The Second Temple is Built

The traditional Jewish dating system is based primarily on the traditional chronology given in the Bible as well as the Seder Olam, an authoritative work dating back to Talmudic times, and the Talmud itself. The Seder Olam is founded on an uninterrupted tradition and forms the basis for such halachic determinations as the dating of Shemittah.
Secular historians, however, have adopted a sharply divergent chronological system for this period. They date the destruction of the First Temple and the construction of the Second Temple 167 years earlier than does Seder Olam and all other traditional Jewish sources. Secular history identifies 538 BCE (3223) as the year Cyrus conquered the Babylonian Empire, while our tradition puts this event at 371 BCE (3390). As Scripture states clearly (Ezra 1:1ff and II Chronicles 23:22-3) it was in the first year of Cyrus' reign that the Jewish exiles were permitted to return to Jerusalem. Cyrus' reign began a year after he and Darius the Mede conquered Babylon (see Daniel 9:2 with Rashi, Megillah 12a, and Seder Olam ch. 28-29). 18 years after that the Second Temple was built (see Seder Olam ch. 30, Megillah 11b).
Another discrepancy involves the duration of Persian domination of the near East. In the Rabbinic tradition, Persian rule spanned the relatively brief period of 52 years, from 370-318 BCE (3391-3443), 34 of these years being after the construction of the Second Temple. Secular history assigns 208 years to Persia, from 538-330 BCE (3223-3431). According to this latter version, ten Persian kings reigned during those years, Jewish tradition, however, recognizes no more than four Persians as rulers of the entire known civilized world: Cyrus, Achashvairsoh, Darius, and possibly Cambyses.
This discrepancy has been noted by numerous Jewish scholars throughout the centuries who have insisted that the traditional chronology is incontrovertibly supported by Scripture. Various jewish scholars have offered explanations about these inconstancies, for example, Rabbi Don Isaac Abarbanel (in his comm.. to Daniel) suggests that some of the Persian kings mentioned in the ancient sources may have ruled Persia prior to its conquest of Babylonia. The Talmudic reference to a 52-year Persian hegemony, however, refers only to the years when Persia ruled the former Babylonian Empire...."
It should be noted however, that contrary to what many think, the chronology used by modern historians is far from exact. It was not until the 20th century that the entire world recognized one universal calendar system -- the Christian calendar (also known as the Gregorian calendar). If we go back in time however, the calendar situation is far more chaotic. Accurate historical records were almost unheard of and every empire used its own calendar system which was often based on totally different criteria. With no unbroken historical traditional and no universally accepted standard for how to calculate time, there is no non-Jewish equivalent to Seder Olam Rabba nor for the Jewish calendrical calculation system passed down from antiquity. So how do we get the chronology that historians use today? Historians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries worked backward and pieced it together.
This was done primarily through comparing what little historical records survived from ancient Rome, Greece, Mesopotamia and Egypt, together with archaeological finds and radio carbon dating. Because there are margins of error in all of these methods and much is open to interpretation, significant debates erupted between different scholars which continue to this day. Therefore, the chronologies used by modern historian can best be described as well-educated guesses.
Because our site is written from the traditional Jewish perspective, and because Jewish chronology makes a stronger case for historical accuracy, we use the traditional Jewish dates (some of the above is quoted from the appendix in the back of Artcroll Publication's "History of the Jewish People: The Second Temple Era") Reply