Origins of the Second Temple

<p>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 Artaxerxes I.</p> Introduction 1. When Generations Really Count: Dating Zerubbabel and Nehemiah using Genealogical Information in the Book of Nehemiah 2. What’s in a Date? The Unreliable Nature of the Dates in Haggai and Zechariah 3. It’s all in the Sources: The Historicity of the Account of Temple-Rebuilding in Ezra 1–6 4. Setting the Bounds: The Territory Comprising Yehud under Artaxerxes I in the Mid-Fifth Century BCE 5. Excavating the Past: Settlement Patterns and Military Installations in Persian-Era Yehud 6. Piety or Pragmatism? The Policy of Artaxerxes I for the Development of Yehud