LXV. Leg X Fretensis. Columns 1671-1677. Tr. Alexandr Kolouch
[1671]
The old Caesarian legio decima, which was reformed in the wars following his death (Cicero Ad.fam. X 11, 2. Appian Bell. Civ. III 83, see also Ritterling, De leg. X gem. 4f.) must have been, although not mentioned during the Civil Wars again, the original unit for all other equally numbered legions of the Imperial army. The X Fretensis bears also the emblem of the legions of the Caesarian army, the zodiacal sign of the bull (see col. 1373), on its standards (coin of Victorinus, Cohen VI2 p. 75 no. 62). But it seems that in addition to the bull the legion had certain other distinctive emblems, which were bestowed on the legion on certain occasions. On brick-stamps of the legion from Jerusalem there often appears above the name of the legion LEG X FR a picture of a ship, under the ship a boar (compilation of various examples CIL III p. 2314 no. 1415523 under the reference to pictures; see also Cagnat, Diction. d. Antiqu. III 1075 image 4428), and similar images can be seen on a die of L X F, that was used to mint coins of the city Sebaste in Samaria (Rev. archéol. N. S. XX 251-260 [see also Cagnat 1059 image 4405], where Saulcy instead of the ship wanted to identify a dolphin, see also Wien. Numism. Ztschr. XLVII p. 225 no. 488). To see in the picture of a boar, the animal so detested by Jews, only a deliberate mockery of the religious feeling of this people (so Saulcy 256ff.) would hardly be satisfying, even less so if we know that other legions, for instance I Italica and XX Victrix, have a boar on their standards as well. But the picture of the ship (or dolphin?) may well be in relation to the legion’s epithet. Then the assumption of Mommsen RGDA 2 p. 69, that Fretensis is derived from Fretum (Siculum), on which coast the legion stayed for longer time or accomplished some significant war exploit, is still very probable (see also De leg. X gem. 7, 1).  The relation to the sea corresponds also the display of Neptune, which appears alongside the inscription on a monument (CIL III 13589 = 1415514 p. 2313) erected by the legion to emperor Hadrian in Gadara(?) on the occasion of the Jewish uprising.
If the relationship between the sea-symbols and the meaning of the title is correct, then at the time of the triumvirate the legion already belonged to the army of Octavian, the later Augustus, and probably fought with honor in the war against Sextus Pompeius (so Mommsen), and therefore couldn’t have first been incorporated to the victor’s army after the year 31BC from the defeated forces of Antonius. There is no need to disprove the absolutely groundless hypothesis of Pfitzner p. 17f., that the X Fret. arose first in 5 CE by a diversification from the Spanish X Gemina.
Already at the time of the triumvirate, veterans of legions numbered X were released to colonies;