Editing Provence (section)

=== Greeks in Provence ===
{{Main|Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul}}
[[File:Marseille Ancient Harbor.JPG|thumb|Remains of the ancient harbour of [[Marseille|Massalia]], near the Old Port of Marseille]]
Traders from the island of Rhodes were visiting the coast of Provence in the 7th century BC. Rhodes pottery from that century has been found in Marseille, near [[Martigues]] and Istres, and at Mont Garou and Evenos near [[Toulon]]. The traders from Rhodes gave their names to the ancient town of Rhodanousia ({{langx|grc|'Ροδανουσίαν}}) (now [[Trinquetaille]], across the Rhône river from Arles), and to the main river of Provence, the Rhodanos, today known as the Rhône.<ref>J.R. Palanque, ''Ligures, Celtes et Grecs'', in ''Histoire de la Provence'', pg. 39.</ref>

The first permanent Greek settlement was [[Massalia]], established at modern-day Marseille in about 600 BC by colonists coming from [[Phocaea]] (now [[Foça]], on the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] coast of [[Asia Minor]]). A second wave of colonists arrived in about 540 BC, when Phocaea was destroyed by the [[Persian Empire|Persians]].<ref name="R. Palanque, pg. 41">R. Palanque, ''Ligures, Celtes et Grecs'', in ''Histoire de la Provence'', pg. 41.</ref>

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 6,000 inhabitants, living on about fifty hectares surrounded by a wall. It was governed as an aristocratic republic, by an assembly of the 600 wealthiest citizens. It had a large temple of the cult of [[Apollo]] of Delphi on a hilltop overlooking the port, and a temple of the cult of [[Artemis]] of Ephesus at the other end of the city. The Drachma coins minted in Massalia were found in all parts of Ligurian-Celtic Gaul. Traders from Massalia ventured inland deep into France on the Rivers [[Durance]] and Rhône, and established overland trade routes deep into Gaul, and to Switzerland and Burgundy, and as far north as the Baltic Sea. They exported their own products; local wine, salted pork and fish, aromatic and medicinal plants, coral and cork.<ref name="R. Palanque, pg. 41"/>

The Massalians also established a series of small colonies and trading posts along the coast; which later became towns; they founded ''Citharista'' ([[La Ciotat]]); ''Tauroeis'' (Le Brusc);  ''Olbia'' (near [[Hyères]]); ''Pergantion'' (Breganson); ''Caccabaria'' ([[Cavalaire]]); ''Athenopolis'' ([[Saint-Tropez]]);  ''Antipolis'' ([[Antibes]]); ''Nikaia'' ([[Nice]]), and ''Monoicos'' ([[Monaco]]). They established inland towns at ''Glanum'' ([[Saint-Rémy-de-Provence|Saint-Remy]]) and ''Mastrabala'' ([[Saint-Blaise, Alpes-Maritimes|Saint-Blaise]]).

The most famous citizen of Massalia was the mathematician, astronomer and navigator [[Pytheas]]. 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 organised an expedition by ship into the Atlantic and as far north as England, and to visit [[Iceland]], Shetland, and Norway. He was the first scientist to describe drift ice and the midnight sun. Though he hoped to establish a sea trading route for tin from [[Cornwall]], his trip was not a commercial success, and it was not repeated. The Massalians found it cheaper and simpler to trade with Northern Europe over land routes.<ref>R. Palanque, ''Ligures, Celtes et Grecs'', in ''Histoire de la Provence'', pg. 44.</ref>