JUDAEA, LEGIONARY COUNTERMARKS. Legio X Fretensis. Sebaste or Aelia Capitolina, circa 132-135. AE (Bronze, 23 mm, 10.31 g). Laureate head of Hadrian to right; two countermarks: L•X•F above boar standing right above dolphin swimming right; all within rectangular incuse; and galley to right within rectangular incuse. Rev. Veiled figure ploughing right with two oxen; behind, vexillum. Meshorer 2. RPC III 3964. Sofaer 2-4. Countermarks: Howgego 291 and 410. Host coin fair, countermarks fine.


The Legio X Fretensis was the backbone of the Roman forces that crushed the First Jewish War in 66–70. Under the command of Marcus Ulpius Traianus, father of the future Emperor Trajan, the legion conquered Tarichaia and Gamala and destroyed the community at Qumran, where the famous Dead Sea Scrolls most likely came from. Stationed on the Mount of Olives, Legio X also played a crucial role in the capture of Jerusalem in 70 CE, and in the subsequent crushing of the last Jewish resistance at the Herodium in 71 and at Masada in 73 CE.