Melita in Biblical History

Bible History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

What is Melita?
MEL'ITA
(honey, or sweetness), an island in the Mediterranean upon which Paul was shipwrecked during his voyage to Rome. Acts 28:1-14. Two islands formerly bore the name Melita:(1) Melita, in the Adriatic Sea, and (2) Malta, in the Mediterranean. The location of the first would not answer the requirements of the scriptural narrative. Malta, the ancient Melita, is about 60 miles in circumference, and was successively subject to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Goths, Saracens, Normans, and French, until Charles V. surrendered it to the Knights of St. John, at Jerusalem, who in 1798 were dispossessed by Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1800 the French garrison surrendered to an English force, and the island has been ever since a dependency of the British crown. The island is 62 miles south-west of Sicily, is 17 miles long and 8 or 9 miles wide, and is now reckoned 960 miles from Gibraltar, 840 miles from Alexandria, and 1200 miles from Jerusalem. It is of an irregular oval shape, the coast indented with numerous bays. The soil, naturally barren, has been made productive; frost and snow are unknown. According to Acts 27:1-44, it was about the time of the autumnal equinox, when sailing was dangerous, that Paul and his companions embarked at Caesarea for Italy. Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill, a nautical man, in his work On the Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, has shown, from a personal examination of the localities of the shipwreck, compared with the incidents in the narrative of Luke, that the ship could not have been wrecked anywhere but at Malta. The following is a summary of his statements. Paul's company on the second day touched at Sidon, 78 miles from Caesarea. Loosing thence, they were forced by strong westerly winds to leave Cyprus on the left hand. Thence, favored by the landbreeze and currents, they arrived at Myra, in Lycia. At this port they were then transferred to a ship from Alexandria bound for Italy. Their progress, on account of unfavorable winds, was extremely slow, for it was "many days" before they came over against Cnidus, not more than 150 miles from Myra. Sailing in the direction of Salmone, the eastern promontory of Crete, they coasted along, with north-west winds, as far as Cape Matala, the south side of the island. Here, however, the land bends suddenly to the north, and they made for the Fair Havens, a roadstead near the port of Lasea, as being the nearest to Cape Matala. As the season of safe navigation had passed, Paul urged the officers to winter at Fair Havens, but his advice was overruled; and, improving a gentle north wind that blew, they set sail for Phenice, a harbor on the coast about 40 miles farther west. The harbor seems to have been the one now called Lutro, which opens in the same direction in which the wind Libe blows -- i.e., toward the north-east -- and is situated exactly opposite to the island of Clauda. But soon the weather changed; the ship was caught in a typhoon, and the wind euroclydon (east north-east), which blew with such violence, forced them to run under the south shore of Clauda, now Clozzo, about 20 miles south-west by west from Fair Havens. Here they availed themselves of the smooth water to secure the boat and undergird the ship by frapping it round the middle with a cable, to prepare it to resist the fury of the storm. But, fearing they should be driven Map of Place of Shipwreck, Si. Paul's Bay. The figures denote fathoms toward the Syrtis -- i.e., the quicksands of the coast of Africa -- they lowered the gear; and the ship thus borne along was not only made snug, but had storm-sails set and was on the starboard tack -- i.e., with her right side to the wind -- which was the only course by which she could avoid falling into the Syrtis. On the next day they threw overboard the mainyard, an immense spar probably as long as the ship. The storm continued with unabated fury for eleven days more, and all hope was taken away. At length, on the fourteenth night, the seamen suspected the approach of land, probably from the noise of the breakers, sounded, and found the depth 20 fathoms, and then 15 fathoms. Fearing lest they should fall upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. When the day broke they succeeded in running the ship aground in a creek, where she went to pieces, but the whole ship's company escaped safe to land. The place proved to be a bay on the north-east side of Malta, now known as St. Paul's Bay, an inlet, with a creek, about 2 miles deep and a mile broad. Mr. Smith has shown by calculation that a ship starting late in the evening from Clauda, would, by midnight on the fourteenth day, be less than 3 miles from the entrance of St. Paul's Bay -- i. e., a distance of 476 miles. In 1810 the British frigate Lively went to pieces on those very breakers, at the point of Koura, at the entrance of the bay. The crew, like Paul's shipmen, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, could not see the land, but they saw the surf on the shore. So, also, Mr. Smith has shown that every ship approaching the land must here pass over 20 fathoms, and not only must this depth be close to the spot where they had the indications of land, but it must bear east by south from the 15 fathom depth. The 15 fathom depth is, as nearly as possible, a quarter of a mile from the shore, which is here girt with mural precipices, and on which the sea must have been breaking violently. At the bottom of the Bay of St. Paul's there is a communication with the sea outside by a channel not more than a hundred yards in breadth, formed by the separation of Salmone Island, a long rocky ridge, from the main land. Near this channel, where "two seas meet," are two creeks, into one of which they ran the ship ashore; the forepart stuck fast in the mud and clay, while the stern was dashed to pieces by the force of the waves. It has been asserted that no vipers exist in Malta, but Lewin saw a serpent there which he regarded as a viper; but even if not found on the thickly-populated island now, this would not prove that they did not exist in Paul's day and have since been exterminated.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'melita' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
bible-history.com - Schaff's

Copyright Information
© Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Schaff's Bible Dictionary Home
Bible History Online Home

Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
Online Bible (KJV)
Naves Topical Bible
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
Matthew Henry Bible Commentary
Hitchcock's Bible Dictionary

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Popular in the New Testament

Popular in the
New Testament