The exact date of the first locally struck coin is not known but it is likely to have been after 212 B.C. when Sicily became a Roman province (with the Maltese Islands being incorporated into it) and was given the right by Rome to mint its own coinage in 211 B.C. 

The first Maltese coins bear on their obverse a male curly head with a thick beard. A kerykeion or a caduceus(6) is depicted on the left. The identity of the deity on these coins has for a long time been disputed by scholars and has been attributed mainly to Melkart (Heracles), Eshmun (Aesculapius) and Baal Hammon. The reverse design has been also given various interpretations such as the tomb of Battus, a sacrificial cap and a pillar over an urn. That which is unanimously agreed upon by the more authoritative scholars is the interpretation of the three Punic letters aleph, nun, nun, () indicating the pre-Roman name of Malta - ANN - which may mean ship. 

Apart from this first issue, all the other types issued until the end of the first century BC (12 in all), bear a female head on their obverse. This deity has also been attributed to various goddesses, amongst others, Isis, Astarte/Tanit and Astarte/Juno. Their reverse designs include one with three figures, the one in the middle holding a flail(7) and a sceptre(8), flanked by two winged figures; two coins with kneeling winged divinity, one with the symbol of Tanit in front of face the other with cob of corn in front of face; a ram's head; a lyre(9); a curule chair(10); three coins with a sacrificial tripod, two facing right, one with Punic text the other with Greek text the other facing left;   and a female goddess holding a lance (Gozo) . 

Besides the deep religious convictions of the indigenous population, the early Maltese coins of this period reflect the double culture prevalent at the time in the Maltese Islands. The Punic influence in Malta was slow to disappear and remained evident well into the Roman period. Thus, although all struck during the Roman occupation, the first coins minted in Malta, as already indicated, bear three Punic letters referring to the pre-Roman name of Malta - ANN. This feature lingered on until around 160 B.C. 

Rome's social, economic and intellectual life was influenced deeply by the impact of the Greek world. Like other parts of the Roman Empire, Malta also came under the influence of Greek culture which reached the Islands from neighbouring Sicily. The Hellenization of Malta is typified by the Greek legend (or Melitaion) meaning "of Malta" on coins struck on the Island after around 160 B.C. For around a century, this Greek legend alternated with the Punic legend on new coin issues. Around the middle of the first century B.C. it replaced the Punic legend altogether as the Carthaginian influence had completely given way to the classical culture. The influence of Hellenic(11) culture is also evident in the legend in Greek characters (or Gauliton) meaning "of Gozo" inscribed on two coin types struck in that Island during the first century B.C. These two coin types, the only known ancient coinage minted in Gozo, suggest that Malta's sister Island enjoyed a certain degree of municipal independence from Malta at the time. 

The coins struck towards the mid-first century B.C. are completely Greco­-Roman and have the Greek legend on one side and a Latin one on the reverse alongside the Roman curule chair. One of these coins, reflecting the annexation of Malta and Gozo to the Roman Province of Sicily and the increasing contacts between the two Mediterranean Islands, bears the name of the Roman Propraetor C Arruntanus Balbus who governed the Sicilian province from 37 to 35 B.C. The Romanisation of the Maltese Islands is further denoted in one other coin by the use of the legend MELI - TAS, the only known coin-type to have a Latin inscription on its own. 

In line with the system in Sicily where most of the coins had no value marks, all coins minted in Malta during that period bore no value signs. Indeed, the only locally struck coinage with value signs are the two coin types minted in Gozo, bearing the " legend. These two coins bear the "V" mark indicating that their value was equivalent to a Quincunx. In the absence of value marks, the value of the coins struck in Malta was determined by the size and weight of the coins. The early Maltese coins were all related in weight to the Roman basic bronze unit - the AS. On the other hand, most of the Maltese coins struck after the first half of the first century B.C. were based on the Sicilian standards, suggesting a marked intensification of commercial relations between the two Islands at that stage. 

The denominations of the Maltese coins of the Roman period have been deduced on the basis of weight after an extensive study by Edward Coleiro in 1971. This analysis revealed that the weight of the first issue of each denomination is approximately equivalent to the Roman standard weight. The denominations of the Maltese coins appear to have been based on the Roman AS, semis (1/2 AS), quincunx (5/12 AS), triens (1/3 AS), quadrans (1/4 AS) and sextans (1/6 AS). In some denominations, certain coins have been found to be slightly overweighed, reflecting somewhat faulty minting techniques. It appears that in all coin-types, there have been various successive issues - in many cases four or five reissues - with a noticeable reduction in the weight of each successive issue. Indeed, in the case of the Antonian AS, struck around 40 B.C., the last issue had approximately half the weight of the first. With one exception (a quincunx also struck around 40 B.C.), these reductions in weight were not reflected in the size of the coin. 

From time to time, certain coin types were countermarked, possibly to indicate a change in value. Over the years, the Maltese coins of the Roman period appear to point to rising costs and standards of living in the last two centuries B.C. In fact, whereas initially the smaller denominations were minted, these subsequently gave way to coins of higher denomination. Thus, the first Maltese coin (struck around the end of the third century B.C. or early second century B.C.) was equivalent to a sextans (1/6 AS) minted as small money. This might suggest that, notwithstanding the impact of the second Punic War, the local cost of living was probably still somewhat low, though not so low as to need the uncia (the lowest Roman bronze denomination, equivalent to one-twelfth of one AS). Possibly in the wake of the prosperity generated by the Roman conquests in the eastern Mediterranean, the small coins struck locally around the middle parts of the second century B.C. were all semis (1/2 AS). Three issues in the AS denomination in the earlier part of the first century B.C. might suggest a sharp rise in the cost of living, possibly as a result of the Social War in Italy and the slave wars in Sicily. After 75 B.C. local currency was characterized by a series of noticeable debasement of the coinage which occurred despite higher living standards. This was probably conditioned by the scarcity of metal for minting purposes during periods of war, as well as by the fact that fiduciary issues were becoming more common. 

Roman Coinage 

After the first century B.C., there are no records to show that the Maltese Islands continued to mint their own coins. The Roman metropolitan coinage, which at that time was being used throughout the Empire, took over as the standard currency of the Maltese Islands. The authority of minting gold and silver coins was vested in the Emperor while the Senate had the privilege of minting "Aes" coinage (copper, bronze and brass) which therefore was marked S C (Senatus Consulto). The gold coin "Aureus" remained the major standard of imperial coinage though it was repeatedly debased until it was renamed "Solidus" by Constantine in 312 A.D. The Solidus possibly remained in use in Malta until late in the ninth century A.D. when the Islands ceased to form part of the Byzantine Empire. 

Of the three silver denominations minted during the times of the Roman Republic (i.e. prior to 27 B.C.), only the Denarius (10 AS) and the Quinarius (5 AS) continued to be struck by the Emperor. The Sestertius (21/2 AS) started to be struck in copper. Like the gold coin, the silver coinage was debased considerably during the course of the first three centuries of the Empire. With a view to restoring order within the monetary system, Diocletian in 292 A.D. issued two new silver coins, the Argenteus and the Miliarense. 

The base metal coinage (bronze, copper, brass and compounds of base metals) issued under the Empire included the sestcrius (4 AS), dupondius (2 AS), AS, semis(1/2 AS) and the quadrans (1/4 AS). By the third century A.D. these had all gone out of circulation, giving way to two new bronze coins. 

Medieval Coinage