MASSILIA

Massalia was an ancient Greek colony (apoikia) on the Mediterranean coast, east of the Rhône. Settled by Ionians from Phocaea ca. 600 BC, this apoikia grew up rapidly, and became the center of Greek trade in western Mediterranean, branching out and creating many outposts on the coasts of what is now Spain, the south of France, and northwestern Italy. Massalia persisted as an independent colony until the Roman campaign in Gaul in the 1st century BC. The ruins of Massalia still exist in the contemporary city of Marseille, which is considered the oldest city of France and one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited settlements.