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49 BC is not an incidental date. That year, Caesar crossed the Rubicon and marched on Rome, triggering civil war and immediately disrupting trade networks throughout southern Gaul. Massalia, a Greek colonial city that had maintained independence and commercial dominance on the Gaulish coast for centuries, made the catastrophic decision to back Pompey. Caesar besieged the city for six months. It fell in late 49 BC, stripped of its fleet, treasury, and political autonomy — ending Massalia's long run as an independent minting authority.

This small bronze may have been struck before the siege tightened, making it among the final independent issues of a city that had been producing coinage since the sixth century BC.