cyrus the great led the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem.
cyrus the great led the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem.
who led the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem?
cyrus the great
the term "second temple" describes the temple described in the bible as having been built after the accession of cyrus the great to the throne of the persian empire in 559 bce made the re-establishment of the city of jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple possible. the physical evidence for the existence of this temple is extensive. consecrated in 516 bce by the exiles returning from babylon under ezra and nehemiah, it is contained within a far grander edifice. this edifice of the ancient temple mount was expanded at least twice more, once under the hasmonean dynasty and then under herod the great, who turned it into one of the largest built structures in the ancient world.
archaeological remnants of the jerusalem temple
in both the captivity and the jerusalem talmud, the hero escapes the destruction of jerusalem and deportation by falling asleep under "a rocky overhang" or in a cave (a detail modified in 4 baruch), his sleep has a duration of 70 years (not 66 years), and his awakening coincides with the return from exile and the rebuilding of the temple. as piovanelli observes: "it seems clear that the story of the history and the legend of the jerusalem talmud go back to a time when you could still expect a benevolent repetition of history and the rebuilding of a third temple in about 140 years." the priority of the version in 4 baruch has previously been argued for on the basis of its attention to geography and its odd selection of 66 years for the duration of ebedmelech's slumber. however, most of these analyses have relied on the later and more unreliable arabic version. for example, herzer writes that "the 'vineyard of agrippa' becomes 'the garden of his master', probably because the connotations of the former were no longer comprehensible to the author of apocryphon of jeremiah." however, the coptic version in fact reads "the garden of agrippa." as for the change of the sleep period to 66 years, piovanelli explains that this alteration was made "in order to better highlight the futility of such hopes, which had resulted in the defeat of bar kochba and the proclamation of the edict of hadrian in 136 (= 70 + 66)", which barred jews from entering jerusalem on pain of death. the change of the place of repose to the shade of a tree in 4 baruch is unique among the ancient sleep narratives and reminiscent of the iconography of jonah under the castor-oil plant (cf. jonah 4:5-11) found on christian sarcophagi after the fourth century ce. finally, the change of a basket full of figs, grapes, and other fruit becomes solely figs in 4 baruch, which are portrayed with "salvific symbolism." as herzer explains, "baruch understands the fresh figs from abimelech's basket as a symbol of the reward of the pious, or the 'holy ones,' in the time of salvation, specifically the hope of resurrection." all these changes in 4 baruch have a decidedly later and christian tone.
history of the captivity in babylon