Drachm of Artemis and the lion
c. 375–200 BC ・ silver ・ 3rd century BC ・ Massalia (present-day Marseille)
A silver drachm struck by Massalia, the Marseille of today. On the face, the head of the young Artemis with a quiver of arrows at her back. On the back, a walking lion and the four letters ΜΑΣΣΑ, the city's name shortened. It began on a heavy standard and moved in time to a light one, about 2.2 to 2.7 grams of fine silver. A port town that grew no grain trusted the sea rather than the land, and sent out silver cut with its own face and name. It carried the very idea of money that the Greek colonies brought to the western end of the Mediterranean. One of the oldest silver coinages of Gaul, put out by a city that cut its own name into it.