Malta (Melita)

Melita — modern Malta — is the island on which Paul was shipwrecked while being taken as a prisoner to Rome, the climactic scene of the sea voyage of Acts 27–28.

Shipwreck and rescue

After a fearful storm and the breaking up of the ship, all 276 aboard reached land safely on planks and wreckage, "and so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land. And... they knew that the island was called Melita" (Acts 27:44–28:1).

The viper

As Paul gathered sticks for the fire, "there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand." The islanders expected him to drop dead; when he shook it off "and felt no harm," they changed their minds and "said that he was a god" (Acts 28:3–6).

Healings on the island

Paul healed the father of Publius, the chief man of the island, of a fever and dysentery, and "others also... came, and were healed." After three months the company sailed on toward Rome (Acts 28:7–11).

Melita is identified with Malta, the small island south of Sicily in the central Mediterranean — directly on the grain-ship route to Italy that Paul's vessel was following. "St. Paul's Bay" on the north of the island preserves the tradition of the shipwreck site.