missing usual suspects makes you wonder where the Roman's are in Malta.

It is all quite strange, as though they just left, which would have happened but probably not until the Visigoths had started pushing their way across north Africa and up into Europe. So where is the stuff? In Mdina there must be a wealth of archaeology sat under roads and businesses, buried deeply by thousands of years of accumulated waste and abandonment. The Mosaic villa flooring was found close to the citadel and you would again be entitled to argue that if the Maltese felt that this place was a strong enough defensive position that, once fortified would be difficult to take in a siege, then the Romans may have realised this point a thousand years before. So, much of the citadel may well stand on Roman ruins, in which case there will be little in the way of hope that much, if any Roman archaeology will be discovered soon. If this replicates itself across the island, then the not uniquely Mediterranean ability of concentrating conurbations into small coastal areas with a large and relatively untouched rural hinterland, would suggest that the Romans probably agreed that coastal communities were better suited to Malta, then there will be little discovered in Malta, as the 21st century population may neatly overlay the remains of all, if any Roman footprint. Which may be a little sad as if the mosaic quality in this one villa was an indication then there was some form of quite wealthy Roman or local elite benefiting from Roman trade across the Mediterranean. The potential for some nice examples of Temples, Circus' and Bath Houses may be lost forever.