JUDAEA, LEGIONARY COUNTERMARKS. Legio X Fretensis. Sebaste or Aelia Capitolina, circa 81/2-132/5. AE (Bronze, 23 mm, 12.93 g). Laureate head of Doros (?) to right; two countermarks: laureate male head to right within oval incuse and L X F within rectangular incuse. Rev. Blank except for two countermarks: L•X•F above boar standing right above dolphin swimming right; all within rectangular incuse; and galley to right within rectangular incuse. Howgego 117, 733, 291 and 410. Rare and with unusually clear countermarks. Host coin fine, countermarks very 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.