Firmidius Severinus

[En 201], Mucianus et Fabianus étaient consuls à Rome, et l’empereur Caracalla régnait depuis trois ans. Moi, Firmidius Severinus, soldat de la VIIIème légion, après 26 ans de service (au lieu de 20, mais la guerre civile de 193 à 197, sous Septime-Sévère, a retardé ma libération), adepte du dieu perse Mithra comme bien des camarades, je lui ai dressé cet autel pour avoir, selon mon vœu, assuré mon salut.

Laurent Flutsch, 2005

The cognomen, Severinus, belongs to a group which seems to have been popular in North Gaul, among the Treveri, Mediomatrici and, in particular, the Ubii. The gentilicium, Firmidius, is widely diffused in various parts of the Empire; there are examples from Noricum, Aquileia, Tridentum and Lugdunum.

In view of his cognomen, it seems possible that Firmidius Severinus was a local recruit to the 8th legion, whose base was at Strasbourg. At the time of his death in A.D. 201 he had served 26 years in the legion, and had therefore seen service under Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Pertinax, and Septimius Severus.

In view of the military operations undertaken in this area after the rebellion of Clodius Albinus and his defeat by Septimius Severus at Lugdunum in A.D. 197, it is not surprising to find a soldier of the 8th legion commemorated at Geneva, which lay on the military way from the Rhine to the Mediterranean.

Firmidius Severinus, a veteran of the vexillation of VIII Augusta seconded in ad 185 to Lugdunum (Lyon), made a dedication deo invicto genio loci, “to the unconquered God, spirit of this place,” at Geneva in 201 (CIL XII 2587). Since he refers to his 26 years of service, but still calls himself miles, he had probably made the move from Lugdunum fairly recently; the very unusual title genio loci suggests a mithraeum or cult room here, presumably founded by Severinus.

Le dédicant de l’autel genevois élevé Muciano et Fabiano Cos. (= 201 ap. J.-C.), Firmidius Severinus, était un ancien soldat de la VIIIe légion Auguste Pia Fidelis Constans Commoda. Libéré après vingt-six ans de service actif, il remercie Mithra de l’avoir gardé en vie. La VIIIe Auguste, qui venait de Pannonie, était alors stationnée en Germanie Supérieure. J. Toutain rappelait justement à ce propos que les provinces danubiennes, surtout la Pannonie et le Norique, ont été «un véritable foyer de rayonnement de la religion mithriaque». Des vexillationes de cette légion sont signalées en Dalmatie et en Rhétie à l’époque de Marc-Aurèle.