Second Temple period

After the death of the last Jewish Prophets and still under Persian rule, the leadership of the Jewish people was in the hands of five successive generations of zugot ("pairs of") leaders. They flourished first under the Persians then under the Greeks. As a result the Pharisees and Sadduccees were formed.

The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted between 516 BCE and 70 CE, when the Second Temple of Jerusalem existed. The sects of Pharisees , Sadducees , Essenes , Zealots and early Christianity were formed during this period. The Second Temple period ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple . After the death of the last Nevi'im (Jewish prophets) of antiquity and still under Persian rule, the leadership of the Jewish people was in the hands of five successive generations of zugot ("pairs of") leaders. They flourished first under the Persians (c. 539 – c. 332 BCE), then under the Greeks (c. 332–167 BCE), then under an independent Hasmonean Kingdom (140–37 BCE), and then under the Romans (63 BCE – 132 CE). During this period, Second Temple Judaism can be seen as shaped by three major crises and their results, as various groups of Jews reacted to them differently. First came the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah in 587/6 BCE , when the Judeans lost their independence, monarchy, holy city and First Temple and were partly exiled to Babylon . They consequently faced a theological crisis involving the nature, power, and goodness of God and were also threatened culturally, ethnically, and ceremonially as they were thrown into proximity with other peoples and religious groups. The absence of recognized prophets later in the period left them without their version of divine guidance at a time when they felt most in need of support and direction. The second crisis was the growing influence of Hellenism in Judaism , which culminated in the Maccabean Revolt of 167 BCE. The third crisis was the Roman occupation of the region , beginning with Pompey and his sack of Jerusalem in 63 BCE . This included the appointment of Herod the Great as King of the Jews by the Roman Senate , and the establishment of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea comprising parts of what today are Israel , Palestinian territories , Jordan , Lebanon and Syria . However, Jewish tradition avers that the Second Temple stood for only four-hundred and twenty years, i.e. from 352 BCE – 68 CE.

The temple menorah as depicted on the Magdala stone , early 1st century CE Period in Jewish history, c. 516 BCE–70 CE Second Temple period Timeline Rabbinic period and the Middle Ages Modern era Timeline 1517–1948: Ottoman rule Old Yishuv Zionism Yishuv OETA British Mandate Balfour Declaration 1948–present : State of Israel years Independence Arab–Israeli conflict Iran–Israel proxy conflict By topic Demographics Judaism Leaders Warfare Zionism Jerusalem Related Jewish history Hebrew calendar Archaeology Museums Maps Travelogues Israel portal v t e The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem . It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem , and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem . In 587/586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Judah ; the Judeans lost their independence upon the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem , during which the First Temple was destroyed. After the Babylonians annexed Judah as a province , part of the subjugated populace was exiled to Babylon . This exilic period lasted for nearly five decades, ending after the Neo-Babylonian Empire itself was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire , which annexed Babylonian territorial possessions after the fall of Babylon . Soon after the conquest, Persian king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus , encouraging the exiles to return to their homeland after the Persians raised it as an autonomous Jewish-governed province . Under the Persians ( c. 539–332 BCE ), the returned Jewish population restored the city and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. In 332 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great , and the region was later incorporated into the Ptolemaic Kingdom ( c. 301–200 BCE ) and the Seleucid Empire ( c. 200–167 BCE ). The Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule led to the establishment of a nominally independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE). While it initially exercised governance semi-autonomously under Seleucid hegemony, the Hasmoneans' kingdom increasingly exercised total self-governance as it undertook military campaigns to push the weakening Seleucids out of the region, establishing itself as the last Jewish kingdom and preceding an almost 2000-year-long hiatus in Jewish sovereignty in the Levant . In 63 BCE, the Roman Republic conquered the kingdom. In 37 BCE, the Romans appointed Herod the Great as king of a vassal Judea . In 6 CE, Judea was fully incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Judaea . Growing dissatisfaction with Roman rule and civil disturbances eventually led to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, which ended the Second Temple period. As Second Temple Judaism developed, multiple religious currents emerged and extensive cultural, religious, and political developments occurred. The development of the Hebrew Bible canon , the synagogue and Jewish eschatology can be traced back to the Second Temple period. According to Jewish