Malta are uninhabited. The islands of the archipelago lie on the Malta plateau, a shallow shelf formed from the high points of a land bridge between Sicily and North Africa that became isolated as sea levels rose after the last Ice Age. The archipelago is therefore situated in the zone between the Eurasian and African tectonic plates. Malta was considered an island of North Africa for centuries. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide good harbours. The landscape consists of low hills with terraced fields. The highest point in Malta is Ta' Dmejrek, at , near Dingli. Although
Battus of Malta side of the island of Malta. The sepulcher had an inscription, made up of forty-seven letters in four lines. The characters were mostly unreadable, however the last line was agreed to state ""hal byn bat malek,"" which signified ""for the son of Bat, the king."" The same inscription was recorded in the "Vocabolario Maltese" published by Mikiel Anton Vassalli in 1796. The story linking Anna Perenna with Malta can only be found in Ovid, and derivative works. Another epic poet, Silius Italicus, bypasses Anna's arrival in Malta, and places her refuge with a King Battus in the Greek colony of