Second Temple

The Second Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית־הַמִּקְדָּשׁ‎ הַשֵּׁנִי‎ Bēṯ hamMīqdāš hašŠēnī, transl. 'Second House of the Sanctum') was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem, in use between c. 516 BCE and its destruction in 70 CE. In its last phase it was enhanced by Herod the Great, the result being later called Herod's Temple. Defining the Second Temple period, it stood as a pivotal symbol of Jewish identity and was central to Second Temple Judaism; it was the chief place of worship, ritual sacrifice (korban), and communal gathering for Jews. As such, it attracted Jewish pilgrims from distant lands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
Construction on the Second Temple began in the aftermath of the Persian conquest of Babylon; the Second Temple's predecessor, known as Solomon's Temple, had been destroyed alongside the Kingdom of Judah as a whole by the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem around 587 BCE. After the Neo-Babylonian Empire was annexed by the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the so-called Edict of Cyrus, which is described in the Hebrew Bible as having authorized and encouraged the return to Zion—a biblical event in which the Jewish people returned to the former Kingdom of Judah, which the Persians had recently restructured as the self-governing Jewish province of Yehud Medinata. The completion of the Second Temple at the time of the Persian king Darius the Great signified a period of renewed Jewish hope and religious revival. According to biblical sources, the Second Temple was originally a relatively modest structure built under the authority of the Persian-appointed Jewish governor Zerubbabel, the grandson of Jeconiah, the penultimate king of Judah.
In the 1st century BCE, the Second Temple was refurbished and expanded under the reign of Herod the Great, hence the alternative eponymous name for the structure. Herod's transformation efforts resulted in a grand and imposing structure and courtyard, including the large edifices and façades shown in modern models, such as the Holyland Model of Jerusalem in the Israel Museum. The Temple Mount, where both Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple stood, was also significantly expanded, doubling in size to become the ancient world's largest religious sanctuary.
In 70 CE, at the height of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Second Temple was destroyed by the Roman siege of Jerusalem, marking a cataclysmic and transformative point in Jewish history. The loss of the Second Temple prompted the development of Rabbinic Judaism, which remains the mainstream form of Jewish religious practices globally.
The accession of Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire in 559 BCE made the re-establishment of the city of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple possible. Some rudimentary ritual sacrifice had continued at the site of the first temple following its destruction. According to the closing verses of the second book of Chronicles and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great (Ezra 1:1–4, 2 Chronicles 36:22–23), construction started at the original site of the altar of Solomon's Temple. These events represent the final section in the historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible. The original core of the book of Nehemiah, the first-person memoir, may have been combined with the core of the Book of Ezra around 400 BCE. Further editing probably continued into the Hellenistic era.
Based on the biblical account, after the return from Babylonian captivity, arrangements were immediately made to reorganize the desolated Yehud Province after the demise of the Kingdom of Judah seventy years earlier. The body of pilgrims, forming a band of 42,360, having completed the long and dreary journey of some four months, from the banks of the Euphrates to Jerusalem, were animated in all their proceedings by a strong religious impulse, and therefore one of their first concerns was to restore their ancient house of worship by rebuilding their destroyed Temple.
On the invitation of Zerubbabel, the governor, who showed them a remarkable example of liberality by contributing personally 1,000 golden darics, besides other gifts, the people poured their gifts into the sacred treasury with great enthusiasm. First they erected and dedicated the altar of God on the exact spot where it had formerly stood, and they then cleared away the charred heaps of debris that occupied the site of the old temple; and in the second month of the second year (535 BCE), amid great public excitement and rejoicing, the foundations of the Second Temple were laid. A wide interest was felt in this great movement, although it was regarded with mixed feelings by the spectators.
The Samaritans wanted to help with this work but Zerubbabel and the elders declined such cooperation, feeling that the Jews must build the Temple unaided. Immediately evil reports were spread regarding the Jews. According to Ezra 4:5, the Samaritans sought to "frustrate their purpose" and sent messengers to Ecbatana and Susa, with the result that the work was suspended.
Seven years later, Cyrus the Great, who allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, died, and was succeeded by his son Cambyses. On his death, the "false Smerdis", an impostor, occupied the throne for some seven or eight months, and then Darius became king (522 BCE). In the second year of his rule the work of rebuilding the temple was resumed and carried forward to its completion, under the stimulus of the earnest counsels and admonitions of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. It was ready for consecration in the spring of 516 BCE, more than twenty years after the return from captivity. The Temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, amid great rejoicings on the part of all the people, although it was evident that the Jews were no longer an independent people, but were subject to a foreign power.
