Tuesday, June 06, 2023

Looted Legio X bricks recovered

APPREHENDED: POLICE SEIZE DOZENS OF CLAY PAVEMENT BRICKS WITH IMPRINTS OF THE LEGIO X EQUESTRIS. ISRAELI POLICE IN JERUSALEM HAVE SEIZED DOZENS OF CLAY PAVEMENT BRICKS WITH IMPRINTS OF THE LEGIO X EQUESTRIS DURING A RAID AGAINST ANTIQUITIES SMUGGLERS. (Markus Milligan, Heritage Daily).
An operation by police in the Beit Hanina neighbourhood in East Jerusalem has led to the discovery of several cartons in a car trunk containing the pavement bricks. The bricks were likely part of a public building such as a bath house, which has since been looted in modern times for sale in the illegal antiquities trade.

The bricks date from roughly 2,000-years-ago and show the stamp of the Legio X Fretensis from when the legion built a military camp after Jerusalem’s destruction.

This is not my area of expertise, but it looks to me as though the "Legio X Equestris" in the headline is an error. As the article itself indicates, the bricks were stamped by the Legio X Fretensis.

The Legio X Equestris was a legion founded by Julius Caesar which was disbanded in the 40s CE. The Legio X Fretensis was founded about twnety years after Equestris and was involved in putting down the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the 130s. For disambiguation, see here.

In 2014 I noted the discovery of a lapidary inscription set up by the Legio X Fretensis in Jerusalem.

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