GAULE - MASSALIA circa 125-90 Draped, diademed bust of Artemis right, quiver on left shoulder. R/. Lion standing left, raising right front paw. Below, Δ. In exergue, AΛ. Light silver drachma (2.79 g). Nice bluish patina. A very fine example. Expert : Madame Françoise BERTHELOT-VINCHON MASSALIA Marseille Coins first appeared in Gaul in the 6th century B.C. through the Greek colony of Marseille, the first monetary workshop on French soil. Marseille or Massalia was a Phocaean colony founded not far from the Rhone delta around 600 BC by Greeks from Phocaea, a city in Asia Minor. The Phocaeans wanted to promote trading posts to rival the Carthaginians and Etruscans for domination of the western Mediterranean. They settled in the Lacydon inlet, which today forms the Old Port. As early as the 6th century, the Massaliotes placed themselves under the protection of Delphian Apollo and Artemis, both of whom can be seen on the city's coins. Coinage therefore began at the end of the 6th century and continued until 49 BC. The cult of Artemis The temple of Artemis Ephesia was a sanctuary in ancient Massalia. The sanctuary is linked to the mythology surrounding the founding of the city of Massalia by the Greeks in the 7th century B.C. It was a temple dedicated to the Ephesian version of Artemis, and her cult in Massalia was closely linked to her cult in Ephesus . One of Massalia's three most important sanctuaries, alongside the temple of Apollo Delphinios and the temple of Athena.