The Book of Haggai includes a prediction that the glory of the Second Temple would be greater than that of the first. While the Temple may well have been consecrated in 516, construction and expansion may have continued as late as 500 BCE.
Some of the original artifacts from the Temple of Solomon are not mentioned in the sources after its destruction in 586 BCE, and are presumed lost. The Second Temple lacked various holy articles, including the Ark of the Covenant containing the Tablets of Stone, before which were placed the pot of manna and Aaron's rod, the Urim and Thummim (divination objects contained in the Hoshen), the holy oil and the sacred fire. The Second Temple also included many of the original vessels of gold that had been taken by the Babylonians but restored by Cyrus the Great.
No detailed description of the Temple's architecture is given in the Hebrew Bible, save that it was sixty cubits in both width and height, and was constructed with stone and lumber. In the Second Temple, the Holy of Holies (Kodesh Hakodashim) was separated by curtains rather than a wall as in the First Temple. Still, as in the Tabernacle, the Second Temple included the Menorah (golden lamp) for the Hekhal, the Table of Showbread and the golden altar of incense, with golden censers.
Following the conquest of Judea by Alexander the Great, it became part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt until 200 BCE, when the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great of Syria defeated Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes at the Battle of Paneion.
In 167 BCE, Antiochus IV Epiphanes ordered an altar to Zeus erected in the Temple. He also, according to Josephus, "compelled Jews to dissolve the laws of the country, to keep their infants un-circumcised, and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar; against which they all opposed themselves, and the most approved among them were put to death."
These anti-Jewish persecutions provoked the Maccabean Revolt, led by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers from the priestly Hasmonean family. After several years of guerrilla warfare, the Maccabees succeeded in driving out the Seleucid forces from Jerusalem. In 164 BCE, they recaptured the Temple Mount, removed the pagan altar, and undertook the purification and rededication of the Second Temple. This event is the origin of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, which begins on the 25th of Kislev. The earliest accounts of the holiday appear in the Books of the Maccabees, which both associate it with the 25th of Kislev—either as the date when sacrifices resumed following the cleansing of the Temple (according to 1 Maccabees), or as the date of the cleansing itself (according to 2 Maccabees).
There is some evidence from archaeology that further changes to the structure of the Temple and its surroundings were made during the Hasmonean rule. Salome Alexandra, the queen of the Hasmonean Kingdom appointed her elder son Hyrcanus II as the high priest of Judaea. Her younger son Aristobulus II was determined to have the throne, and as soon as she died he seized the throne. Hyrcanus, who was next in the succession, agreed to be content with being high priest. Antipater, the governor of Idumæa, encouraged Hyrcanus not to give up his throne. Eventually, Hyrcanus fled to Aretas III, king of the Nabateans, and returned with an army to take back the throne. He defeated Aristobulus and besieged Jerusalem. The Roman general Pompey, who was in Syria fighting against the Armenians in the Third Mithridatic War, sent his lieutenant to investigate the conflict in Judaea. Both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus appealed to him for support. Pompey was not diligent in making a decision about this, which caused Aristobulus to march off. He was pursued by Pompey and surrendered but his followers closed Jerusalem to Pompey's forces. The Romans besieged and took the city in 63 BCE. The priests continued with the religious practices inside the Temple during the siege. The temple was not looted or harmed by the Romans. Pompey himself, perhaps inadvertently, went into the Holy of Holies and the next day ordered the priests to repurify the Temple and resume the religious practices.
In c. 20/19 BCE, Herod, king of Judaea, began an ambitious renovation of the Second Temple. The old temple built by Zerubbabel was replaced by a magnificent edifice. Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. Josephus records that Herod was interested in perpetuating his name through building projects, that his construction programs were extensive and paid for by heavy taxes, but that his masterpiece was the Temple of Jerusalem. Later, the sanctuary shekel was reinstituted to support the temple as the temple tax.
According to Josephus, the construction of the Temple itself took about a year and a half, while the porticoes and outer walls required a further eight years. During the works, Herod was careful not to offend religious sensitivities: ten thousand laborers and a thousand priests were specially trained for the construction, daily offerings continued uninterrupted, and modesty partitions were erected to shield sacred rituals from view. While the main structures were largely completed during Herod's reign, construction at the complex continued for decades, possibly until the 60s CE, as reflected in the New Testament's mention of 46 years of work and Josephus' reference to additions under the procurator Lucceius Albinus (c. 62–64 CE).
