In tandem, the consolidated community of Catholic Greeks discarded its traditional center in Birgu and moved its base to Valletta, after which it became prone to assimilation into the ethnic mainstream.

[2] In the 1920s, biological anthropologist L. H. Dudley Buxton proposed that the original inhabitants of Malta Island and Gozo were Cretan immigrants.

[5][6] The main island was known in Greece under the name Melite (Μελίτη); one theory is that the name "Malta" is a derivative of the Greek word for "honey" (μέλι).

[7][8] Despite being under Carthaginian rule, Malta was culturally integrated by the Hellenistic world in the 3rd century BC, when it built strong commercial links with Magna Graecia.

[9][10] Focusing on the finds at Tas-Silġ, scholar Antonio Tempio proposes that the archipelago was regularly visited by traders from Pithekoūsai, which had a mixed Carthaginian–Greek populace.

[16] Scant archeological evidence may suggest that local communities were under the command of tourmarchoi representing the Sicilian Theme, but this remains disputed.

[17] In circa 870, following the islands' capture and annexation by the Emirate of Sicily, some 3,000 men were reportedly killed, while 3,600 women and 5,000 children fell victim the Arab slave trade.

[16][22] An historical account originating with Zakariya al-Qazwini suggests that in the 11th century the Catepanate of Italy tried to restore Christian Byzantine rule over Malta.

The new rulers released and sent back to their homes those Christian slaves still present on the islands, but also brought with them a number of Greeks, who were disproportionately represented in the Norman–Sicilian navy.

According to anthropologist Stefan Goodwin, at his stage "faltering religious pluralism still existed in the sense that Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims still constituted a substantial minority of the population.

In July 1401, the Crown of Aragon (which included Sicily and Malta from 1409) banned the release of Greek, Circassian, Albanian, Ruthenian, Bulgarian and Vlach slaves.

[41] Eastern Orthodox Rhodians settled in Malta-proper included priest Angelo Metaxí[42] and the prosperous Fundomali family of Birgu.

[44] Propagated and partly distorted by the Hospitallers, accounts of Heraclid's career have left traces in Maltese literature and historiography.

In 1565, during the Great Siege of Malta, Greeks from that town joined a militia company mainly staffed by Maltese locals.

In the 1570s, Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santoro and the Roman Inquisition made a note that the Greek "heretics" were resisting such attempts, taking their chrism exclusively from their "Oriental prelate".

[36] Their parish priest, Emmanuel Metaxí, angered Catholic supervisors by omitting references to Filioque and ignoring the Gregorian calendar.

[50] Other Byzantine-Rite Greeks were prosecuted for similar offenses involving the calendar, prompting priest Constantin Sguro to ask advice from the Holy See.

[67] The lush area outside Rabat is traditionally known as Wied ir-Rum, translated by Giovanni Francesco Abela as Valle de' Christiani Greci ("Valley of the Greek Christians"; see Rûm).

[68] Beginning in the 1760s, Hospitaller Malta became interesting to the Russian Empire, which increased its presence in the Mediterranean and even attempted to impose its rule.

A Greek-Russian envoy, Antonio Psaro, negotiated an understanding between the Order and the Russians, integrating Malta with the "Greek Plan" before 1789.

[76][77][78][79][80] Participating in this reconciliation, Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Flachslanden proposed to create a Hospitallers' Langue for Greek expatriates.

During this time, Ottoman Greeks were among the soldiers of fortune taken to serve at Fort Ricasoli; they were then participants in the Froberg mutiny of April 1807.

[85] With the establishment of the Crown Colony of Malta within the British Empire, Eastern Orthodox Greeks again had a noted presence in the islands.

[89] With the end of the Napoleonic Wars came a regeneration of the Black Sea wheat trade, and Greek-run enterprises became its major players, setting up representations in Maltese ports.

Until his death in 1886, Papafis contributed significantly to the local society; he also provided financial aid for the Hellenic Republic, and later for the Kingdom of Greece.

A controversy erupted in the 1840s, when Greek Orthodox priests began wearing their vestments outside church, testing an older customary prohibition.

He founded a successful business which relied on imported Greek wine, while other families of immigrants (Colombos, Grech, Marich, Sorottos, etc.)

He counted this group alongside similar communities of Grikos and Arbëreshë in the Italian Peninsula, Cargèse, and French North Africa, estimating the total number at 25,000.

[1][103] In 2012, this was served by a non-Greek priest, George Mifsud Montanaro, and affiliated with the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (Diocese of Galilee).