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FORUM GERMANORUM IN NORTH‐WEST ITALY: THE HOME COMMUNITY AND LIFE OF ARGUABLY THE EARLIEST KNOWN LEGIONARY VETERAN IN BRITAIN
Author(s) -
SAUER EBERHARD
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.2005.00232.x
Subject(s) - excavation , history , archaeology , ancient history , classics
Summary. Excavations at Alchester in Oxfordshire in 2003 yielded the remains of a Roman inscription, smashed into fragments and reused in the foundations of the town wall. It proved to be a tombstone of a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion and it is argued that Alchester was probably the main base of this legion and its famous first commander in Britain, Vespasian. However, the emphasis in this paper is on the home community of the veteran, Forum Germanorum in north‐west Italy, for which the inscription provides the earliest testimony, as well as on the ex‐soldier's career. The precise dating of the monument is of particular significance; it suggests that the deceased was the earliest known legionary veteran to settle in Britain. He is, incidentally, also the only inhabitant of pre‐medieval Oxfordshire (other than, temporarily, Vespasian and some officers of the Second Augustan Legion, if the above theory is accepted) whose life story we know.