Compsa (modern

Conza della Campania Conza della Campania (or Conza di Campania; formerly called Compsa, commonly known as Conza (Campanian: )) is a '' comune'' (municipality) and former Latin Catholic (arch)bishopric in the province of Avellino in the region of Campania in souther ...

) was an ancient city of the

Hirpini The Hirpini ( Latin: ') were an ancient Samnite tribe of Southern Italy. While generally regarded as having been Samnites, sometimes they are treated as a distinct and independent nation. They inhabited the southern portion of Samnium, in the mo ...

, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of

Lucania Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...

and not far from that of

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, on a ridge 609 m above sea level. It was betrayed to

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...

in 216 BC after the defeat of

Cannae Cannae (now Canne della Battaglia, ) is an ancient village of the Apulia region of south east Italy. It is a ''frazione'' (civil parish) of the '' comune'' (municipality) of Barletta. Cannae was formerly a bishopric, and is presently (2022) a L ...

, but recaptured two years later. It was probably occupied by

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

in 89 BC, and was the scene of the death of

Titus Annius Milo Titus Annius Milo (died 48 BC) was a Roman political agitator. The son of Gaius Papius Celsus, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus. In 52 BC, he was prosecuted for the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher and exiled from ...

in 48 BC. Most modern sources, for example Hülsen in Pauly-Wissowa's ''Realencyclopädie'' (Stuttgart, 1901, iv. 797), refer

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

's ''

Commentarii de Bello Civili ''Commentarii de Bello Civili'' ''(Commentaries on the Civil War)'', or ''Bellum Civile'', is an account written by Julius Caesar of his war against Gnaeus Pompeius and the Roman Senate. It consists of three books covering the events of 49� ...

'' (iii. 22) and Pliny's ''Naturalis Historiæ''Plin. ''HN'' 3.105.4 http://latin.packhum.org/loc/978/1/250/2873-2879 to this place, supposing the ancient manuscripts to be corrupt. Thus the usual identification of the site of Milo's death with Cassano allo Ionio on the

Gulf of Taranto The Gulf of Taranto ( it, Golfo di Taranto; Tarantino: ; la, Sinus Tarentinus) is a gulf of the Ionian Sea, in Southern Italy. The Gulf of Taranto is almost square, long and wide, making it the largest gulf in Italy, and it is delimited by the ...

must be incorrect. In imperial times, as inscriptions show, it was a , but it lay far from any of the main highways. The ruins of the ancient city were studied again, when they reappeared after the destruction of the modern town in the

1980 Irpinia earthquake The 1980 Irpinia earthquake ( it, Terremoto dell'Irpinia) took place in Italy on 23 November 1980, with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). It left at least 2,483 people dead, at least 7,700 injured, a ...

References

Roman towns and cities in Magna Grecia Roman sites of Campania Former populated places in Italy Archaeological sites in Campania {{Campania-geo-stub