Terracotta under glass

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The window is reflected in the showcase and also on the glass floor.
In the display case are Roman roof tiles stamped LXFRE. 

The tiles and many other ceramic elements were manufactured here, under the floor of the Jerusalem convention center, in a Roman kiln, some 1,900 years ago. 
LXFRE  stands for Legio X Frentensis,  the famous Tenth Legion of the Roman Empire. 

The kilns were discovered I think in the 1950s, when the foundations were being dug for the huge Binyanei HaUma convention hall. 
Two of the kilns were left in situ and the building was built over them. 
Sometimes (rarely), the basement room is unlocked and you can go in and observe the antiquities up close instead of through glass. 
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See a Roman soldier's sandal print in one tile in an earlier post and in this one too.
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(Linking to Weekend Reflections and Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Made in Jerusalem

Remember the Roman antiquities in the basement that we posted about yesterday?
Preserved under and behind glass are two kilns used by the Roman Tenth Legion 1,900 years ago.

If you wouldn't mind, click and enlarge this and the other photos of signs. They tell the whole story.

Stamped on the tiles are the symbols of the Legio X Frentensis--a warship and a wild boar.

I read elsewhere that the Romans added the unclean, traif, unkosher boar/pig just to anger the Judean subjects of Caesar. Maybe . . .

Here is how the tiles were hung on a slanting roof.

Here's how the tiles were manufactured.

Much like the sauna in today's Northern countries, the Roman bathhouses served as a social meeting place. The Legionaries built, used, and maintained them.

Pillars of round or square bricks supported the floor of the caldarium, the room with a hot plunge bath.

Hot air from a furnace circulated under the floor and in hollow bricks in the wall, heating the caldarium.

Trapezoidal bricks were designed especially for arches and vaulted ceilings.

Each segment fit snugly into the other, forming pipes to carry either water or sewage. The pipes could stretch for miles.

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Thankfully, the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem knew how to build as well as do battle. And thankfully, the Israel Antiquities Authority had the good sense and the vision to preserve part of this site right here in the middle of modern Jerusalem.

Roman Tenth Legion

Guess what's under Jerusalem's International Convention Center!
Hint: today's post is for R Day at ABC Wednesday.

R is for Roman kilns from over 1,900 years ago!

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The Roman Tenth Legion was stationed in Jerusalem for over 200 years. When they were not busy quelling Jewish rebellions (The Great Revolt, 66-70 CE, and the Bar-Kochba Rebellion, 132-135 CE), destroying the Temple and Jerusalem and killing her citizens, the Legionnaires were busy building infrastructure and army camps, public buildings, and bathhouses.

When foundations for the convention center were dug, the Roman factory was discovered.

For the full story, click on the photo above.

Two of the kilns were left in place and put on display under the blue glass.

Once, while at the Book Fair, I walked slowly on the glass floor, looking down in wonder. A woman sitting on the stool drinking coffee called to me, "Did you lose something?" Then I realized that many visitors don't even know the antiquities are there.

The kilns and some of the earthenware products are enclosed in a glass room. The door is more often than not locked.

Upstairs, glass cases on the wall show the roof tiles, pipe sections, and bricks that the Roman soldiers produced at the factory. Maybe tomorrow I can show you them.

But my favorite is the story (described in the sign above) of the hobnail sandal (cleats protruding from the bottom of the sole), called caliga.

Some of the square bricks had sandal-prints in them. Apparently while the bricks were drying, before they were fired, a soldier stepped on them by mistake! So, beside the prestigious Tenth Legion stamp of LXFRE, Legio X Frentensis, there is a footprint of a simple Roman soldier.

This is so very human! I almost cried.

Sometimes archaeology does that, lets you feel a bond with one individual, one in whose footsteps we now walk.