Marseille : Foundation and History

THE FOUNDATION AND HISTORY

A legend exists that Marseille was founded in about 600 BC when it was given as a wedding gift by a Ligurian King to his daughter named Gyptis and his son-in-law who was a Phoceen sailor. There is evidence of human activity in and around Marseille since almost 30,000 years ago, as far back as 6,000 BC. Marseille is one of the cities of the world with a very interesting and intriguing history. Marseille has passed through several journeys, both happy and unfortunate ones and like gold, has passed through seasons of turmoil to become the great French city that it is today, having been invaded and plundered at various points by different entities including Barbarian Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks and a host of different pirates.

The French people weren’t always the inhabitants of Marseille and it was not until 1481 that Marseille became part of the French Kingdom alone side Provence. In fact, once named Massalia, it was founded as an independent Greek Colony with its first major inhabitants being settlers from Phocaea, Modern day Turkey. It, however, lost its independence after the Julius Ceasers civil war which led to the city becoming a Roman City. Many historians suggest that the cause of the war was the fact that they formed an alliance with Pompey, one with Julius Caesar’s opponents. It is also recorded that Marseille closed its gates against Ceaser on this way to Spain. The evasion of Marseille was then a revenge mission. These incidences occurred around 480 BC and the evasion by the Roman Empire led to the city being named “Massalia”.

As a Roman city, Marseille witnessed huge growth, development, and prosperity, and was able to maintain the independence of its seaport, gaining credibility as a major hub for maritime trading and even rose to become one of the major trading port cities in the world at that time. This led to a major boost in the economy of the city although many of its treasures were lost to other port regions. When the Roman Empire fell, Marseille witnessed a decline in trading and port activities but like other times was able to rise up again almost immediately. Religion wise, Marseille was quick to accept and accommodate Christianity and became a major breeding ground for the religion.

Marseille adopted the aristocratic system of government where absolute control lied in the hands of an assembly made up of 600 select senators. Various absurd laws were made. For example, there was a law forbidding women from drinking wine and another law that assisted citizens to commit suicide. It has also been recorded that at a point around 1299, Marseille began practicing monastic rulership which was widely kicked against which led to the bishop being overthrown and ushered in the merchants. This was when the city was renamed Marseille, a name that has been maintained to date.

The City-state had its own fair share of disease outbreaks that claimed the lives of many of its people and different points, challenged the very existence of the city. The first notable plague occurred in 134-, claiming the lives of a lot of people. The 1347 plague was followed by another very terrible one in 1720 which wiped out a total of about 40,000 victims amounting to about 57% of the population at that time. This period is referred to today in history as the period of the Black Death. As a resilient city, Marseille was able to recover from this mishap very easily and in such a short time, that in 1792, they were already key players in the industrial development of France and were able to play a very major rule in the defense of Paris.

Marseille’s history up to the middle ages was one who witnessed a fight fora cultural identity. It is a history of people who strived against all odds and were resilient in their fight to maintain their independence and political autonomy at every point in time, even when under siege.