Prehistory Melite was located on a strategically important plateau on high ground in the western part of the island of Malta. The site had been inhabited since prehistory, and by the
Bronze Age it was a place of refuge since it was naturally defensible. During the early Roman occupation, Melita had the status of a like other cities in Sicilia such as Messana (modern
Messina) and Tauromenium (modern
Taormina). Its inhabitants were regarded as
socii and not as conquered people, so they retained their laws and had the right to mint their own coins. Although the Latin language and Roman religion were introduced, Punic culture and language survived in Malta until at least the 1st century AD. Eventually, Melita was given the status of
municipium, being granted the same rights as other Roman cities. According to the
Acts of the Apostles,
Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked on Malta in greeted by its governor
Publius, and miraculously cured the governor's sick father before leaving.
Christian legend holds that the population of Malta then converted to
Christianity, with Publius becoming
Bishop of Malta and then
Bishop of Athens before being
martyred in 112. Little is known about the city's layout since very few remains have survived. It was surrounded by thick walls and a ditch, with a number of cemeteries located outside the walls. According to tradition, the
Mdina Cathedral was built on the site of the governor's residence, where Saint Paul cured Publius' father. A theatre was located in the city, and a
Temple of Apollo stood nearby. The temple had a tetrastyle
portico, and a wall forming part of its podium still exists beneath present-day Villegaignon Street. A
Temple of Proserpina stood on the hill of
Mtarfa, outside the walls of Melita. Only a fragment of a marble column and parts of a Punic cornice remain from this temple, but its existence is known from the Chrestion inscription, an inscription discovered in 1613 recording that the temple was renovated during the reign of
Augustus. A statue of
Saint Nicholas now stands on the site of the temple.
Later history The Maltese Islands were incorporated into the
Byzantine province of
Sicily by 535. Melite remained the administrative center of the island, but little is known about Byzantine period in the city. They might have built a
retrenchment which reduced Melite to the size of present-day Mdina, one-third of the size of the Punico-Roman city. The retrenchment was probably built in around the 8th century to counter the
increasing Muslim threat, although it might have been built later on in around the 11th century by the Arabs. Regardless when the retrenchment was built, the new walls were most likely built out of stones taken from demolished buildings of the ancient city. Melite was
captured and destroyed by the
Aghlabids in 870. According to
Al-Himyarī, at the time the city was ruled by the Byzantine governor Amros (probably Ambrosios). The duration of the siege is not known, but it must have lasted for a couple of weeks or possibly some months. The Aghlabid force was led by an engineer Halaf al-Hādim, who lost his life in the fighting. A new
wali, Sawāda Ibn Muḥammad, was then sent from Sicily to continue the siege. After some time, Melite fell to the invaders, and the inhabitants were massacred, the city was destroyed and its churches were looted. Marble from Melite's churches was used to build the castle of
Sousse in modern-day
Tunisia. According to Al-Himyarī's account, the island remained almost uninhabited until it was resettled in around 1048 or 1049 by a Muslim community and their slaves, who built a settlement called Medina on the site of Melite, making it "a finer place than it was before." The Byzantines
attempted to retake the city in around 1053–54, but were repelled by the defenders. The city of Medina, later called
Mdina in
Maltese, remained the capital city of Malta throughout the medieval period until 1530, when the
Order of St. John established their seat in
Birgu. The city was subsequently known as
Città Vecchia (Old City) or
Città Notabile (Noble City). It was extensively rebuilt over the centuries, with the last major building project occurring in 1720s, when its fortifications were upgraded and many public buildings were built. ==Remains==