Genoa probably had begun as a Ligurian…

Genoa probably had begun as a Ligurian village on the Sarzano Hill overlooking the natural port (today Molo Vecchio) that had prospered through contacts with the Etruscans and the Greeks.

The first historically known inhabitants of the area are the Ligures, although a city cemetery, dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks; the fine harbor probably was in use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans.

It is also probable that the Phoenicians had bases in Genoa, or in the nearby area.

In the Roman ages, Genoa has been overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona.

Different from other Ligures and Celt settlements of the area, Genoa had been allied to Rome through a foedus aequum ("Equal pact") in the course of the Second Punic War.

It had therefore been destroyed by the Carthaginians in 209 BCE.

The town has been rebuilt, and Rome, after defeating the Ligurians in a battle near the city in 180, completes its subjugation of all of Italy, deporting 40,000 Ligurians to other areas of the Republic.