the Romans decided to build a major naval base on the shores of Étang de Diane. Starting in 80 BC under Sulla as dictator they rebuilt the city on the promontory at Aléria, naming it Aleria. The city rose to prominence under Augustus, becoming the provincial capital of Corsica. Major fleets were stationed on the étang. Ptolemy mentions it but says little about it, only mentioning "Aleria Colonia", the Rotanus River and Diana Harbor. He lists the "native races" inhabiting the island, but their geographical coordinates do not match those of Aleria; perhaps the Roman town was not considered among them. In the later Roman Empire, the port and the city declined. It never recovered from a disastrous fire of 410 AD and in 465 was sacked by the Vandals. Subsequently, it became a small village of no interest to any major power. These events must mark the end of its classical antiquity. It was buried bit by bit by the Tavignano and the Tagnone rivers, which also created the deadly marshes. The region became subsumed under a Christian parish. Medieval and modern In the 13th century, Aleria became of interest to the Republic of Genoa. By that time the Latin language was gone, but it had developed into Corsu on Corsica, in parallel with the development of other Romance languages. The commune of Aléria was created in 1824, but it did not truly begin to revive until after 1945, after the allies (chiefly American) had undertaken to eradicate malaria (1944). An organization, SOMIVAC (Société d'aménagement pour la mise en valeur de la Corse) was created in 1957 to resurrect agriculturally the entire eastern plain under government sponsorship. It had great success in developing the region. A massive archaeological effort got underway in 1955. Ecclesiastical There is some evidence that Corsica was being converted to Christianity in the late 6th century. Pope Gregory the Great wrote in 597 to Bishop Peter of Alaria to recover lapsed converts and to convert more pagans from the worship of trees and stones. He sent him money for baptismal robes. In 601, however, Aleria was without a bishop (see under Ajaccio). Aleria was a residential diocese, suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pisa, which became a dogal state in Italy. It counted among its bishops Saint Alexander Sauli. On 29 November 1801, in accordance with the Napoleontic Concordat of 1801, it was suppressed as