and under Roman rule it enjoyed considerable prosperity (C.I.L. x. p. 742). It obtained municipal rights from Augustus and became a colony under Pertinax or Septimus Severus. The Saracens gave it its present name, Marsa Ali, port of Ali. The harbour, which lay on the north-east, was destroyed by Charles V. to prevent its occupation by pirates. The modern harbour lies to the south-east. In 1860 Garibaldi landed at Marsala with 1000 men and began his campaign in Sicily. Scanty remains of the ancient Lilybaeum (fragments of the city walls, of squared stones, and some foundations of buildings between the walls and the sea) are visible; and the so-called grotto and spring of the Sibyl may be mentioned. To the east of the town is a great fosse which defended it on the land side, and beyond this again are quarries like those of Syracuse on a small scale. The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the earlier city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887. The main street (the Cassaro) perpetuates the name castrum.
MARSDEN, WILLIAM (1754–1836), English orientalist, the
son of a Dublin merchant, was born at Verval, Co. Wicklow on
the 16th of November 1754. He was educated in Dublin, and
having obtained an appointment in the civil service of the East
India Company arrived at Benkulen, Sumatra, in 1771. There
he soon rose to the office of principal secretary to the government,
and acquired a knowledge of the Malay language and country.
Returning to England in 1779 with a pension, he wrote his
History of Sumatra, published in 1783. Marsden was appointed
in 1795 second secretary and afterwards first secretary to the
admiralty. In 1807 he retired and published in 1812 his Grammar
and Dictionary of the Malay Language, and in 1818 his
translation of the Travels of Marco Polo. He was a member of
many learned societies, and treasurer and vice-president of the
Royal Society. In 1834 he presented his collection of oriental
coins to the British Museum, and his library of books and
Oriental MSS. to King’s College, London. He died on the 6th
of October 1836.
Marsden’s other works are: Numismata orientalia (London, 1823–1825); Catalogue of Dictionaries, Vocabularies, Grammars and Alphabets (1796); and several papers on Eastern topics in the Philosophical Transactions and the Archaelogia.
MARSEILLES, a city of southern France, chief seaport of France and of the Mediterranean, 219 m. S. by E. of Lyons and 534 m. S.S.E. of Paris, by the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway. Pop. (1906), commune 517,498; town 421,116. Marseilles is situated on the Golfe du Lion on the eastern shore of a bay protected to the south by Cape Croisette but open towards the west; to the east the horizon is bounded by an amphitheatre of hills, those in the foreground clothed with vegetation while the more distant eminences are bare and rugged. The city is built on undulating ground and the south-western and most aristocratic quarter covers the slopes of the ridge crowned by a fort and the church of Notre-Dame de la Garde and projecting westward into the bay to form a protection for the harbour. The newest and most pleasant portion lies on the south-eastern slope of the ridge, between the southern end of the Rue Paradis and the Prado avenues, which is better protected than most other quarters from the mistral that blows down the Rhone valley, and where in summer the temperature is always a little lower than in the centre of the town. The old harbour of Marseilles opens on the west to the Golfe du Lion, the famous Rue Cannebière[1] prolonged by the Rue Noailles leading E.N.E. from its inner end. These two streets are the centre of the life of the city. Continued in the Allées de Meilhan and the Boulevard de la Madeleine, they form one of its main arteries. The other, at right angles with the first, connects the Place d’Aix with the spacious and fashionable Promenade du Prado, by way of the Cours Belsunce and the Rue de Rome. Other fine streets—the Rue St Ferréol, the Rue Paradis and the Rue Breteuil are to the south of the Cannebière running parallel with the Rue de Rome. To these must be added the neighbouring avenue of Pierre Puget named after the sculptor whose statue stands in the Borély Park. The Prado, with its avenues of trees and fine houses, runs to within a quarter of a mile of the Huveaune, a stream that borders the city on the south-east, then turns off at right angles and extends to the sea, coming to an end close to the Borély Park and the race-course. From its extremity the Chemin de la Corniche runs northwards along the coast, fringed by villas and bathing establishments, to the Anse des Catalans, a distance of 412 miles.
The old town of Marseilles is bounded W. by the Joliette basin and the sea, E. by the Cours Belsunce, S. by the northern quay of the old port, and N. by the Boulevard des Dames. It consists of a labyrinth of steep, dark and narrow streets inhabited by a seafaring population. Through its centre runs the broad Rue de la République, extending from the Cannebière to the Place de la Joliette. The entrance to the old harbour is defended by Fort St Jean on the north and Fort St Nicolas on the south. Behind the latter is the Anse (Creek) de la Réserve. Beyond this again, situated in succession along the shore, come the Château du Pharo, given by the empress Eugénie to the town, the Anse du Pharo, the military exercising ground, and the Anse des Catalans. To the old harbour, which covers only 70 acres with a mean depth of 1912 ft. and is now used by sailing vessels, the basin of La Joliette (55 acres) with an entrance harbour was added in 1853. Communicating with the old harbour by a channel which passes behind Fort St Jean, this dock opens on the south into the outer harbour, opposite the palace and the Anse du Pharo. A series of similar basins separated from the roadstead by a jetty 212 m. long was subsequently added along the shore to the north, viz. the basins of Lazaret and Arenc, bordered by the harbour railway station and the extensive warehouses of the Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts, the Bassin de la Gare Maritime with the warehouses of the chamber of commerce; the Bassin National with the refitting basin, comprising six dry docks behind it; and the Bassin de la Pinède entered from the northern outer harbour. These new docks have a water area of 414 acres and over 11 m. of quays, and are commodious and deep enough for the largest vessels to manœuvre easily.
In the roads to the south-west of the port lie the islands of Ratonneau and Pomègue, united by a jetty forming a quarantine port. Between them and the mainland is the islet of Château d’If, in which the scene of part of Dumas’ Monte Cristo is laid.
Marseilles possesses few remains of either the Greek or Roman periods of occupation, and is poor in medieval buildings. The old cathedral of la Major (Sainte-Marie-Majeure), dating chiefly from the 12th century and built on the ruins of a temple of Diana, is in bad preservation. The chapel of St Lazare (late 15th century) in the left aisle is in the earliest Renaissance style, and a bas-relief of white porcelain by Lucca della Robbia is of artistic value. Beside this church and alongside the Joliette basin is a modern building begun in 1852, opened for worship in 1893 and recognized as the finest modern cathedral in France. It is a Byzantine basilica, in the form of a Latin cross, 460 ft. long, built in green Florentine stone blended with white stone from the neighbourhood of Arles. The four towers which surmount it—two at the west front, one over the crossing, one at the east end—are roofed with cupolas. Near the cathedral stands the bishop’s palace, and the Place de la Major, which they overlook, is embellished with the statue of Bishop Belsunce, who displayed great devotion during the plague of 1720–1721. The celebrated Notre-Dame de la Garde, the steeple of which, surmounted by a gilded statue of the Virgin, 30 ft. in height, rises 150 ft. above the summit of the hill on which it stands, commands a view of the whole port and town, as well as of the surrounding mountains and the neighbouring sea. The present chapel is modern and occupies the site of one built in 1214.
On the south side of the old harbour near the Fort St Nicolas stands the church of St Victor, built in the 13th century and once attached to an abbey founded early in the 4th century. With its lofty crenellated walls and square towers built of large blocks of uncemented stone, it resembles a fortress. St Victor is built
- ↑ From the Latin cannabis, Provençal cannèbe, “hemp,” in allusion to the rope-walks formerly occupying its site.
