Lot 4878
A Fine, Nearly Complete Tile of the Tenth Legion, from Ancient Jerusalem. Israel, late 1st to 2nd century AD. The tile, a paver, is fashioned from a gritty pinkish-orange clay and hard-fired. A square of 7" on each side, and about 1 ½" thick, the tile has impressed on its face a rectangular stamp with the letters "LEG X FR". This stands for "Legio Decima Fretensis." One moderate chip at corner, otherwise the tile is intact. The letters are clearly impressed on this tile, making it a desirable example. An important artifact for the Judaica or military collector.
Estimated Value $750 - 850.
Stationed in Palestine and Syria, the Tenth Legion made up the forces that Vespasian employed in Northern Israel during his campaign of 66 AD. later, the legion comprised a good portion of the troops that destroyed Jerusalem under Titus. Three years later they completed the mopping up of the First Revolt when the captured Masada. Afterwards, the Tenth Legion became the official permanent garrison for the province of Judaea. Following the Bar Kochba revolt, the legion was stationed in Jerusalem (which was renamed Aelia Capitolina by Hadrian) itself. In the early 1990's a major Tenth Legion site was discovered during excavations for a parking lot next to the National Auditorium in Jerusalem. At that time a number of like tiles came on the market, but these have long since been dispersed. See: N. Avigad, Discovering Jerusalem, 1980, P. 206, figs. 2, 3 and 4.
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| Realized $920 |
