THE STONE OF THE TENTH LEGION

In Jerusalem, history hides in plain sight. A 16th-century Ottoman wall contains a Roman military inscription. A café lamp post turns out to be an ancient column marking the presence of a fearsome legion. And scattered across the Old City are the stones, stamps, and scars left by one of Rome’s most powerful military units: Legio X Fretensis, the Tenth Legion.

This video traces the story of the Roman Tenth Legion in Jerusalem – from the Great Jewish Revolt of 66 CE and the destruction of the Second Temple, through their decades-long presence in the city, to the rebuilding of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina after the Bar-Kokhba revolt. Through inscriptions, reused building stones, archaeological remains, and ancient eyewitness accounts, we uncover how the legion shaped the city and why its traces still surround us today.