the second temple in jerusalem was rebuilt during the reign of darius the great.
the second temple in jerusalem was rebuilt during the reign of darius the great.
the second temple in jerusalem was rebuilt during the reign of?
darius the great
according to the book of ezra, construction of the second temple was authorized by cyrus the great and began in 538 bce, after the fall of the babylonian empire the year before. it was completed 23 years later, on the third day of adar, in the sixth year of the reign of darius the great (12 march 515 bce), dedicated by the jewish governor zerubbabel. however, with a full reading of the book of ezra and the book of nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the second temple, which were issued by three kings. cyrus in 536 bce, which is recorded in the first chapter of ezra. next, darius i of persia in 519 bce, which is recorded in the sixth chapter of ezra. third, artaxerxes i of persia in 457 bce, which was the seventh year of his reign, and is recorded in the seventh chapter of ezra. finally, by artaxerxes again in 444 bce in the second chapter of nehemiah. also, despite the fact that the new temple was not as extravagant or imposing as its predecessor, it still dominated the jerusalem skyline and remained an important structure throughout the time of persian suzerainty. moreover, the temple narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 bce when the jews refused to acknowledge the deification of alexander the great of macedonia. alexander was allegedly "turned from his anger" at the last minute by astute diplomacy and flattery. further, after the death of alexander on 13 june 323 bce, and the dismembering of his empire, the ptolemies came to rule over judea and the temple. under the ptolemies, the jews were given many civil liberties and lived content under their rule. however, when the ptolemaic army was defeated at panium by antiochus iii of the seleucids in 198 bce, this policy changed. antiochus wanted to hellenize the jews, attempting to introduce the greek pantheon into the temple. moreover, a rebellion ensued and was brutally crushed, but no further action by antiochus was taken, and when antiochus died in 187 bce at luristan, his son seleucus iv philopator succeeded him. however, his policies never took effect in judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension.
temple in jerusalem
bullet::::- schiffman, lawrence, ed. 1998. "texts and traditions: a source reader for the study of second temple and rabbinic judaism". hoboken, nj: ktav.









































bullet::::- stone, michael, ed. 1984. "the literature of the jewish people in the period of the second temple and the talmud". 2 vols. philadelphia: fortress.









































section::::external links.









































bullet::::- resources > second temple and talmudic era > second temple jerusalem the jewish history resource center, project of the dinur center for research in jewish history, the hebrew university of jerusalem









































bullet::::- "jewish encyclopedia": temple, the second









































bullet::::- 4 enoch: the online encyclopedia of second temple judaism
second temple