Caius Largennius (died c. AD 50) was a legionary of the

Legio II Augusta Legio II Augusta ( Second Legion "Augustus'") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that was founded during the late Roman republic. Its emblems were the Capricornus, Pegasus, and Mars. It may have taken the name "''Augusta''" from a victory ...

. A scion of the

gens Fabia In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; plural: ''gentes'' ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same nomen and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a ''stirps'' (plural: ''stirpes''). The ''gen ...

, he was born in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

and stationed in

Argentoratum Argentoratum or Argentorate was the ancient name of the city of Strasbourg. The name was first mentioned in 12 BC, when it was a Roman military outpost established by Nero Claudius Drusus. From 90 AD the Legio VIII Augusta was permanently stati ...

. His funerary stele, discovered in 1878 in the Strasbourg district of Koenigshoffen, has been much studied and is well documented. It is now kept in the Musée archéologique de Strasbourg.

Funerary stele

The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

stele was found at the current address 27–29, route des Romains, . Its style has been described as "confident and extrovert", the pose of the legionary as "relaxed". The dimensions have been given as: *height *width *depth or, more recently, as: *height *width *depth 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 Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

, whose importance and reliability must have been considerable. Largennius is indeed depicted only with a

gladius ''Gladius'' () is a Latin word meaning "sword" (of any type), but in its narrow sense it refers to the sword of ancient Roman foot soldiers. Early ancient Roman swords were similar to those of the Greeks, called '' xiphe'' (plural; singular ''xi ...

(sword) and a

pugio The ''pugio'' (; plural: ''pugiones'') was a dagger used by Roman soldiers as a sidearm. It seems likely that the ''pugio'' was intended as an auxiliary weapon, but its exact purpose for the soldier remains unknown. Officials of the empire took t ...

(dagger), and his left hand is holding a parchment roll. 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'', i. e. "Caius Largennius, son of Caius, of the Fabia family from Lucca. A soldier of the Scaeva century of the II

legion Legion may refer to: Military * Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army * Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army * Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...

. He died aged 37 after 18 years of service. His resting place is here." 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''). 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 .

References

{{Authority control People from Lucca 1st-century Romans History of Strasbourg Ancient Roman soldiers