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FREJUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 96 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FREJUS , a See also:

town in the See also:department of the See also:Var in S.E. See also:France. Pop. (1906) 3430. It is 281 M. S.E. of Draguignan (the See also:chief town of the department), and 221 M. S.W. of See also:Cannes by See also:rail. It is only important on See also:account of the See also:fine See also:Roman remains that it contains, for it is now a mile from the See also:sea, its See also:harbour having been silted up by the deposits of the See also:Argens See also:river. Since the 4th See also:century it has been a See also:bishop's see, which is in the ecclesiastical See also:province of See also:Aix en See also:Provence. In See also:modern times the neighbouring fishing See also:village at St See also:Raphael (21 M. by rail S.E., and on the sea-See also:shore) has become a town of 4865 inhabitants (in 1901); in 1799 See also:Napoleon disembarked there on his return from See also:Egypt, and re-embarked for See also:Elba in 1814, while nowadays it is much frequented as a See also:health resort, as is also Valescure (2 M. N.W. on the heights above). The See also:cathedral See also:church in See also:part See also:dates from the 12th century, but only small portions of the old See also:medieval episcopal See also:palace are now visible, as it was rebuilt about 1823.

The ramparts of the old town can still be traced for a See also:

long distance, and there are fragments of two moles, of the See also:theatre and of a See also:gate. The See also:amphitheatre, which seated r 2,000 spectators, is in a better See also:state of preservation. The ruins of the See also:great See also:aqueduct which brought the See also:waters of the Siagnole, an affluent of the Siagne, to the town, can still be traced for a distance of nearly 19 m. The See also:original See also:hamlet was the See also:capital of the tribe of the Oxybii, while the town of See also:Forum Julii was founded on its site by See also:Julius See also:Caesar in See also:order to secure to the See also:Romans a harbour See also:independent of that of See also:Marseilles. The buildings of which ruins exist were mostly built by Caesar or by See also:Augustus, and show that it was an important See also:naval station and See also:arsenal. But the town suffered much at the hands of the See also:Arabs, of See also:Barbary pirates, and of its inhabitants,who constructed many of their dwellings out of the ruined Roman buildings. The See also:ancient harbour (really but a portion of the lagoons, which had been deepened) is now completely silted up. Even in See also:early times a See also:canal had to be kept open by perpetual digging, while about 1 700 this was closed, and now a sandy and partly cultivated See also:waste extends between the town and the seashore. • See J. A. See also:Aubenas, Histoire de Frejus (Frejus, 1881) ; Ch. Lentheric, La Provence Maritime ancienne et moderne (See also:Paris, 1880), See also:chap. vii.

(W. A. B.

End of Article: FREJUS

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FRELINGHUYSEN, FREDERICK THEODORE (1817-1885)

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