600 BC to 122 BC

Gauls and Greeks

People painted the caves of Lascaux some 17,000 years ago. Around 600 BC Greeks from Phocaea founded Massalia, today's Marseille. By then most of the land was held by Celtic peoples the Romans called Gauls, divided into dozens of tribes with fortified hill towns. Around 390 BC a Gallic army even sacked Rome.