Compsa

Description

Compsa (modern Conza della Campania) was an ancient city of the Hirpini, near the sources of the Aufidus, on the boundary of Lucania and not far from that of Apulia. It was betrayed to Hannibal in 216 BC after the defeat of Cannae, but recaptured two years later. It was probably occupied by Sulla in 89 BC, and was the scene of the death of Titus Annius Milo in 48 BC.

In imperial times, as inscriptions show, it was a municipium, 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.