What was the Second Temple?
What was the Second Temple? Answer: The Second Temple, a reconstruction of Jerusalem’s First Temple, stood between 515 BCE and 70 CE. Ex-Exiles When the Persians overran Babylonia in 536 BCE, the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation allowing the Jews to return to Judea and rebuild the Temple. Despite extremely difficult conditions, the Jews completed rebuilding the Temple in 515 BCE. Jews lived relatively peacefully in Jerusalem, with their holy Temple serving as a religious center, for hundreds of years under the rule of different nations. Greek-Syrians Jews, however, lost their religious freedom with the rise to power of Antiochus IV. In an effort to unite his kingdom, Antiochus IV tried to force the Jews to adopt Hellenistic culture and religion. The study of Torah was forbidden. Jewish rituals, such as circumcision, became punishable by death. And the Second Temple was desecrated. Maccabees The Maccabees led a victorious
