Before our era, Fréjus was already a settlement of the Massalioten. In 49 B.C. the city became a Roman colony under the Roman name Forum Iulii, located in the province of Gallia Narbonensis. Julius Caesar used the city to supply his troops in the war against Pompey. Emperor Augustus housed part of the fleet captured in the battle of Actium in the harbor of Forum Iulii. At its height, the place was one of the three most important military ports of the Roman Empire, alongside Naples and Ravenna. The sea then reached further inland for another 1 to 2 kilometers and the harbor was equipped with a stone pier. The city prospered and got its own aqueduct that brought water from the Haut-Var from 42 kilometers away, and in the 2nd century an amphitheater that could hold 10,000 spectators.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the city fell into disrepair and only the southern half of the old Roman city remained inhabited. As early as the 4th century, the city was the seat of a bishopric. A baptistery was built in the 5th century. Stones from the old forum were probably reused for the eight columns. Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the city and its surroundings suffered from raids by Saracens, who settled in La Garde-Freinet. The harbor silted up and the bishop of Fréjus had a new harbor and a castrum built in nearby Saint-Raphaël. Fréjus grew into an important episcopal city and the later Pope John XXII, as bishop of Fréjus, had the episcopal buildings strengthened around 1300.

The Diocese of Fréjus was abolished in 1801 and re-established in 1822.

In 1863 the city was connected to the railway network and tourism started. In December 1959, Fréjus made the world news when the nearby Malpasset dam collapsed and caused a 40-metre-high tidal wave. This disaster killed 423 people.

1. Roman remains of an amphitheatre, an aqueduct and ramparts
2. Museum of Archeology
3. cathedral from the 12th century
4. cloister in Romanesque style, dating from the 13th century
5. Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Jérusalem, designed by Jean Cocteau in 1963

The area of ​​Fréjus is 102.27 km², the population density is 532 inhabitants per km² (as of January 1, 2019).

The Argens flows into the Mediterranean Sea in Fréjus. Here lies a nature reserve of 260 hectares, the étangs de Villepey.

Inland lies the Esterel massif, which is largely undeveloped and wooded.

The map below shows the location of Fréjus with the main infrastructure and neighboring municipalities.