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Short description

These Massaliote hoplites are as fierce as the lions presented on their shields.

Description

Massalia finds itself in a difficult position. Being the only major Greek polis in Southern Gaul and being surrounded by various Celtic and Ligurian tribes, it must cement its influence over the strange lands it has colonised. The Massaliote aristocracy has strictly upheld its traditional Ionian laws over the centuries since the foundation of the city around 600 BC. The only way to become a respectable member of the ruling council of 600, the timouchoi, is to have children, thus securing the Greek future, and to be the son of someone who has been a citizen of Massalia for over three generations (Strab. IV.1.4). This conservative practice has made the well-off citizenry a small but proud class of men. Though Massalia’s hoplite force was never huge, possibly counting around 6,000 men at its high-point in the 1st century BC (Dietler, Archaeologies of Colonialism, p. 180), it is battle-hardened from constant fighting with the neighbouring tribes (Iust. 43.3). Demonstrating his traditional ways, the Massaliote hoplite is clad in a Linothorax cuirass, a bronze helmet, and greaves; equipped with a dory (a 2-3m/ 6-9 ft spear), and an aspis, a round shield bearing the Massaliote lion.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Founded around 600 BC by a group of young men from Phokaia in Ionia, Massalia quickly became the most important Greek emporion in the West. It eventually established colonies of its own, among them Emporion, Hemeroskopeion, and Mainake in Iberia, Agathe Tyche in the Languedoc, Nikaia on the Côte d'Azur, and Antipolis on the Ligurian coast. From the late 6th century onwards, Massalia exerted influence throughout Gaul, mainly via trade, relying heavily on importing wheat due to the “ruggedness” of its ground (Strab. IV.1.5). Having both friendly and hostile relationships with its various Ligurian and Celtic neighbours, tensions rose from the early 4th century with the emergence of the aggressive La-Tene culture that replaced the more trade oriented Hallstatt culture in the lands of the Celts. In the hinterland of Massalia, this change is demonstrated by a sudden increase of stone fortifications and ramparts around larger and smaller settlements during this time (Dietler p. 189). Furthermore, Strabo comments on the impressive defences of both Massalia and its colonies, erected against the 'Barbarian' threat, and on the “abundance of vessels, arms and machines, both for the purposes of navigation and for besieging towns”, implying expansionist ambitions of Massalia itself (Stab. IV.1.5). In fact, the Massaliote land forces were never able to conquer and control the Celtic-Ligurian hinterland, though it remains unclear if the government of the city ever actively pursued such a policy in the first place. By the second half of the 2nd century BC, Massalia increasingly called Roman assistance into its wars, resulting in the establishment of the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis in 118 BC (Cic. Font. 5, 13; Vell. Pat. I, 15, 5). During the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, the conservative timouchoi unsurprisingly sided with the Senate, thereby provoking a lengthy siege by Caesar in 49 BC (Caes. Civ. 2, 22). Massalia was overcome after a long fight, yet Caesar acknowledged its autonomy and it remained a free city well into the imperial period (Strab. IV, 1, 5).