A Judean desert cave has yielded four rare coins from the time of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE). Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), in partnership with the Archaeological Office of the Military Administration of Judea and Samaria, discovered the coins during archaeological survey work at the cave, which is in the Mazuq ha-He’teqim Nature Reserve in the West Bank. One of the coins (shown here) features a date palm and an Old Hebrew inscription that reads “Eleazar the Priest.” IAA numismatists believe this may refer to a famous rabbi named Eleazar ha-Modai, who was a significant religious figure […]
