This Jewish History lecture examines the Second Temple Period (Bayit Sheini), which spans from approximately the year -500 (or 500 BCE) to the theoretical year 0 (3260 to 3760 in the traditional Hebraic calendar).
The period is divisible into four distinct phases, named after whichever political power was in control of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel and the Temple in Jerusalem. These entities were:
- The Persian (Achaemenid) Empire
- The Hellenistic (Greek-based) dominions
- The Hasmonean dynasty
- The Rome Empire
Each of these phases includes several significant historical events or people that provide the keys to understanding the era as a whole. They were:
Persian
- Zerubavel ben Sh’alti’el, Yehoshua ben Yehotzdak, and last of the prophets
- Ezra and Nehemiah
- The temple at Elephantine
Greek
- Alexander the Great
- The Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties
- The translation of the Torah into Greek
- The Antiochus III and Antiochus IV
Hasmonean
- Yehudah, Yonatan, Shimon, Yochanan Hyrkanus, Yehudah Aristobulous, Alexander Yannai, Shlomtziyon, Yochanan Hyrkanus II and Aristobulous II
- The conversion of the Idumeans
- The conflict between ‘Scribes’ and ‘Sadducees’ (Tzeduqim)
Rome
- Herod and Roman subservience
- The reconstruction of the temple
- Hillel
- The rise of rabbinic leadership and the tradition of interpretation
- The beginnings of political rebellion against Rome.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:51 — 93.9MB)
