The polis of Massalia, established at the end of the seventh century, rapidly developed into an important commercial center that controlled a network of coastal emporia in Iberia and elsewhere. Although Massalia maintained ties with the Greek mainland (e.g., by building a treasury at Delphi), its inhabitants’ concerns were more local than Panhellenic. Massalia took no part in the Persian Wars but did from an early period interact on friendly terms with Rome and frequently hostile terms with the Carthaginians. The study of Massalia gives us glimpses of what the Archaic Greek world looked like at and from its western fringes, in an environment where trade played as important a role as warfare in shaping the course of events.