Table of Important Dates
During Second Temple Era*
Timeline below based on ArtScroll Mesorah
Series "Chanukah - Its History, Observance, and Significance"
OU Editors Note:
There is a conflict among Jewish historians as to
the date of the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians. The timeline
presented below shows 423 B.C.E. as the date. The other well-known date is 163 years
earlier, in 586 B.C.E.
Thus, there exists a 163-year gap in the timeline of
Jewish History, with that period of time lying in the period of the First Temple.
What happened in those missing years, or whether there are, in fact, missing years, is an
unresolved mystery.
| 3338/423 B.C.E. |
Destruction of First
Temple and beginning of Babylonian Exile |
| 3389/372 B.C.E. |
Babylon falls to
Medes and Persians under Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Great of Persia |
| 3391/370 B.C.E. |
Cyrus reigns; permits
Jews to return to Eretz Yisrael |
| 3408/353 B.C.E. |
Darius the Persian
permits Jews to rebuild Temple |
| 3442/319 B.C.E. |
Beginning of Greek
era |
| 3448/313 B.C.E. |
Egyptian Ptolemaic
dynasty rules Eretz Yisrael |
| 3562/199 B.C.E. |
Antiochus III the
Great, scion of the Seleucid dynasty and ruler of Syria, wrests Eretz Yisrael from
Egypt |
| 3571/190 B.C.E. |
Rome defeats Antiochus
III at Magnesia |
| 3586/175 B.C.E. |
Antiochus IV reigns |
| 3594/168 B.C.E. |
Desecration of Temple
by Antiochus |
| 3597/165 B.C.E. |
Conquest of Temple by
Hasmoneans, the miracle of Chanukah |
| 3598/163 B.C.E. |
Antiochus IV dies |
| 3599/162 B.C.E. |
His son, Antiochus V
besieges Jerusalem |
| 3600/161 B.C.E. |
Demetrius I (son of
Seleucus IV) rules; Alcimus appointed Kohen Gadol, defeat and death of Syrian general
Nikanor (13 Adar) |
| 3601 /160 B.C.E. |
Yehudah killed in
battle; Yonasan elected leader of the Jewish rebellion |
| 3602/159 B.C.E. |
Alcimus dies |
| 3609/152 B.C.E. |
Alexander (Balas) I,
alleged son of Antiochus IV, contests rule of Demetrius I; both recognize Yonasan as Kohen
Gadol |
| 3610/151 B.C.E. |
Alexander I rules |
| 3614/147 B.C.E |
Alexander I deposed
(by Ptolemy IV king of Egypt); Demetrius II (son of Demetrius I) rules |
| 3617/144 B.C.E. |
Tryphon deposes
Demetrius II (who escapes), and rules on (approx.) behalf of the infant Antiochus VI (son
of Alexander I) |
| 3619/142 B.C.E. |
Tryphon tricks Yonasan
and kills him; Shimon takes over Kehunah Gedolah; proclaims himself 'Prince of the Jews' |
| 3619/142 B.C.E. |
Tryphon kills
Antiochus VI and proclaims himself king |
| 3621/140 B.C.E. |
Sanhedrin and the
People proclaim Shimon 'Prince of the Jews' 18 Elul). |
| 3621-3725/ |
Rule of the Hasmonean
dynasty (Shimon, Yochanan Hyrkanos, |
| 140-36 B.C.E. |
Yehudah Aristobulus,
Alexander Yannai, Queen Alexandra Hyrkanos and Aristobulus) |
| 3630/131 B.C.E. |
Yochanan Hyrkanos
forms an alliance with Antiochus VII |
| 3632/129 B.C.E. |
Antiochus VII dies |
| 3698/63 B.C.E. |
Roman consul Pompei
conquers Jerusalem |
| 3725-3828/
|
Rule of Herodian
dynasty and Roman governors (Herod, 36 B.C.E.-68 C.E. Archelaus, Roman governors, Agrippa
I, Roman governors) |
| 3828/68 C.E. |
Destruction of Second
Temple by Romans (according to some, the year was 3829) |
|
|
*The dates in this table
pertaining to the events of Chanukah (3585-3621) have been taken from I Maccabees and
converted into Creation and Common Era dates
The Lights of Chanukah
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A Comprehensive Information Base of Basic Jewish Terms, Concepts and Practices
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