Who was Eleazar Bar Ger, and what brought him to the magnificent Alexandrium, a fortress built 2,000 years ago by Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus?

Israeli researchers recently identified the mysterious man’s name scribbled on an ostracon, or inscribed pottery sherd, found in the fortress over 40 years ago, Bar-Ilan University announced last month. The presence of the artifact at the site could open dramatic developments in the understanding of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-74 CE), as it might testify that Jewish rebels used Alexandrium for their military efforts.

“We are talking about an impressive structure built in the first century BCE,” Dr. Dvir Raviv from Bar-Ilan University told The Times of Israel via telephone. “The site was last excavated in the early 1980s on behalf of the Hebrew University [of Jerusalem] by Prof. Yoram Tsafrir and Prof. Yitzhak Magen, and the results of the excavation were never fully published. Today, we are examining them again.”

Alexandrium, or Sartaba as it is referred to in Hebrew sources such as the Talmud, is located in the Jordan Valley, in what is now the West Bank, around five kilometers (three miles) north of the settlement of Yafit.

The finds from the 1980s encompass several ostraka, including the one bearing the name of Eleazar. According to Raviv, these ostraka could open unprecedented insights into the end of the Second Temple period.

“These inscriptions, mostly in ancient Aramaic, are very similar to those found in archaeological sites connected to the Jewish Revolt, like Masada and Herodium,” Raviv noted. “However, we do not have any historical sources that suggest Alexandrium was........

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