Caius Largennius

Caius Largennius (died c. AD 50) was a legionary of the Legio II Augusta. A scion of the gens Fabia, he was born in Lucca and stationed in Argentoratum.[1][2] His funerary stele, discovered in 1878 in the Strasbourg district of Koenigshoffen, has been much studied and is well documented.[3] It is now kept in the Musée archéologique de Strasbourg.

Caius Largennius

Funerary stele

The limestone stele was found at the current address 27–29, route des Romains, 48°34′47″N 7°43′06″E.[4] Its style has been described as "confident and extrovert", the pose of the legionary as "relaxed".[5] The dimensions have been given as:

  • height 147 cm (58 in)
  • width 67 cm (26 in)
  • depth 20 cm (7.9 in)[4]

or, more recently, as:

  • height 150 cm (59 in)
  • width 67 cm (26 in)
  • depth 21 cm (8.3 in)[6]

According to an Italian expert, col. Vittorio Lino Biondi, the "costly" design of the stele and the fact that Largennius is represented only with light armament indicate that he was not a "first line soldier" but a runner, whose importance and reliability must have been considerable.[7] Largennius is indeed depicted only with a gladius (sword) and a pugio (dagger), and his left hand is holding a parchment roll.[8]

The inscription on the stele reads: C. LARGENNIUS/ C. FAB. LUC. MIL./ LEG. II SCAEVAE/ AN. XXXVII STIP./ XVIII H.S.E.; which is transcribed as: Caius Largennius Caii Fabia Luca miles legionis II scaevae annorum XXXVII stipendiorum XVIII hic situs est,[9][4] i. e. "Caius Largennius, son of Caius, of the Fabia family from Lucca. A soldier of the Scaeva century of the II legion. He died aged 37 after 18 years of service. His resting place is here."[10]

A replica of the stele has been set up in Strasbourg, on a square inaugurated in 2009 and named after the legionary (Square Caius Largennius).[11][12] Another replica was unveiled on 24 March 2017 in Lucca, where the "return of the first Lucchese in the world" (Il primo Lucchese nel mondo torna a casa) was greeted with an official ceremony and a public celebration on Piazza San Michele.[1]

References
  1. "Il primo lucchese nel mondo 'torna' a casa". Lucca in Diretta. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  2. "Caius Largennius, il legionario di Lucca". La Gazzetta di Lucca. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  3. For instance in the following publications: Hatt, Jean-Jacques (1964).Strasbourg, musée archéologique. Sculptures antiques régionales. Paris: Éditions des musées nationaux. cat. nr. 1; Russell, Robinson H. (1971). The Universal Soldier. Fourteen Studies in Campaign Life AD 43 − 1944. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. pp. 17–31; Schnitzler, Bernadette; Schneider, Malou (1985). Le Musée archéologique de Strasbourg. Strasbourg: Musées de Strasbourg. p. 94; Schnitzler, Bernadette; Kuhnle, Gertrud (2010). Strasbourg-Argentorate, un camp légionnaire sur le Rhin. Strasbourg: Musées de la ville de Strasbourg. p. 124. See also the bibliography in reference 4, below.
  4. "Stèle funéraire du légionnaire Largennius". Musées de Strasbourg. Archived from the original on 12 April 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. Bromwich, James (2003). The Roman Remains of Northern and Eastern France: A Guidebook. London and New York: Routledge. p. 332. ISBN 0-415-13994-5.
  6. Schnitzler, Kuhnle, p. 124.
  7. Giusti, Nazareno. "Il soldato che torna a casa dopo 2000 anni". Il Giornale OFF. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  8. Hatt, cat. nr. 1.
  9. "Stèle funéraire de". Centre régional de documentation pédagogique de Strasbourg. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  10. "Stele di Caius Largennius" (PDF). Archeo Media. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  11. "Square Caius Largennius". archi-wiki.org. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  12. Jacob, Pierre. "Notre voisin Caius". Lycée Marcel Rudloff. Archived from the original on 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
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