Mythe fondateur de Marseille : Gyptis/Petta présentant sa coupe à Protis/Euxène

This illustration depicts the founding myth of Marseille: Gyptis, or Petta, presents her cup to Protis, also called Euxenes, in the nuptial choice scene that symbolically founds Massalia. At the center, the young woman stands holding a cup in one hand and a jug in the other, before an assembly of warriors, chiefs, and witnesses gathered in an interior resembling a princely hall. The weapons hung on the wall, the animal trophies, and the presence of dogs in the foreground reinforce the scene’s aristocratic, ritual, and legendary character. Produced for François Guizot’s book, the image does not attempt to reconstruct a historically documented event, but to give visual form to the story of Marseille’s Greek origins as transmitted and reinterpreted in the modern era. It therefore illustrates the enduring place of this myth in the French historical imagination surrounding the foundation of the Phocaean city.