'Roman' tile - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - Photography Cees de Jonge
The tile’s exterior largely matches the other bessales found in the Netherlands. Compared to the others, however, this tile is more than twice as thick.
The inscription, ‘GENS BATAVORVM AMICI ET FRATRES ROM(ani) IMP(errii)’, is also curious: if the strong bond between the Batavians and the Roman empire had to be carried out this obviously, why put it on a tile made for underground spaces? Both the thickness of the stone and the inscription thus point to a forgery. The question now, is, why forge it?
