The Maltese Islands started to form some 35 million years ago, when sediments were deposited onto a shallow seabed close to a large land mass. Over time these sediments hardened and solidified and when the African continent moved north some five to seven million years ago, it eventually collided with Europe, giving rise to a number of mountain ranges and deep valleys. It was at this time that the top layer, including the Maltese Islands, broke the surface of the Mediterranean Sea. As a consequence of the cold temperatures caused by the Ice Age around two million years ago, ice covers started to form along Northern Europe and sea levels dropped by some 250m uncovering the submarine banks between Malta and Sicily. These acted as land bridges for migrating animals although when the sea rose once more to its former level, the Mediterranean Islands were isolated yet again.

It is easy to imagine how this great rise in sea level has caused some to speculate that Malta might also be a remnant of Plato’s sunken continent of Atlantis. One of these speculators Grognet de Vassé, drawing on mythology, etymology and classical geography, later supported by others - but so far with no scientific evidence – propounded the theory that the Maltese Islands were the surviving North Western tips of Plato’s submerged continent of Atlantis. Grognet also believed that the mouths of the rivers Acheron and Phlegaton were precisely the Grand Harbour and the Port of Marsamxett.