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 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.

According to Theodor Mommsen, Aelius Gallus sailed with 10,000 legionaries from Egypt and landed at Leuce Kome, a trading port of the Nabateans in the northwestern Arabian coast.

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.

[13] An inscription in the temple of Bel in Palmyra dated AD 14-19, signed by the commander of the legion, was dedicated to members of the emperor's family.

[14] This has led experts to believe X Fretensis took part in Germanicus' campaign in the East, as well that the legion was stationed at Zeugma to secure the frontier with Parthia.

[13] In the year 6 CE, Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Syria, led X Fretensis and III Gallica, VI Ferrata, and XII Fulminata in suppressing the revolt that sprung out after the deposition of Herod Archelaus.

After spending the winter in Ptolemais Ace (modern Acre, Israel), X Fretensis and V Macedonica relocated in the coastal city of Caesarea Maritima (67/68).

This was due to the large number of legions being mobilized in Ptolemais, under Marcus Ulpius Traianus, future governor of Syria and father of the emperor Trajan.

In that year X Fretensis, in conjunction with V Macedonica, XII Fulminata, and XV Apollinaris, began the siege of Jerusalem, stronghold of the rebellion.

A new military governor was then appointed from Rome, Sextus Lucilius Bassus, whose assigned task was to undertake the "mopping-up" operations in Judaea.

After the conclusion of the Jewish revolt, Legio X Fretensis was permanently garrisoned in Jerusalem, while Judea proper and Idumaea were designated as a military zone (campus legionis) under the control of its officers.

[15] The legion's main camp was positioned on Jerusalem's Western Hill, located in the southern half of what is now the Old City, which had been levelled of all former buildings.

[16] Alongside its main base in Jerusalem, the legion maintained additional stations in Beit Guvrin and present-day Abu Ghosh.

The war ended when the Roman army — including Fretensis and Danubian troops under the command of Sextus Julius Severus — reconquered the entire territory and successfully besieged the last Jewish stronghold, the fortress of Betar.

[21] In 193, the legion supported Pescennius Niger against Septimius Severus, and was possibly involved in a local struggle between Jews and Samaritans.

[22] The legion moved to Aila, close to modern Aqaba,[23] probably during Diocletian's reforms around 300, and is recorded as still camping there at the time of the compilation of the Notitia Dignitatum in the 390s, when it is reported serving under the Dux Palaestinae.