In the early 40s CE, a major crisis erupted when the Emperor Caligula ordered that a statue of himself be installed in the Temple—a move that would have deeply violated Jewish religious beliefs prohibiting idolatry. The Jewish population in Judaea and Galilee responded with mass protests and passive resistance, including a sit-in to block the Roman army from transporting the statue. Jewish leaders also mobilized diplomatically: Philo, in Rome as part of a delegation representing the Jews of Alexandria, appealed to Caligula, while Agrippa I, a Herodian prince and confidant of the emperor, attempted to dissuade him. The crisis was ultimately averted with Caligula's assassination in 41 CE.
Traditional rabbinic literature states that the Second Temple stood for 420 years, and, based on the 2nd-century work Seder Olam Rabbah, placed construction in 356 BCE (3824 AM), 164 years later than academic estimates, and destruction in 68 CE (3828 AM).
According to the Mishnah, the "Foundation Stone" stood where the Ark used to be, and the High Priest put his censer on it on Yom Kippur. The fifth order, or division, of the Mishnah, known as Kodashim, provides detailed descriptions and discussions of the religious laws connected with Temple service including the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service. Tractates of the order deal with the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). According to the Babylonian Talmud, the Temple lacked the Shekhinah (the dwelling or settling divine presence of God) and the Ruach HaKodesh (holy spirit) present in the First Temple.
The Second Temple in Jerusalem was remarkable for its sheer size, surpassing typical temples in the Roman Empire.
The writings of Flavius Josephus and the information in tractate Middot of the Mishnah had for long been used for proposing possible designs for the Temple up to 70 CE. The discovery of the Temple Scroll as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 20th century provided another possible source. Lawrence Schiffman states that after studying Josephus and the Temple Scroll, he found Josephus to be historically more reliable than the Temple Scroll.
The Temple itself once stood on the location now occupied by the Dome of the Rock, while its gates led to areas adjacent to what would later become the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
A golden vine adorned the gates of the Temple; it is described by both Josephus and the Mishnah. Its fame reached as far as Rome, where it was mentioned by the historian Tacitus.
Reconstruction of the temple under Herod began with a massive expansion of the Temple Mount temenos. For example, the Temple Mount complex initially measured 7 hectares (17 acres) in size, but Herod expanded it to 14.4 hectares (36 acres) and so doubled its area. Herod's work on the Temple is generally dated from 20/19 BCE until 12/11 or 10 BCE. Writer Bieke Mahieu dates the work on the Temple enclosures from 25 BCE and that on the Temple building in 19 BCE, and situates the dedication of both in November 18 BCE.
Mt. Moriah had a plateau at the northern end, and steeply declined on the southern slope. It was Herod's plan that the entire mountain be turned into a giant square platform. The Temple Mount was originally intended to be 1,600 feet (490 m) wide by 900 feet (270 m) broad by 9 stories high, with walls up to 16 feet (4.9 m) thick, but had never been finished. To complete it, a trench was dug around the mountain, and huge stone blocks were laid. Some of these weighed well over 100 tons, the largest measuring 44.6 by 11 by 16.5 feet (13.6 m × 3.4 m × 5.0 m) and weighing approximately 567–628 tons.
The Court of the Gentiles was primarily a bazaar, with vendors selling souvenirs, sacrificial animals, food. Currency was also exchanged, with Roman currency exchanged for Tyrian money, as also mentioned in the New Testament account of Jesus and the Money Changers, when Jerusalem was packed with Jewish pilgrims who had come for Passover, perhaps numbering 300,000 to 400,000.
Above the Huldah Gates, on top the Temple walls, was the Royal Stoa, a large basilica praised by Josephus as "more worthy of mention than any other [structure] under the sun"; its main part was a lengthy Hall of Columns which includes 162 columns, structured in four rows.
The Royal Stoa is widely accepted to be part of Herod's work; however, recent archaeological finds in the Western Wall tunnels suggest that it was built in the first century during the reign of Agripas, as opposed to the 1st century BCE.
The accounts of the temptation of Christ in the gospels of Matthew and Luke both suggest that the Second Temple had one or more 'pinnacles':
The Greek word used is πτερύγιον (pterugion), which literally means a tower, rampart, or pinnacle. According to Strong's Concordance, it can mean little wing, or by extension anything like a wing such as a battlement or parapet. The archaeologist Benjamin Mazar thought it referred to the southeast corner of the Temple overlooking the Kidron Valley.
According to Josephus, there were ten entrances into the inner courts, four on the south, four on the north, one on the east and one leading east to west from the Court of Women to the court of the Israelites, named the Nicanor Gate. According to Josephus, Herod the Great erected a golden eagle over the great gate of the Temple.