tradition, prophecy ceased during the early Second Temple period; this left the Jews without their version of divine guidance when they felt most in need of support and direction. Under Hellenistic rule, the growing influence of Hellenism in Judaism became a source of dissent for those Jews who clung to their monotheistic faith; this was a major catalyst for the Maccabean revolt. In the latter years of the period, Jewish society was deeply polarized along ideological lines, and the sects of the Pharisees , Sadducees , Essenes , Zealots , and early Christianity were formed. Important Jewish writings were also composed during the Second Temple period, including portions of the Hebrew Bible, such as the books of Ezra , Nehemiah , Esther and Daniel and writings that are a part of the Apocrypha and the Dead Sea Scrolls . Among the major sources for the time period are the writings of Josephus , Philo , the Books of the Maccabees , Greek and Roman writers and later Rabbinic literature . The destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE is considered one of the most cataclysmic events in Jewish history. The loss of mother-city and temple necessitated a reshaping of Jewish culture to ensure its survival. Rabbinic Judaism , centered around communal synagogue worship and Torah study , eventually evolved out of the Pharisaic school and became the mainstream form of the religion. During the same period, Christianity gradually separated from Judaism , becoming a predominantly Gentile religion. A few decades after the First Jewish-Roman War, the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE) erupted; its brutal suppression by the Romans further dwindled the Jewish population in Judea and enhanced the role of Jewish diaspora , relocating the Jewish demographic center to Galilee , where the Mishnah was redacted, and eventually to Babylonia , with smaller communities across the Mediterranean . Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context . The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains Ben-Sasson, H.H. A History of the Jewish People . The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there. Many historians have chronicled the Hasmonaeans' territorial acquisitions. In sum, it took them twenty-five years to win control of the tiny territory of Judaea and get rid of the Seleucid colony of royalist Jews (with, presumably, gentile officials and garrison) in Jerusalem. [...] However, in the last years before its fall, the Hasmonaeans were already strong enough to acquire, partly by negotiation, partly by conquest, a little territory north and south of Judaea and a corridor on the west to the coast at Jaffa/Joppa. This was briefly taken from them by Antiochus Sidetes, but soon regained, and in the half century from Sidetes' death in 129 to Alexander Jannaeus' death in 76 they overran most of Palestine and much of western and northern Transjordan. From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism. Journal of the American Academy of Religion . "Part II: Christian Origins and Development – Paul and the Development of Gentile Christianity" .

Period in Jewish history, c. 516 BCE–70 CE The temple menorah as depicted on the Magdala stone , early 1st century CE Second Temple period Timeline Rabbinic period and the Middle Ages Modern era Timeline 1517–1948: Ottoman rule Old Yishuv Zionism Yishuv OETA British Mandate Balfour Declaration 1948–present : State of Israel years Independence Arab–Israeli conflict Iran–Israel proxy conflict By topic Demographics Judaism Leaders Warfare Zionism Jerusalem Related Jewish history Hebrew calendar Archaeology Museums Maps Travelogues Israel portal v t e The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem . It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem , and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem . In 587/586 BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the Kingdom of Judah ; the Judeans lost their independence upon the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem , during which the First Temple was destroyed. After the Babylonians annexed Judah as a province , part of the subjugated populace was exiled to Babylon . This exilic period lasted for nearly five decades, ending after the Neo-Babylonian Empire itself was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire , which annexed Babylonian territorial possessions after the fall of Babylon . Soon after the conquest, Persian king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus , encouraging the exiles to return to their homeland after the Persians raised it as an autonomous Jewish-governed province . Under the Persians ( c. 539–332 BCE ), the returned Jewish population restored the city and rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem. In 332 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire fell to Alexander the Great , and the region was later incorporated into the Ptolemaic Kingdom ( c. 301–200 BCE ) and the Seleucid Empire ( c. 200–167 BCE ). The Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid rule led to the establishment of a nominally independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty (140–37 BCE). While it initially exercised governance semi-autonomously under Seleucid hegemony, the Hasmoneans' kingdom increasingly exercised total self-governance as it undertook military campaigns to push the weakening Seleucids out of the region, establishing itself as the last Jewish kingdom and preceding an almost 2000-year-long hiatus in Jewish