The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It stood as a pivotal symbol of Jewish faith and identity during the Second Temple period. The Second Temple served as the central place of Jewish worship, ritual sacrifice, and communal gathering for Jews, attracting Jewish pilgrims from distant lands during the three pilgrimage festivals: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.
The Second Temple replaced Solomon's Temple, which is presumed to have been built at the same location before its destruction by the Babylonians . Construction began under the auspices of the Persian King Cyrus the Great and was completed during the reign of Darius I, signifying a period of renewed Jewish hope and religious revival. According to the Bible, the Second Temple was originally a relatively modest structure built by Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon under the authority of Persian-appointed governor Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah, the penultimate king of Judah.
The Second Temple was refurbished and expanded in the first century BCE under the reign of Herod the Great, hence its alternative name, Herod's Temple. The temple's transformation 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. The Temple Mount, the platform upon which the Second Temple stood, was also significantly expanded, doubling in size to become the largest religious sanctuary in the ancient world.
In 70 CE, at the height of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman army led by Titus during the siege of Jerusalem. The destruction of the Second Temple was a cataclysmic and transformative point in Jewish history, and led to the development of Rabbinic Judaism as the primary form of religious practice among Jews worldwide.
Biblical narrative
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. Some rudimentary ritual sacrifice had continued at the site of the first temple following its destruction. According to the closing verses of the second book of Chronicles and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1–4, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23), construction started at the original site of the altar of Solomon's Temple. These events represent the final section in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible.
The original core of the book of Nehemiah, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era.
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, 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.
On the invitation of Zerubbabel, the governor, who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1,000 golden darics, besides other gifts, the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm. 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.
The Samaritans 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.