Marseille,France was originally founded circa 600 BC as theGreek colony of Massalia (Latin: Massilia) and populated by Greeks fromPhocaea (modernFoça,Turkey). It became the preeminent Greekpolis in theHellenized region ofsouthern Gaul.[1] The city-state allied with theRoman Republic againstCarthage during theSecond Punic War (218-201 BC), retaining its independence and commercial empire throughout thewestern Mediterranean even as Rome expanded intoWestern Europe andNorth Africa. However, the city lost its independence following the RomanSiege of Massilia in 49 BC, duringCaesar's Civil War, in which Massalia sided with theexiled faction at war withJulius Caesar.
Marseille continued to prosper as a Roman city, becoming an early center ofChristianity during theWestern Roman Empire. The city maintained its position as a premier maritime trading hub even after its capture by theVisigoths in the 5th century AD, although the city went into decline following the sack of 739 AD by the forces ofCharles Martel. It became part of theCounty of Provence during the 10th century, although its renewed prosperity was curtailed by the Black Death of the 14th century and sack of the city by theCrown of Aragon in 1423. The city's fortunes rebounded with the ambitious building projects ofRené of Anjou, Count of Provence, who strengthened the city's fortifications during the mid-15th century. During the 16th century the city hosted a naval fleet with the combined forces of theFranco-Ottoman alliance, which threatened the ports and navies ofGenoa and theHoly Roman Empire.
Marseille lost a significant portion of its population during theGreat Plague of Marseille in 1720, but the population recovered by mid century. In 1792 the city became a focal point of theFrench Revolution and was the birthplace of France'snational anthem,La Marseillaise. TheIndustrial Revolution and establishment of theFrench Empire during the 19th century allowed for further expansion of the city, although it was captured and heavily damaged byNazi Germany duringWorld War II. The city has since become a major center for immigrant communities from former French colonies, such asFrench Algeria.
Humans have inhabited Marseille and its environs for almost 30,000 years:palaeolithiccave paintings in the underwaterCosquer Cave near the calanque of Morgiou date back to between 27,000 and 19,000 BC; and recent excavations near the railway station have unearthedneolithic brick habitations from around 6000 BC.[2][3]
Massalia, whose name was probably adapted from an existing language related toLigurian,[4] was the first Greek settlement in France.[5] It was established within modern Marseille around 600 BC by colonists coming fromPhocaea (nowFoça, in modern Turkey) on theAegean coast ofAsia Minor. The connection between Massalia and the Phoceans is mentioned inThucydides'sPeloponnesian War;[6] he notes that the Phocaean project was opposed by theCarthaginians, whose fleet was defeated.[7] The founding of Massalia has also been recorded as a legend. According to the legend, Protis (in Aristotle,Euxenes), a native of Phocae, while exploring for a new trading outpost oremporion to make his fortune, discovered the Mediterraneancove of the Lacydon, fed by a freshwater stream and protected by two rocky promontories.[8] Protis was invited inland to a banquet held by the chief of the localLigurian tribe, Nann, for suitors seeking the hand of his daughter Gyptis (in Aristotle,Petta) in marriage. At the end of the banquet, Gyptis presented the ceremonial cup of wine to Protis, indicating her unequivocal choice. Following their marriage, they moved to the hill just to the north of the Lacydon; and from this settlement grew Massalia.[8] Later, the natives would treacherously lay a plot to destroy the new colony, but the scheme was divulged and Conran, king of the natives, was killed in the ensuing battle.[9] A second wave of colonists arrived in about 540, when Phocaea was destroyed by the Persians.[10]
