page_title: Fréjus
section_title: Roman city
hierarchical_section_title: Fréjus / History / Roman city
context_page_description: Fréjus is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
  It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one town. The north of the commune forms part of the Estérel Massif.
  On 2 December 1959, the Malpasset Dam, on the Reyran River above Fréjus, ruptured, killing over 400 people.
context_section_description: It was at Forum Julii that Octavius repatriated the galleys taken from Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Between 29 and 27 BC, it became a colony for his veterans of the 8th legion, adding the suffix Octavanorum Colonia.
  Augustus made the city the capital of the new province of Narbonensis in 22 BC, spurring rapid development. It became one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean; its port was the only naval base for the Roman fleet of Gaul and only the second port after Ostia until at least the time of Nero.
  Subsequently, under Tiberius, the major monuments and amenities still visible today were constructed: the amphitheatre, the aqueduct, the lighthouse, the baths and the theatre. Forum Julii had impressive walls of 3.7 km length that protected an area of 35 hectares. There were about six thousand inhabitants. The territory of the city, the civitas forojuliensis, extended from Cabasse in the west to Fayence and Mons in the north.
  It became an important market town for craft and agricultural production. Agriculture developed with villa rusticas such as at Villepey and St. Raphael. Mining of green sandstone and blue porphyry and fish farming contributed to the thriving economy.
  In 40 AD Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who later completed the Roman conquest of Britain, was born in Forum Julii. He was father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, whose biography of Agricola mentions that Forum Julii was an "ancient and illustrious colony". The city was also mentioned several times in the writings of Strabo and Pliny the Elder.
  In early 69 the Battle of Forum Julii was fought between the armies of the rival emperors Otho and Vitellius. The exact location of this battle is not known, but afterwards Vitellius retreated to Antipolis.
  The 4th century saw the creation of the diocese of Fréjus, France's second largest after that of Lyon; the building of the first church is attested in 374 with the election of a bishop. Saint-Léonce became Bishop of Fréjus in 433 and wrote:
  "From 374, at the Council of Valencia, a bishop was appointed in Frejus, but he never came. I was the first of the bishops of that city. I was able to build the first Cathedral with its Baptistery."
  The decay of Rome led to that of the cities of its empire.
caption: Roman baths: fridarium arch (Porte Dorée)
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