sovereignty in the Levant . In 63 BCE, the Roman Republic conquered the kingdom. In 37 BCE, the Romans appointed Herod the Great as king of a vassal Judea . In 6 CE, Judea was fully incorporated into the Roman Empire as the province of Judaea . Growing dissatisfaction with Roman rule and civil disturbances eventually led to the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), resulting in the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, which ended the Second Temple period. As Second Temple Judaism developed, multiple religious currents emerged and extensive cultural, religious, and political developments occurred. The development of the Hebrew Bible canon , the synagogue and Jewish eschatology can be traced back to the Second Temple period. According to Jewish tradition, prophecy ceased during the early Second Temple period; this left the Jews without their version of divine guidance when they felt most in need of support and direction. Under Hellenistic rule, the growing influence of Hellenism in Judaism became a source of dissent for those Jews who clung to their monotheistic faith; this was a major catalyst for the Maccabean revolt. In the latter years of the period, Jewish society was deeply polarized along ideological lines, and the sects of the Pharisees , Sadducees , Essenes , Zealots , and early Christianity were formed. Important Jewish writings were also composed during the Second Temple period, including portions of the Hebrew Bible, such as the books of Ezra , Nehemiah , Esther and Daniel and writings that are a part of the Apocrypha and the Dead Sea Scrolls . Among the major sources for the time period are the writings of Josephus , Philo , the Books of the Maccabees , Greek and Roman writers and later Rabbinic literature . The destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE is considered one of the most cataclysmic events in Jewish history. The loss of mother-city and temple necessitated a reshaping of Jewish culture to ensure its survival. Rabbinic Judaism , centered around communal synagogue worship and Torah study , eventually evolved out of the Pharisaic school and became the mainstream form of the religion. During the same era, Christianity gradually separated from Judaism , becoming a predominantly Gentile religion. A few decades after the First Jewish-Roman War, the Bar-Kokhba Revolt (132–135 CE) erupted; its brutal suppression by the Romans further dwindled the Jewish population in Judea and enhanced the role of Jewish diaspora . During the ensuing Rabbinic period , the Jewish demographic center shifted to Galilee , where the Mishnah was compiled, and later to Babylonia , while smaller Jewish communities persisted across the Mediterranean . Exile and Return: The Babylonian Context . The ensuing power struggle left Hyrcanus with a free hand in Judea, and he quickly reasserted Jewish sovereignty... Hyrcanus then engaged in a series of military campaigns aimed at territorial expansion. He first conquered areas in the Transjordan. He then turned his attention to Samaria, which had long separated Judea from the northern Jewish settlements in Lower Galilee. In the south, Adora and Marisa were conquered; (Aristobulus') primary accomplishment was annexing and Judaizing the region of Iturea, located between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains Ben-Sasson, H.H. A History of the Jewish People . The expansion of Hasmonean Judea took place gradually. Under Jonathan, Judea annexed southern Samaria and began to expand in the direction of the coast plain... The main ethnic changes were the work of John Hyrcanus... it was in his days and those of his son Aristobulus that the annexation of Idumea, Samaria and Galilee and the consolidation of Jewish settlement in Trans-Jordan was completed. Alexander Jannai, continuing the work of his predecessors, expanded Judean rule to the entire coastal plain, from the Carmel to the Egyptian border... and to additional areas in Trans-Jordan, including some of the Greek cities there. Many historians have chronicled the Hasmonaeans' territorial acquisitions. In sum, it took them twenty-five years to win control of the tiny territory of Judaea and get rid of the Seleucid colony of royalist Jews (with, presumably, gentile officials and garrison) in Jerusalem. [...] However, in the last years before its fall, the Hasmonaeans were already strong enough to acquire, partly by negotiation, partly by conquest, a little territory north and south of Judaea and a corridor on the west to the coast at Jaffa/Joppa. This was briefly taken from them by Antiochus Sidetes, but soon regained, and in the half century from Sidetes' death in 129 to Alexander Jannaeus' death in 76 they overran most of Palestine and much of western and northern Transjordan. From the beginning of the Second Temple period until the Muslim conquest—the land was part of imperial space. This was true from the early Persian period, as well as the time of Ptolemy and the Seleucids. The only exception was the Hasmonean Kingdom, with its sovereign Jewish rule—first over Judah and later, in Alexander Jannaeus's prime, extending to the coast, the north, and the eastern banks of the Jordan. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. Without the Temple, the Sadducees no longer had any claim to authority, and they faded away. The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism. Journal of the American Academy of Religion . "Part II: Christian Origins and Development – Paul and the Development of Gentile Christianity" .