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by annexing the neo babylonian empire including the territory of the former kingdom of judah which had been annexed as the babylonian province of yehud during the reign of the babylonian king nebuchadnezzar ii who concurrently exiled part of judah s population to babylon 1 following this campaign the persian king cyrus the great issued the edict of cyrus sometimes identified with the cyrus cylinder which is described in the hebrew bible as a royal proclamation that authorized and encouraged the repatriation of displaced populations in the region this event is called the return to zion in ezra nehemiah marking the resurgence of jewish life in what had become the self governing persian province of yehud the reign of the persian king darius the great saw the completion of the second temple signifying a period of renewed jewish hope and religious revival according to the biblical account the second temple was originally a relatively modest structure built under the authority of the persian appointed jewish governor zerubbabel who was the grandson of the penultimate judahite king jeconiah 2 in the 1st century bce herod s efforts to transform the second temple resulted in a grand and imposing structure and courtyard including the large edifices and façades shown in modern models such as the holyland model of jerusalem in the israel museum the temple mount where both solomon s temple and the second temple stood was also significantly expanded doubling in size to become the ancient world s largest religious sanctuary 3 4 the temple complex was not only a place of worship but also served multiple functions including being a site for public assemblies the sanhedrin the supreme judicial court convened in the temple s hall of hewn stones and the compound also hosted one of the largest marketplaces in the city 5 in 70 ce at the height of the first jewish roman war the second temple was destroyed by the roman siege of jerusalem a resulting in a cataclysmic shift in jewish history 6 the loss of the second temple prompted the development of rabbinic judaism which remains the mainstream form of jewish religious practices globally history construction under the persians further information return to zion rebuilding of the temple illustration by gustave doré from the 1866 la sainte bible the accession of cyrus the great of the achaemenid empire in 559 bce made the re establishment of the city of jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple possible 7 8 some rudimentary ritual sacrifice had continued at the site of the first temple following its destruction 9 according to the closing verses of the second book of chronicles and the books of ezra and nehemiah when the jewish exiles returned to jerusalem following a decree from cyrus the great ezra 1 1 4 2 chronicles 36 22 23 construction started at the original site of the altar of solomon s temple 1 these events represent the final section in the historical narrative of the hebrew bible 7 the original core of the book of nehemiah the first person memoir may have been combined with the core of the book of ezra around 400 bce further editing probably continued into the hellenistic era 10 based on the biblical account after the return from babylonian captivity arrangements were immediately made to reorganize the desolated yehud province after the demise of the kingdom of judah seventy years earlier the body of pilgrims forming a band of 42 360 11 having completed the long and dreary journey of some four months from the banks of the euphrates to jerusalem were animated in all their proceedings by a strong religious impulse and therefore one of their first concerns was to restore their ancient house of worship by rebuilding their destroyed temple 12 on the invitation of zerubbabel the governor who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1 000 golden darics besides other gifts the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm 13 first they erected and dedicated the altar of god on the exact spot where it had formerly stood and they then cleared away the charred heaps of debris that occupied the site of the old temple and in the second month of the second year 535 bce amid great public excitement and rejoicing the foundations of the second temple were laid a wide interest was felt in this great movement although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators 14 12 the samaritans wanted to help with this work but zerubbabel and the elders declined such cooperation feeling that the jews must build the temple unaided immediately evil reports were spread regarding the jews according to ezra 4 5 the samaritans sought to frustrate their purpose and sent messengers to ecbatana and susa with the result that the work was suspended 12 seven years later cyrus the great who allowed the jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple died 15 and was succeeded by his son cambyses on his death the false smerdis an impostor occupied the throne for some seven or eight months and then darius became king 522 bce in the second year of his rule the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and carried forward to its completion 16 under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets haggai and zechariah it was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 bce more than twenty years after the return from captivity the temple was completed on the third day of the month adar in the sixth year of the reign of darius amid great rejoicings on the part of all the people 2 although it was evident that the jews were no longer an independent people but were subject to a foreign power the book of haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the second temple would be greater than that of the first 17 12 while the temple may well have been consecrated in 516 construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 bce 18 some of the original artifacts from the temple of solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 586 bce and are presumed lost the second temple lacked various holy articles including the ark of the covenant 8 12 containing the tablets of stone before which were placed the pot of manna and aaron s rod 12 the urim and thummim 8 12 divination objects contained in the hoshen the holy oil 12 and the sacred fire 8 12 the second temple also included many of the original vessels of gold that had been taken by the babylonians but restored by cyrus the great 12 19 no detailed description of the temple s architecture is given in the hebrew bible save that it was sixty cubits in both width and height and was constructed with stone and lumber 20 in the second temple the holy of holies kodesh hakodashim was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the first temple still as in the tabernacle the second temple included the menorah golden lamp for the hekhal the table of showbread and the golden altar of incense with golden censers 12 rededication by the maccabees following the conquest of judea by alexander the great it became part of the ptolemaic kingdom of egypt until 200 bce when the seleucid king antiochus iii the great of syria defeated pharaoh ptolemy v epiphanes at the battle of paneion in 167 bce antiochus iv epiphanes ordered an altar to zeus erected in the temple he also according to josephus compelled jews to dissolve the laws of the country to keep their infants un circumcised and to sacrifice swine s flesh upon the altar against which