CAINO
(Chinon) Touraine, France.
On the
river Vienne, 16 km upstream from its confluence with
the Loire at Condate (Candes, where St. Martin died
about 397), and 48 km SW of Caesarodunum, capital of
the Civitas Turanorum (Tours). Earlier a Gallic oppidum (Caino is a Celtic word meaning beautiful, related
to German
schön), in Roman times it was a prosperous
small town. At the end of the 3d c. the castle was walled
against the Bagaudes and other invaders. An important
pre-Roman road linking Caesarodunum (Tours) to Lugdunum (Loudun) and Poitou, by Rotomagus (Pont-de-Ruan) crossed the Vienne at a ford 4.8 km upstream of Chinon, at Riparia (Rivière).
Excavations in 1824-26 in several parts of the castle
led to the discovery of the Gallo-Roman 3d c. wall,
made of huge blocks of stone, fragments of reused sculptures, funeral stelai, etc., from local monuments, and hard
mortar. Under the wall were found 15 holes filled with
ashes. The principal sculptures are preserved in towers
of the castle and the Archaeological Museum in Tours.
Roman coins of Postumus (261-267) and Tetricus (268-273) come from the same excavations.
Villas have been found in the town and on its E
border, with hypocausts, fragments of columns, coins,
sherds of sigillata and other wares, tiles, etc.; the principal sites are la Grange Liénard, l'Olive Guéritaude, and
l'Hôtel de France. The material is preserved in the local
Musée des Amis du Vieux Chinon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Duvernay, “Recherches archéologiques et découverte de matériel gallo-romain au Château
de Chinon de 1824 à 1826,”
Bull. trimest. de la Soc.
Archéol. de Touraine 12,2 (1900) 121-30; G. Richault,
Histoire de Chinon (1926) 11-25; R. Mauny, “Poteries
gallo-romaines trouvées à Chinon,”
Bull. Soc. des Amis
du Vieux Chinon 5,1-2 (1946-47) 60-61; J. Boussard,
Carte
archéologique de la Gaule romaine, Fasc. XIII,
Indreet-Loire (1960) 35-37; J. Zocchetti, R. Mauny, & A.
Heron, “Découverte d'une villa gallo-romaine à Chinon,”
Bull. Soc. Amis du Vx. Chinon, 6,10 (1966) 164-70.
R. MAUNY
