ROME, ITALY—Live Science reports that archaeologists have uncovered a villa at the edge of the ancient city of Fregellae, which the Roman army razed in 125 B.C. A layer of fire damage shows that the villa’s buildings and the surrounding crops were destroyed at the same time as the city. A Roman military camp protected by a fortified wall and a moat has also been found nearby. Founded as a Roman colony, Fregellae was home to many Samnites, a non-Roman people who had once been enemies of the Roman Republic. The city’s residents are known to have rebelled against Rome, according to Dominik Maschek of the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology and Trier University. “It is only mentioned in two or three sources,” Maschek said. “We hear about the siege, they tell us these people rebelled against the Romans, but we don’t know why,” he explained. Later, between 91 and 87 B.C., several of Rome’s allies in Italy also rebelled, demanding full Roman citizenship. Maschek thinks the rebellion at Fregellae may have had the same goal. The site of the destroyed city remained unused for more than 170 years, however, until it was repurposed as a landfill, he concluded. To read about agitation for Roman citizenship by the residents of Pompeii, go to "Weapons of the Ancient World: Siege Weapons."
