[1] During the First Punic War, the island suffered a devastating raid by a Roman army under Gaius Atilius Regulus in 257 BC, but it remained under Carthaginian rule.

[2] When the Second Punic War broke out in 218 BC, a Carthaginian force of around 2,000 men under the command of Hamilcar, son of Gisco[a] garrisoned the Maltese Islands.

[5] Roman Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus had over 26,000 men under his command,[5] and he sailed his fleet from Lilybaeum in order to capture Malta.

[6] The role of the Maltese inhabitants during the invasion is unclear, and some historians suggest that they might have turned over the Carthaginian garrison to the Romans.

[7] Archaeological evidence suggests a significant demographic continuity between the periods of Carthaginian and Roman rule of Malta.