Tag: Second Temple

Herod’s Temple, also known as the Second Temple in its renovated and expanded form, was one of the most magnificent architectural projects of the ancient world. Commissioned by Herod the Great in approximately 20–19 BCE, the temple was a grand enhancement of the modest Second Temple that had been bu...

When the Babylonian Empire fell to the Persians in 539 BCE, the ancient world witnessed a dramatic shift not only in political power but also in religious history. At the heart of this transformation was Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire, whose policies toward subjugated peoples—incl...