[2] Calama was founded by the Phoenicians and called Malaka, similar[7] to their colony Malake (Punic: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤀, MLKʾ) at Málaga, Spain.

[9] Whether Calama is identical with the town of Suthul which the Roman general Aulus Postumius Albinus unsuccessfully tried to take in 110 BC,[10] (cf.

[12][13] In the 1st century AD, Calama, then part of the Roman province of Numidia, became a major urban centre.

[12] The city was sponsored by Vibia Aurelia Sabina, sister of the Emperor Commodus (late 2nd century).

[20] When Calama fell into the hands of the Vandal king Genseric in 429, Possidius took refuge with Augustine within the walled city of Hippo Regius.