My Life in Provence: Aquae Sextia vs Massalia

One of the favourite pastimes of the Aixois, whether they’re true locals or not, is fervently discussing the town’s many qualities. They cite the climate, culture and architecture; rave about the shopping and countryside; and compare notes on their favourite Luberon village, Mediterranean beach, local wine and restaurant. When we first moved here, I’d often enthusiastically add how wonderful it was to have Marseille on our doorstep – I don’t do that anymore…

The Aix-Marseille rivalry goes back a mere two millennia. Massalia, as Marseille was then called, existed as a thriving Greek port and commercial centre for over four centuries before Aix-en-Provence was founded. When a tribe of Gauls named the Salyens started attacking Marseille, the Greeks called their allies in Rome for help. Roman consul Gaius Sextius Calvinus and his army conquered the Salyens in 123BC. He also found a warm-water spring in a soft valley that would make a good place for a settlement – Aquae Sextia (Sextius’ Springs) would become the city we now call Aix-en-Provence.

The origins of Greek Marseille and Roman Aix seem to have influenced the two cities ever since. Marseille’s character is that of a Mediterranean port, one filled with savvy successors of the fractious Greek merchants. It’s a working city, shut off from the rest of Provence by a ring of hills but connected to the entire Mediterranean basin via the ships that use its harbour every day. Italians, North Africans, Armenians and Chinese all leave their mark, giving the city its cosmopolitan and gritty charm. While an ancient Athenian wouldn’t know what to make of the dazzling modernist architecture of the newly-opened MuCEM (Museum of the Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean), he’d feel at home among the buzz of dozens of languages that can be heard in the time it takes you to drink a petit café on a terrace in the Vieux Port.