Massalia became one of the major trading ports of the ancient world. At its height, in the 4th century BC, it had a population of about 50,000 inhabitants on about fifty hectares surrounded by a wall. It was governed as anaristocratic republic, with an assembly formed by the 600 wealthiest citizens. It had a large temple of the cult ofApollo ofDelphi on a hilltop overlooking the port and a temple of the cult ofArtemis ofEphesus at the other end of the city. Thedrachmas minted in Massalia were found in all parts of Ligurian-Celtic Gaul. Traders from Massalia ventured into France on the riversDurance andRhône and established overland trade routes toSwitzerland andBurgundy, reaching as far north as theBaltic Sea. They exported their own products: local wine, salted pork and fish, aromatic and medicinal plants, coral, and cork.[10] The most famous citizen of Massalia was the mathematician, astronomer and navigatorPytheas. Pytheas made mathematical instruments, which allowed him to establish almost exactly the latitude of Marseille, and he was the first scientist to observe that the tides were connected with the phases of the moon. Between 330 and 320 BC, he organized an expedition by ship into the Atlantic and as far north as England, and to visitIceland,Shetland, and Norway, where he was the first scientist to describe drift ice and the midnight sun. Though he hoped to establish a sea trading route for tin fromCornwall, his trip was not a commercial success, and it was not repeated. The Massaliotes found it cheaper and simpler to trade with Northern Europe over land routes.[11]
The city thrived by acting as a link between inlandGaul, hungry forRoman goods and wine (which Massalia was steadily exporting by 500 BC),[12][13] and Rome's insatiable need for new products andslaves. During thePunic Wars,Hannibalcrossed the Alps north of the city. In 123 BC, Massalia was faced by an invasion of theAllobroges andArverni underBituitus; it entered into an alliance withRome, receiving protection—Roman legions underQ. Fabius Maximus andGn. Domitius Ahenobarbus defeated the Gauls atVindalium in 121 BC—in exchange for yielding a strip of land through its territory which was used to construct theVia Domitia, aroad toSpain. The city thus maintained its independence a little longer, although the Romans organized theirprovince ofTransalpine Gaul around it and constructed acolony atNarbo Martius (Narbonne) in 118 BC which subsequently competed economically with Massalia.
DuringJulius Caesar'swar againstPompey and most of theSenate, Massalia allied itself with the exiled government; closing its gates to Caesar onhis way to Spain in April of 49 BC, thecity was besieged. Despite reinforcement byL. Domitius Ahenobarbus, Massalia's fleet was defeated and the city fell by September. It maintained nominal autonomy but lost its trading empire and was largely brought under Roman dominion. The statesmanTitus Annius Milo, then living in exile in Marseille, joked that no one could miss Rome as long as they could eat the deliciousred mullet of Marseille. Marseille adapted well to its new status under Rome. Most of the archaeological remnants of the original Greek settlement were replaced by later Roman additions. During theRoman era, the city was controlled by a directory of 15 selected "first" among 600 senators. Three of them had the pre-eminence and the essence of theexecutive power. The city's laws among other things forbade the drinking of wine by women and allowed, by a vote of the senators, assistance to a person to commit suicide.[citation needed]
It was during this time thatChristianity first appeared in Marseille, as evidenced bycatacombs above the harbour and records of Romanmartyrs.[14] According to Provençal tradition,Mary Magdalenevangelised Marseille with her brotherLazarus. Thediocese of Marseille became theArchdiocese of Marseille in 1948.
