Melita (personification)

Melita depicted on a £1 stamp designed by Edward Caruana Dingli issued on 28 August 1922

Melita is a national personification of Malta. The name originated from the Punic-Roman town of Melite (Μελίτη, Melite in Ancient Greek), the ancient capital of Malta which eventually developed into the city of Mdina.

The symbolic depiction of a country as a woman called by the Latin name of that country was common in the 19th century (such as Britannia, Columbia, Germania, Hibernia and Helvetia).