they all opposed themselves and the most approved among them were put to death 21 these anti jewish persecutions provoked the maccabean revolt led by judas maccabeus and his brothers from the priestly hasmonean family after several years of guerrilla warfare the maccabees succeeded in driving out the seleucid forces from jerusalem in 164 bce they recaptured the temple mount removed the pagan altar and undertook the purification and rededication of the second temple 22 this event is the origin of the jewish festival of hanukkah which begins on the 25th of kislev 23 24 the earliest accounts of the holiday appear in the books of the maccabees which both associate it with the 25th of kislev either as the date when sacrifices resumed following the cleansing of the temple according to 1 maccabees 25 or as the date of the cleansing itself according to 2 maccabees 26 22 hasmonean dynasty and roman conquest there is some evidence from archaeology that further changes to the structure of the temple and its surroundings were made during the hasmonean rule beyond physical changes to the sacred building itself archaeological evidence reveals that the hasmonean rulers extensively reshaped the economy and infrastructure of the surrounding countryside to directly support the temple s daily functions and religious laws to ensure a steady supply of ritually pure wine and olive oil for temple ceremonies the state developed a network of local farms equipped with rock cut ritual baths miqva ot built directly next to agricultural presses this allowed the crops to be processed under strict jewish purity laws from the very moment of harvest at several of these rural sites archaeologists discovered small specialized crushing stones that match ancient rabbinic descriptions of extracting the highest grade olive oil specifically for lighting the temple menorah furthermore many of these rural estates operated large dove raising installations columbaria to satisfy the massive daily demand for bird sacrifices brought by visitors to manage the heavy traffic of these pilgrims and their sacrificial livestock approaching the holy precinct the hasmoneans built wide stepped roads designed to control the massive crowds and guide them smoothly toward the temple gates 27 judas the essene a prophetic figure who lived under the hasmoneans is depicted by josephus as being in the temple with his followers 28 salome alexandra the queen of the hasmonean kingdom appointed her elder son hyrcanus ii as the high priest of judaea her younger son aristobulus ii was determined to have the throne and as soon as she died he seized the throne hyrcanus who was next in the succession agreed to be content with being high priest antipater the governor of idumæa encouraged hyrcanus not to give up his throne eventually hyrcanus fled to aretas iii king of the nabateans and returned with an army to take back the throne he defeated aristobulus and besieged jerusalem the roman general pompey who was in syria fighting against the armenians in the third mithridatic war sent his lieutenant to investigate the conflict in judaea both hyrcanus and aristobulus appealed to him for support pompey was not diligent in making a decision about this which caused aristobulus to march off he was pursued by pompey and surrendered but his followers closed jerusalem to pompey s forces the romans besieged and took the city in 63 bce the priests continued with the religious practices inside the temple during the siege the temple was not looted or harmed by the romans pompey himself perhaps inadvertently went into the holy of holies and the next day ordered the priests to repurify the temple and resume the religious practices 29 renovations under herod herod s temple as imagined in the holyland model of jerusalem east at the bottom in c 20 19 bce b 31 herod king of judaea began an ambitious renovation of the second temple the old temple built by zerubbabel was replaced by a magnificent edifice herod s temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century bce 32 the expanded sanctuary was the largest of its time 4 josephus records that herod was interested in perpetuating his name through building projects that his construction programs were extensive and paid for by heavy taxes but that his masterpiece was the temple of jerusalem 32 later the sanctuary shekel was reinstituted to support the temple as the temple tax 33 1st century bce relief with rosettes found beneath the temple mount s southern wall now on display at the davidson center according to josephus the construction of the temple itself took about a year and a half while the porticoes and outer walls required a further eight years 34 31 during the works herod was careful not to offend religious sensitivities 35 ten thousand laborers and a thousand priests were specially trained for the construction daily offerings continued uninterrupted 36 and modesty partitions were erected to shield sacred rituals from view 37 35 both rabbinic tradition and josephus preserve accounts reflecting popular views that herod s construction of the temple was divinely supported with miraculous signs symbolizing god s approval and guidance of the project 38 according to the babylonian talmud and thus we have from the days of herod that when they were working on the construction of the temple rains would fall at night on the morrow the winds would blow and the clouds dispersed and the sun would shine and the people would proceed with their work and they knew that they were doing god s work 39 38 josephus also writes and it is said that during the time when the temple was being built no rain fell during the day but only at night so that there was no interruption of the work and this story which our fathers have handed down to us is not at all incredible if that is one considers the other manifestations of power given by god 40 38 while the main structures were largely completed during herod s reign construction at the complex continued for decades possibly until the 60s ce as reflected in the new testament s mention of 46 years of work 41 and josephus reference to additions under the procurator lucceius albinus c 62 64 ce 35 under roman rule in 4 bce following the funerary ceremonies for his father herod archelaus the ethnarch of judea conducted hearings with his subjects while seated on a golden throne in the temple precincts 42 38 in the early 40s ce a major crisis erupted when the emperor caligula ordered that a statue of himself be installed in the temple a move that would have deeply violated jewish religious beliefs prohibiting idolatry 43 the jewish population in judaea and galilee responded with mass protests and passive resistance including a sit in to block the roman army from transporting the statue 43 jewish leaders also mobilized diplomatically philo in rome as part of a delegation representing the jews of alexandria appealed to caligula while agrippa i a herodian prince and confidant of the emperor attempted to dissuade him the crisis was ultimately averted with caligula s assassination in 41 ce 43 descriptions of jerusalem by non jews emphasize the temple as its central feature 28 the 2nd century bce greek historian polybius described the jews as a nation residing around a temple called jerusalem 44 while tacitus a roman historian from the first century ce wrote that jerusalem is the capital of the jews in it was a temple possessing enormous reaches 45 46 religious activiti...
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