A culture of megalithic temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period. Around 3500 BC, these people built some of the oldest existing free-standing structures in the world in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo;[53] other early temples include those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra.[39][54][55] The temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BC. Tentative information suggests that animal sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, whose statue is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.[56] Another archaeological feature of the Maltese Islands often attributed to these ancient builders is equidistant uniform grooves dubbed "cart tracks" or "cart ruts", which can be found in several locations throughout the islands, with the most prominent being those found in Misraħ Għar il-Kbir ("Clapham Junction"). These may have been caused by wooden-wheeled carts eroding soft limestone.[57][58] The culture apparently disappeared from the islands around 2500 BC, possibly due to famine or disease. After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until an influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens.[59] They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there.[60] Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans[edit] See also: Magna Graecia, Phoenicia, Cippi of Melqart, Ancient Rome, Sicilia (Roman province), and Byzantine Malta The lands which comprise modern-day Malta were a part of the Byzantine Empire (the empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (its vassals in pink)). Phoenician traders[61] colonised the islands under the name Ann (𐤀𐤍𐤍‎, ʾNN)[62][63][46] sometime after 1000 BC[13] as a stop on their trade routes from the eastern Mediterranean to Cornwall.[64] Their seat of government was apparently at Mdina, which shared the island's name;[62][63] the primary port was at Cospicua on the Grand Harbour, which they called Maleth.[46] After the fall of Phoenicia in 332 BC, the area came under the control of Carthage.[13][65] During this time, the people on Malta mainly cultivated olives and carob and produced textiles.[65] Roman mosaic from the Domvs Romana During the First Punic War, the island was conquered after harsh fighting by Marcus Atilius Regulus.[66] After the failure of his expedition, the island fell back in the hands of Carthage, only to be conquered again during the Second Punic War in 218 BC by the Roman consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus.[66] Malta became a Foederata Civitas, a designation that meant it was exempt from paying tribute or the rule of Roman law, and fell within the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily.[43] Its capital at Mdina was renamed Melita after the Greek and Roman name for the island. Punic influence, however, remained vibrant on the islands with the famous Cippi of Melqart, pivotal in deciphering the Punic language, dedicated in the second century BC.[67][68] Local Roman coinage, which ceased in the first century BC,[69] indicates the slow pace of the island's Romanisation: the last locally minted coins still bear inscriptions in Ancient Greek and Punic motifs, showing the resistance of the Greek and Punic cultures.[70] In the second century, Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–38) upgraded the status of Malta to a municipium or free town: the island's local affairs were administered by four quattuorviri iuri dicundo and a municipal senate, while a Roman procurator living in Mdina represented the proconsul of Sicily.[66] In AD 58, Paul the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist were shipwrecked on the islands.[66] Paul remained for three months, preaching the Christian faith.[66] The island is mentioned at the Acts of the Apostles as Melitene (Ancient Greek: Μελιτήνη).[71] In 395, when the Roman Empire was divided for the last time at the death of Theodosius I, Malta, following Sicily, fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire.[72] During the Migration Period as the Western Roman Empire declined, Malta was conquered or occupied a number of times.[69] From 454 to 464 the islands were subdued by the Vandals, and after 464 by the Ostrogoths.[66] In 533, Belisarius, on his way to conquer the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, reunited the islands under Imperial (Eastern) rule.[66] Little is known about the Byzantine rule in Malta: the island depended on the theme of Sicily and had Greek governors and a small Greek garrison.[66] While the bulk of population continued to be constituted by the old, Latinized dwellers, during this period its religious allegiance oscillated between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople.[66] The Byzantine rule introduced Greek families to the Maltese collective.[73] Malta remained under the Byzantine Empire until 870, when it was conquered by the Arabs.[66][74] Arab period and the Middle Ages[edit] See also: Arab–Byzantine wars and Islam in Malta Malta became involved in the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the conquest of Malta is closely linked with that of Sicily that began in 827 after Admiral Euphemius' betrayal of his fellow Byzantines, requesting that the Aghlabids invade the island.[75] The Muslim chronicler and geographer al-Himyari recounts that in 870, following