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The city was not affected bythe decline of the Roman Empire before the 8th century, as Marseille enjoyed continued prosperity, probably thanks to its efficient defensive walls inherited from the Phoceans. Even after the town fell into the hands of theVisigoths in the 5th century, the city became an important Christian intellectual center with people such asJohn Cassian,Salvian andSidonius Apollinaris. Marseille went on to a golden age in the 6th century as a major commercial center in the Mediterranean.Late Antiquity continued in the city until the 7th century, with Phocean and Roman infrastructure still in use (forums, baths). Marseille was occupied byUmayyad Arab forces in or before 736 at the invitation of the local ruler, dukeMaurontus, as allies against his enemyCharles Martel. Marseille's prosperity ended suddenly in 739 when Martel's armies punished the city for rejecting Martel's appointed governor. The city did not develop again before the 10th century, as it suffered through 150 years of attacks by Greeks andSaracens.[citation needed]
The city regained much of its wealth and trading power in the 10th century under thecounts of Provence.[citation needed] Between 1212 and 1218, the city wasde facto governed by theConfraternity of the Holy Spirit.[15][16]
The Counts of Provence allowed Marseille, governed by a consul, great autonomy until the rule ofRaymond Berengar IV of Provence. Marseille initially resisted his assertion of control, but acknowledged his suzerainty in 1243.[17] After his death, his daughterBeatrice of Provence marriedLouis IX of France's brotherCharles I of Anjou in 1246, making him Count. Charles continued his father-in-law's administrative changes, which reignited discontent. Marseille rebelled in 1248, under the leadership of two local nobles,Barral of Baux andBoniface of Castellane, while Charles was embarked on theSeventh Crusade. Charles returned in 1250 and forced Marseille to surrender in 1252. Marseille rose up once more, in 1262, under Boniface of Castellane and Hugues des Baux, cousin of Barral des Baux (who remained loyal and helped contain the unrest).[18] Charles quelled the revolt in 1263. Trade prospered, and Marseille gave him no further trouble.[19] In 1348, the city suffered terribly from thebubonic plague, which continued to strike intermittently until 1361. As a major port, it is believed that Marseille was one of the first places in France to encounter the epidemic, and some 15,000 people died in a city that had a population of 25,000 during its period of economic prosperity in the previous century.[20] The city's fortunes declined still further when it was sacked and pillaged by theAragonese in 1423.
Marseille's population and trading status soon recovered and in 1437, the Count of ProvenceRené of Anjou, who succeeded his fatherLouis II of Anjou as King ofSicily and Duke ofAnjou, arrived in Marseille and established it as France's most fortified settlement outside of Paris.[22] He helped raise the status of the town to a city and allowed certain privileges to be granted to it. Marseille was then used by theDuke of Anjou as a strategic maritime base to reconquer his kingdom of Sicily. King René, who wished to equip the entrance of the port with a solid defense, decided to build on the ruins of the old Maubert tower and to establish a series of ramparts guarding the harbour. Jean Pardo, engineer, conceived the plans and Jehan Robert, mason of Tarascon, carried out the work. The construction of the new city defenses took place between 1447 and 1453.[23][page needed]Trading in Marseille also flourished as the Guild began to establish a position of power within the merchants of the city. Notably, René also founded the Corporation of Fisherman.
Marseille was united with Provence in 1481 and then incorporated into France the following year, but soon acquired a reputation for rebelling against thecentral government.[24] Some 30 years after its incorporation,Francis I visited Marseille, drawn by his curiosity to seea rhinoceros that KingManuel I ofPortugal was sending toPope Leo X, but which had been landed on the Île d'If. As a result of this visit, the fortress of Château d'If was constructed; this did little to prevent Marseille being placed under siege by the army of theHoly Roman Empire a few years later.[25][page needed] Marseille became a naval base for theFranco-Ottoman alliance in 1536, as a Franco-Turkish fleet was stationed in the harbour, threatening the Holy Roman Empire and especiallyGenoa.[26] Towards the end of the 16th century, Marseille suffered yet another outbreak of the plague; the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu was founded soon afterwards. A century later more troubles were in store: KingLouis XIV himself had to descend upon Marseille, at the head of his army, in order to quash a local uprising against the governor.[27][page needed] As a consequence, the two forts of Saint-Jean and Saint-Nicholas were erected above the harbour and a largefleet andarsenal were established in the harbour itself. TheHôtel de Ville was completed in 1673.[28]
Over the course of the 18th century, the port's defences were improved[29] and Marseille became more important as France's leading military port in the Mediterranean. In 1720, the lastGreat Plague of Marseille, a form of theBlack Death, killed 100,000 people in the city and the surrounding provinces.[30] Jean-Baptiste Grosson, royal notary, wrote from 1770 to 1791 the historical Almanac of Marseille, published asRecueil des antiquités et des monuments marseillais qui peuvent intéresser l'histoire et les arts ("Collection of antiquities and Marseille monuments which can interest history and the arts"), which for a long time was the primary resource on the history of the monuments of the city.
