Editing Second Temple (section)

==History==

=== Construction under the Persians ===
{{Further information|Return to Zion}}[[File:105.The Rebuilding of the Temple Is Begun.jpg|thumb|Rebuilding of the Temple (illustration by [[Gustave Doré]] from the 1866 {{lang|fr|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.<ref name="Albright1963">{{cite book |title=The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra: An Historical Survey |last=Albright |first=William |author-link=William F. Albright |year=1963 |publisher=HarperCollins College Division |isbn=978-0-06-130102-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/biblicalperiodfr0000albr}}</ref><ref name="JE" /> Some rudimentary ritual sacrifice had continued at the site of the first temple following its destruction.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zevit |first=Ziony |chapter=From Judaism to Biblical Religion and Back Again |title=The Hebrew Bible: New Insights and Scholarship |publisher=New York University Press |year=2008 |page=166 |isbn=978-0-8147-3187-1 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA166 |access-date=2022-10-17 |archive-date=2023-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830021826/https://books.google.com/books?id=inRKaf_To5sC&pg=PA166 |url-status= live}}</ref> According to the closing verses of the [[Books of Chronicles|second book of Chronicles]] and the books of [[Book of Ezra|Ezra]] and [[Book of Nehemiah|Nehemiah]], when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great ([[Ezra 1:1]]–[[Ezra 1:4|4]], [[2 Chronicles 36:22]]–[[2 Chronicles 36:23|23]]), construction started at the original site of the altar of Solomon's Temple.<ref name="Schiffman" /> These events represent the final section in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible.<ref name="Albright1963" /> The original core of the book of Nehemiah, the first-person memoir, may have been [[Ezra–Nehemiah|combined]] with the core of the [[Book of Ezra]] around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the [[Second Temple period#Hellenistic era|Hellenistic era]].<ref>{{cite book |date=1997 |editor1-last=Cartledge |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Garnsey |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Gruen |editor3-first=Erich S. |title=Hellenistic Constructs: Essays In Culture, History, and Historiography |location=California |publisher=University of California Press |page=92 |isbn=978-0-520-20676-2}}</ref>

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,<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|2:65|HE}}</ref> 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.<ref name=2ndT>{{Cite EBD |wstitle=Temple, the Second}}</ref>

On the invitation of [[Zerubbabel]], the governor, who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1,000 golden [[Persian daric|darics]], besides other gifts, the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm.<ref>[[Ezra 2]]</ref> 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.<ref>{{bibleverse|Haggai|2:3|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Zechariah|4:10|HE}}</ref><ref name=2ndT/>

The [[Samaritan]]s 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.<ref name=2ndT/>

Seven years later, [[Cyrus the Great]], who allowed the Jews to [[Return to Zion|return]] to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, died,<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Chronicles|36:22–23|HE}}</ref> and was succeeded by his son [[Cambyses II|Cambyses]]. On his death, the "false [[Smerdis]]", an impostor, occupied the throne for some seven or eight months, and then [[Darius I of Persia|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,<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|5:6–6:15|HE}}</ref> under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets [[Haggai]] and [[Zechariah (Hebrew prophet)|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,<ref name=Ezra6etc/> 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.<ref>{{bibleverse|Haggai|2:9|HE}}</ref><ref name="2ndT" /> While the Temple may well have been consecrated in 516, construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |date=2004 |title=A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period: Yehud: A History of the Persian Province of Judah |location= |publisher=T&T Clark |volume=1 |series=Library of Second Temple Studies 47 |isbn=978-0-567-08998-4 |pages=282–285}}</ref>

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]]<ref name=JE>{{Jewish Encyclopedia |no-prescript=1|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=128&letter=T&search=second|title=Temple, The Second}}</ref><ref name=2ndT/> containing the [[Tablets of Stone]], before which were placed the pot of [[manna]] and [[Aaron's rod]],<ref name=2ndT/> the [[Urim and Thummim]]<ref name=JE/><ref name=2ndT/> (divination objects contained in the {{transliteration|he|[[priestly breastplate|Hoshen]]}}), the [[Holy anointing oil|holy oil]]<ref name=2ndT/> and the sacred fire.<ref name=JE/><ref name=2ndT/> 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]].<ref name=2ndT/><ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|1:7–11}}</ref>

