Book of Ezra
Historical background

Book of Ezra

Section Title: Historical background
Table Section Text: None

King of Persia	Reign (BC)	Main events	Correlation with Ezra–Nehemiah

Cyrus II	550[?]–530	539 BC Fall of Babylon	Directive to the Jews to rebuild the Temple and first return of the exiles to Jerusalem (taken as occurring in 538, since Babylon fell in October 539)

Cambyses	530–522	525 Conquest of Egypt

Darius I	522–486	Secures the throne in 520/519 after fighting off various rivals; failed punitive invasion of Greece	515 Temple rebuilt. In the book of Daniel, Darius has the old title of Darius I (king of the Chaldeans = Babylonians), while Koresh has the new one of Xerxes (king of the Persians).

Xerxes	486–465	Failed attempt to conquer Greece; beginning of struggle with Greeks for control of the eastern Mediterranean	(Alternative) directive by Koresh to the Jews to rebuild the Temple and first return of the exiles to Jerusalem.

Artaxerxes I	465–424	460–456 Successful suppression of Greek-supported revolt in Egypt 449 Revolt by Megabyzus, governor of the territory which included Judah	Currently most widely accepted period for arrival of Ezra "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes" Second return of the exiles to Jerusalem (in 458 if the king is Artaxerxes I, or 428 if the year is read as his thirty-seventh instead of his seventh) 445–433 Nehemiah's mission (returns before the death of Artaxerxes)

Darius II	423–404	(Alternative) Temple rebuilt.

Artaxerxes II	404–358	401 Egypt regains independence	(Alternative) period for arrival of Ezra and second return of exiles to Jerusalem (in 398 if the king is Artaxerxes II)

Artaxerxes III	358–338	Egypt reconquered	In his Historia Scholastica Petrus Comestor identified Artaxerxes III as king Ahasuerus in the book of Esther (Esther 1:1/10:1-2).

Darius III	336–330	The Achaemenid Empire conquered by Alexander the Great

Sentence(s)

Artaxerxes I reigned during 465–424 BC and Ezra arrived in 458 and Nehemiah in 445 BC.

final_sentence: Artaxerxes I reigned during 465–424 BC and Ezra arrived in 458 and Nehemiah in 445 BC.