
Darius I, King of Persia, claims to have accomplished many deeds in the early years of his reign, but was one of them the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem? The editor who added the date to the books of Haggai and Zechariah thought so, and the author of Ezra 1-6 then relied...

This book presents a ground-breaking study which re-dates the temple to the reign of Artaxerxes I and considers the most cogent history of the building of the second temple. It reviews the historical inconsistencies in Ezra 1-6 and examines the likely boundaries of Yehud under...