Marseille

Marseille is a port city, the second largest city in France, located on the Mediterranean coast near the Rhone delta in the Provences-Alpes-Cote d’Azur Region.
It was founded as a Greek Colony in 600 BCE, known to the Greeks and to the Romans as ‘Massilia’, and was in the Province of Gallia Narbonensis.

Founded in 600 BCE, Marseille was a major trading hub for Goods descending the Rhone to reach the Mediterranean and vice versa. After the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE), Marseille preserved its commercial empire and remained independent until 49 BCE.
It was the site of the Siege of Massilia by Julius Caesar in 49 BCE during the Great Roman Civil War (49-45 BCE).
After 49 BCE, despite losing its political independence, Marseille remained a powerful commercial trading hub long after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

in 70 BCE, after the Trial of Verres, the disgraced Propraetor of Sicily was obliged to exile himself in Marseille to avoid prosecution by Cicero.

Museum of the Roman Docks, Place Vivaux, Marseille.
- This museum is permanently closed until further notice.
- The contents from the excavation of 20 Roman shipwrecks found in the harbour of Marseille are in the Museum of the Roman Docks.

The island of If lies opposite the old port of Marseille and houses the Chateau d’If. Completed in 1529, it acted as a prison during its first 400 years.
Alexandre Dumas made the castle famous in his novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, where his hero, Edmond Dantes, is wrongly imprisoned for 14 years. He escapes, finds a hidden treasure on the island of Montecristo, and returns to take his revenge on those who betrayed him.

Photo and map: Chateau d’If, Marseille