A Roman soldier who destroyed Jerusalem and besieged Masada might have stood on this.

Found in Jerusalem, it is a piece of a square ceramic floor tile. The rectangular impression contains the letters LEXFR, an abbreviation for Legio X Fretensis (the Tenth Legion of the Strait), which was a division of the Roman army that was stationed in Judaea two thousand years ago. The reference to fretensis (or strait) is because one of this legion’s earliest battles was the Battle of Naulochus in 36 BCE in the Strait of Messina between Sicily and southern Italy.

The Tenth Legion was sent to Judaea in 66 CE to help suppress the Jewish revolt against the Romans (see:........

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