No detailed description of the Temple's architecture is given in the Hebrew Bible, save that it was sixty [[Cubit#Biblical cubit|cubits]] in both width and height, and was constructed with stone and lumber.<ref>{{bibleverse|Ezra|6:3–4|HE}}</ref> In the Second Temple, the [[Holy of Holies]] (''{{transliteration|he|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 (Temple)|Menorah]] (golden lamp) for the ''{{transliteration|he|[[Hekhal]]}}'', the Table of [[Showbread]] and the golden [[Altar (Judaism)#Altar of Incense|altar of incense]], with golden [[censer]]s.<ref name=2ndT/>

=== 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 Panium|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-[[Religious male circumcision|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."<ref>{{cite web |last=Josephus |first=Flavius |date=2012-06-29 |title=The Wars of the Jews |url=http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book=1:section=31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629063533/http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0148:book=1:section=31 |archive-date=2012-06-29 |access-date=2019-01-26 |page=i. 34}}</ref>

These anti-Jewish persecutions provoked the [[Maccabean Revolt]], led by [[Judas Maccabeus]] and his brothers from the priestly [[Hasmonean dynasty|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.{{Sfn|Doering|2012|p=582}} This event is the origin of the Jewish festival of [[Hanukkah]], which begins on the 25th of [[Kislev]].<ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|title=Ḥanukkah|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7233-hanukkah|first=Kohler|last=Kaufmann|inline=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Ari L. |url=https://archive.org/details/beingjewishspiri00gold/page/141 |title=Being Jewish: The Spiritual and Cultural Practice of Judaism Today |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-684-82389-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/beingjewishspiri00gold/page/141 141]}}</ref> 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]]''),<ref>''[[1 Maccabees]]'', 4:36–59</ref> or as the date of the cleansing itself (according to ''[[2 Maccabees]]'').<ref>''[[2 Maccabees]]'', 10:5–6</ref>{{Sfn|Doering|2012|p=582}}

=== 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. [[Salome Alexandra]], the queen of the Hasmonean Kingdom appointed her elder son [[Hyrcanus II]] as the [[High Priest of Israel|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 Idumaean|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 [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] general [[Pompey]], who was in Syria fighting against the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|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 [[Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC)|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.<ref name="Lester2010">{{cite book |author=Lester L. Grabbe |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i89-9fdNUcAC&pg=PA20 |title=An Introduction to Second Temple Judaism: History and Religion of the Jews in the Time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel, and Jesus |publisher=[[A&C Black]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-567-55248-8 |pages=19–20, 26–29 |access-date=2015-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830021831/https://books.google.com/books?id=i89-9fdNUcAC&pg=PA20 |archive-date=2023-08-30 |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Renovations under Herod ===
[[File:19_Shrine_of_the_Book_005.jpg|thumb|270x270px|Herod's Temple as imagined in the [[Holyland Model of Jerusalem]]; east at the bottom]]
In c. 20/19 BCE,{{Efn|This dating is based on Josephus' account in [[Antiquities of the Jews]] (XV, 380), which states that construction began in Herod’s eighteenth regnal year. In [[The Jewish War]] (I, 401), he gives a different date—Herod's fifteenth year—but scholars, including Bahat, consider this less likely.{{sfn|Bahat|1999|p=58}}}}{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|p=38}} [[Herod the Great|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.<ref name="War">Flavius Josephus: ''The Jewish War''</ref> 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.<ref name="War" /> Later, the [[sanctuary shekel]] was reinstituted to support the temple as the [[temple tax]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|30:13}}</ref>

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.<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities of the Jews'', XV, 420–421</ref>{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|p=38}} During the works, Herod was careful not to offend religious sensitivities:{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|pp=38–39}} ten thousand laborers and a thousand priests were specially trained for the construction, daily offerings continued uninterrupted,<ref>''Antiquities of the Jews'', XV, 382–7</ref> and modesty partitions were erected to shield sacred rituals from view.<ref>Mishnah, ''[[Eduyot (Talmud)|Eduyot]]'', 8:6</ref>{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|pp=38–39}} 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<ref>[[Gospel of John]], 2:20</ref> and Josephus' reference to additions under the procurator [[Lucceius Albinus]] (c. 62–64 CE).{{Sfn|Bahat|1999|pp=38–39}}

=== Under Roman rule ===
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.{{Sfn|Goodman|2006|p=48}} 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.{{Sfn|Goodman|2006|p=48}} 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.{{Sfn|Goodman|2006|p=48}}