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Timeline of Judaism after the Babylonian Exile (538 BCE-70 CE)

Return to Timeline of Jewish History: Table of Contents


538-333 B.C.E. Persian Period.
538 B.C.E. Edict of Cyrus (first return from Exile).
520-515 B.C.E. Jerusalem ("Second") Temple rebuilt.
520 B.C.E. Judean Prophet Haggai.
500 B.C.E. The notion of a Messiah, a political/military-religious/moral leader, develops.
450-400 B.C.E. Reformation led by Ezra and Nehemiah.
ca. 450 B.C.E. Torah (Pentateuch = first division of Jewish Scriptures) begins to gain recognition as Scripture.
438 B.C.E. Achashverosh becomes king of Persia.
426 B.C.E. First decrees by Haman; fast ordered by Esther, Haman's downfall and execution.
425 B.C.E. Haman's ten sons executed; Purim celebration.
424 B.C.E. Megillah recorded.
411 B.C.E. Bagoas, a Persian, is made governor of Jerusalem.
333-63 B.C.E. Hellenistic (Greek) period.
333/331 B.C.E. Alexander the Great conquers the Land of Israel.
ca. 320-168 B.C.E. Judaism under Greek Ptolemies & Seleucids.
ca. 250 B.C.E. "Septuagint" translation of Torah into Greek.
ca. 230-146 B.C.E. Coming of Rome to the east Mediterranean.
ca. 201 B.C.E. Prophets (second division of Jewish Scriptures) recognized by some as Scripture
ca. 200 B.C.E.-135 C.E. Jewish Qumran community.
175 B.C.E. Selicid, king of Syria, plunders Jerusalem, murdering many.
166-160 B.C.E. Jewish Maccabean revolt against restrictions on practice of Judaism and desecration of the Temple.
142-129 B.C.E. Jewish autonomy under Hasmoneans.
63 B.C.E. Rome (Pompey) annexes the land of Israel.
66-73 C.E. First Jewish Revolt against Rome.
69 C.E. Vespasian gives Yochanan ben Zakkai permission to establish a Jewish center for study at Yavneh that will become the hub for rabbinic Judaism.
70 C.E. Destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple.

Timeline of Jewish History