Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A hefty terracotta road brick, rectangular in form, with a stamp reading "LEG I ITAL" which, when translated, reads, "First Italian Legion." Since the Roman military was so large and trampled so much earth underfoot, Roman military leaders dictated that certain infantry legions must construct what amounted to paved roadways. Each legion would create thousands upon thousands of similarly-sized paving bricks and lay them along the paths their fellow militia men would traverse; every single laid brick would have the name of the legion that laid it stamped into the still-wet material before the bricks were fired. Size: 9.6" W x 4.4" H (24.4 cm x 11.2 cm)

Provenance: private Boehmer collection, Cologne, Germnay

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#129367

Surface wear with small losses from the edges commensurate with age. Most of the stamped letters are legible.