Second Temple

Second Temple
Herod's Temple
Second Temple; Herod's Temple
בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי‎
	Model of Herod's Temple (inspired by the writings of Josephus) displayed within the Holyland Model of Jerusalem at the Israel Museum
Religion
Affiliation	Judaism
Region	Land of Israel
Deity	Yahweh
Leadership	High Priest of Israel
Location
Location	Temple Mount
Municipality	Jerusalem
State	Yehud Medinata (first); Judaea (last)
Country	Achaemenid Empire (first); Roman Empire (last)
	Location within the Old City of Jerusalem Location within Jerusalem (modern municipal borders) Location within the State of Israel
Geographic coordinates	31°46′41″N 35°14′7″E / 31.77806°N 35.23528°E
Architecture
Founder	Zerubbabel; refurbished by Herod the Great
Completed	c. 516 BCE (original); c. 18 CE (Herodian)
Destroyed	70 CE (Roman siege)
Specifications
Height (max)	c. 46 metres (151 ft)
Materials	Jerusalem limestone
Excavation dates	1930, 1967, 1968, 1970–1978, 1996–1999, 2007
Archaeologists	Charles Warren, Benjamin Mazar, Ronny Reich, Eli Shukron, Yaakov Billig
Present-day site	Dome of the Rock
Public access	Limited; see Temple Mount entry restrictions

The Second Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ‎ הַשֵּׁנִי Bēṯ hamMīqdāš hašŠēnī, transl. 'Second House of the Sanctum') was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod the Great around 18 BCE, consequently also being known as Herod's Temple thereafter. Defining the Second Temple period and standing as a pivotal symbol of Jewish identity, it was the basis and namesake of Second Temple Judaism. The Second Temple served as the chief place of worship, ritual sacrifice (korban), and communal gathering for the Jewish people, among whom it regularly attracted pilgrims for the Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

In 539 BCE, the Persian conquest of Babylon enabled the Achaemenid Empire to expand across the Fertile Crescent 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]

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.^[4] The loss of the Second Temple prompted the development of Rabbinic Judaism, which remains the mainstream form of Jewish religious practices globally.

^ Schiffman, Lawrence H. (2003). Understanding Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. New York: KTAV Publishing House. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-88125-813-4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
^ Ezra 6:15,16
^ Feissel, Denis (23 December 2010). Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: Volume 1 1/1: Jerusalem, Part 1: 1-704. Hannah M. Cotton, Werner Eck, Marfa Heimbach, Benjamin Isaac, Alla Kushnir-Stein, Haggai Misgav. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-11-174100-0. OCLC 840438627.
^ Karesh, Sara E. (2006). Encyclopedia of Judaism. Facts On File. ISBN 978-1-78785-171-9. OCLC 1162305378. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. [...] The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.

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[Schiffman-1] Schiffman, Lawrence H. (2003). Understanding Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. New York: KTAV Publishing House. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-88125-813-4. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2019-08-19.

[Ezra6etc-2] Ezra 6:15,16

[:0-3] Feissel, Denis (23 December 2010). Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: Volume 1 1/1: Jerusalem, Part 1: 1-704. Hannah M. Cotton, Werner Eck, Marfa Heimbach, Benjamin Isaac, Alla Kushnir-Stein, Haggai Misgav. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 41. ISBN 978-3-11-174100-0. OCLC 840438627.

[:5-5] Karesh, Sara E. (2006). Encyclopedia of Judaism. Facts On File. ISBN 978-1-78785-171-9. OCLC 1162305378. Until the modern period, the destruction of the Temple was the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Jewish people. [...] The sage Yochanan ben Zakkai, with permission from Rome, set up the outpost of Yavneh to continue develop of Pharisaic, or rabbinic, Judaism.

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