Legio X Fretensis

Legio X Fretensis
Map of the Roman empire in AD 125, under emperor Hadrian, showing the LEGIO X FRETENSIS, stationed at Hierosolyma (Jerusalem), in Judaea province, from AD 73 until the 4th century
Active	41 BC to after 410
Country	Roman Empire
Type	Roman legion (Marian)
Garrison/HQ	Judaea (20s BC) Syria (c. 6-66) Jerusalem (ca. 73-late 3rd century) Aila (late 3rd century-after 410s)
Nickname(s)	Fretensis, "of the sea strait"
Mascot(s)	Bull, ship, Neptune, boar
Engagements	Battle of Naulochus (36 BC) Battle of Actium (31 BC) Corbulo Parthian campaign First Jewish-Roman War (66–73) Siege of Masada (72-73) Trajan Parthian campaign Bar Kokhba's revolt (132-135)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo Vespasian (campaign) Titus Lucilius Bassus Trajan (campaign) Sextus Julius Severus

Legio X Fretensis ("Tenth legion of the Strait") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. It was founded by the young Gaius Octavius (later to become Augustus Caesar) in 41/40 BC to fight during the period of civil war that started the dissolution of the Roman Republic. X Fretensis is then recorded to have existed at least until the 410s.

X Fretensis symbols were the bull — the holy animal of the goddess Venus (mythical ancestor of the gens Julia) — a ship (probably a reference to the Battles of Naulochus and/or Actium), the god Neptune, and a boar. The symbol of Taurus may also mean that it was organized between 20 April and 20 May.

Octavian, later known as Augustus, levied a legion and gave it the number ten, as a reference to Julius Caesar's famous Tenth Legion.

In 36 BC, the Tenth Legion fought under Octavian against Sextus Pompey in the Battle of Naulochus, where it earned its cognomen Fretensis. The name refers to the fact that the battle took place near the sea Strait of Messina (Fretum Siculum).

In 31 BC, it fought in the Battle of Actium against Mark Antony. Although Actium was a battle at sea, the legion was able to board enemy ships that had been hooked close by means of an iron grapnel known as the Corvus. Its key participation in this battle is probably the reason that the legion also used a trireme as one of its symbols. Actium marked the end of the civil war and the rise to power of Octavian, who was proclaimed Augustus some years later.