The local population enthusiastically embraced theFrench Revolution and sent 500 volunteers to Paris in 1792 to defend the revolutionary government; their rallying call to revolution, sung on their march from Marseille to Paris, became known asLa Marseillaise, which on14 July 1795 first became thenational anthem of France.[31] In 1793, theFederalistsrose against theJacobins, and after the more moderate revolutionaries were squeezed out the rebellion became a monarchist fight against the republic.After the latter's victory, the city is renamedVille-sans-nom ("Nameless-City") in punishment.[31]
During the 19th century, the city was the site of industrial innovations and growth in manufacturing. The rise of theFrench Empire and the conquests of France from 1830 onward (notably Algeria) stimulated themaritime trade and raised the prosperity of the city. Maritime opportunities also increased with the opening of theSuez Canal in 1869.[32] This period in Marseille's history is reflected in many of its monuments, such as theNapoleonicobelisk at Mazargues and the royaltriumphal arch on the Place Jules Guesde.
Coinciding with, and in support of, theParis Commune of 1871, the populace established a commune of their own with the aid of local sections of theNational Guard. The Commune was quickly suppressed by the army.[33]
During the first half of the 20th century, Marseille celebrated its "port of the empire" status through the colonial exhibitions of 1906 and 1922;[34] the monumental staircase of the railway station, glorifying French colonial conquests, dates from then. In 1934,Alexander I of Yugoslavia arrived at the port to meet with the Frenchforeign ministerLouis Barthou. He was assassinated there byVlado Chernozemski.
In the interwar period, Marseille was known for its extensive organised crime networks.Simon Kitson has shown how this corruption extended into local administrations like the Police.[35]
During theSecond World War, Marseille was bombed byGerman andItalian forces in 1940. The city was occupied by the Germans from November 1942 to August 1944. On 22 January 1943, over 4,000 Jews were seized in Marseille as part of"Action Tiger". They were held in detention camps before being deported toPoland occupied by Nazi Germany to be murdered.[36] The Old Port was destroyed in January 1943 by the Germans. The city was liberated by the Allies on 29 August 1944. As a part ofOperation Dragoon, GeneralJoseph de Goislard de Monsabert led roughly 130,000 French troops to liberate the city.
After the war, much of the city was rebuilt during the 1950s. The governments ofEast Germany, West Germany and Italy paid massivereparations, pluscompound interest, to compensate civilians killed, injured, left homeless or destitute as a result of the war.
From the 1950s onward, the city served as an entrance port for over a million immigrants to France. In 1962, there was a large influx from the newly independent Algeria, including around 150,000 returned Algerian settlers (pieds-noirs).[37] Many immigrants have stayed and given the city a French-African quarter with a large market.
In December 1994, theMarseille Provence Airport was where theGIGN stormedAir France Flight 8969, which had been hijacked by 4GIA terrorists. All four hijackers were killed and the passengers were freed.
In the 21st century Marseille regularly attracts media attention due todrug trafficking and shootings that take place especially in the north of the city.
By 500BC Massalia was making its own wine, and its own amphoras to export it.
[...] le général Jean-François Carteaux est envoyé par la Convention pour mater les insurgés. Lui et ses troupes s'emparent de la ville le 25 août 1793 et y installent un tribunal révolutionnaire. En guise de punition pour son insurrection, Marseille sera brièvement rebaptisée la "Ville-sans-nom". Symboliquement, elle retrouvera toute sa place dans la République lorsque, le 14 juillet 1795, la Marseillaise est officiellement adoptée comme chant national, puis hymne à la fin du XIXe siècle.
