The Maltese islands went through two major cultural revolutions in their medieval history. The Arab conquest during 869 - 870 interrupted the Byzantine Greek Christian era, could have repopulated our islands with Arabic speaking settlers and established Islam. The next cultural revolution was effected at a slower rate. Beginning with Roger I attack on our archipelago circa 1090 we passed under the influence of this time a Christian Sicily - or better a Sicily having a ruling class becoming increasingly Christian with the passing of time.[1]

Maltese intellectuals reflecting on our past history earlier this century ignored these cultural transitions and liked to imagine the Maltese as having uninterrupted ethnic lineage with