Joachim Bouflet [fr] states that "the teams of archaeologists Nahman Avigad in 1969–1980 in the Herodian city of Jerusalem, and Yigael Shiloh in 1978–1982, in the city of David" have proven that the roofs of the Second Temple had no dome. In this, they support Josephus' description of the Second Temple.
Jews from distant parts of the Roman Empire would arrive by boat at the port of Jaffa, where they would join a caravan for the three-day journey to the Holy City and secure lodgings in one of the many hotels or hostelries. Thereafter, they would exchange some of their money from the standard Greek and Roman currency to Jewish and Tyrian money, the latter two considered acceptable for religious use. Mishnah Bikkurim 3:3–4 provides a detailed account of how pilgrims were welcomed to Jerusalem during the festival of Shavuot:
This passage reflects the public and ceremonial nature of the pilgrimage, as well as the communal ethos fostered by shared ritual, music, and mutual recognition. The idea that pilgrimage helped promote social cohesion is also expressed by Josephus, who writes:
The Jerusalem Temple held central importance not only for Jews in Judaea, but also for Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Philo, a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, writes:
The importance of the Temple for the Diaspora is further illustrated by the delegation led by Philo and other Alexandrian Jews to Emperor Caligula, during which they appealed against the proposed installation of the emperor’s statue in the Temple.
On the 14th of Nisan, the eve of Passover, participants would bring a lamb or kid to the Temple for sacrifice. The slaughtering took place in the Temple courtyards, typically in the afternoon—between the ninth and eleventh hours (roughly 3–5 PM)—according to Josephus, who also notes that groups of 10 to 20 people shared each animal. The Mishnah records that the sacrifices were performed in three organized batches, with priests assisting by collecting and pouring the blood at the base of the altar. Once slaughtered, the animals were roasted—in clay ovens, according to the Mishnah—and eaten later that night, along with unleavened bread (matzah) and bitter herbs (maror), in accordance with Exodus 12. Participants also recited the Hallel during the meal.
Shavuot was observed on the fiftieth day following the waving of the 'omer (barley offering). Celebrated in the month of Sivan, it marked the beginning of the wheat harvest and served as the conclusion of the Passover season, earning it the alternative name 'Atseret ("conclusion") in some sources. The central Temple ritual in Shavuot was the offering of the "two loaves" of wheat bread, along with prescribed animal sacrifices, as outlined in the Torah. According to rabbinic tradition, while new grain (ḥadash) was permitted for general use after the omer offering, wheat for meal offerings in the Temple was permitted only from Shavuot onward. Shavuot also functioned as the festival of first fruits (bikkurim), during which pilgrims brought offerings from the seven species to the Temple priesthood. According to the Mishnah, these bikkurim could be brought from Shavuot until Sukkot.
The pilgrimage festival of Sukkot, which began on the 15th of Tishrei and lasted seven days, was regarded as the preeminent Jewish festival during the Second Temple period. Its centrality is evident in the ancient sources, some referring to it simply as "the Festival". Temple offerings during Sukkot involved a extraoridnarily high number of animals sacrificed daily as required by the Torah. Central to the celebration was the procession with the 'Four Species' (which derives from Leviticus 23)—a palm branch (lulav), myrtle (hadas), willow (aravah), and citron (etrog)—which were carried, and according to the Mishnah, shaken, during the recitation of Psalm 118. Another key ritual was the willow ceremony, in which large willow branches were placed around the altar. Participants would circle the altar once each day and seven times on the seventh day, reciting Psalm 118 and concluding with the beating of branches. According to the Mishnah, the willow ceremony overrode the Shabbat, though the Boethusians objecting to this ruling. The water libation ritual, symbolizing the onset of the rainy season, involved water drawn from the Pool of Siloam and poured by the priest at the altar each day. Each night, this ritual was preceded by the Simchat Beit HaShoevah, a night-long celebration held in the Temple courtyards, characterized by music, dancing, and the lighting of bonfires. The Levites stood on the steps leading to the Nicanor Gate, chanting the "Songs of Ascent" from the Book of Psalms.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement commanded in the Torah and observed on the tenth of Tishrei, was marked by a special Temple service performed by the high priest, as described in Leviticus 16 and later elaborated in Mishnah Yoma. The high priest prepared for a week prior to the festival through isolation, purification, and instruction. On the day itself, he put on white linen garments after the morning tamid sacrifice, offered a bull and a goat as sin offerings, and entered the Holy of Holies multiple times to sprinkle blood on the Mercy seat and pronounce the Divine Name. He also carried out the scapegoat ritual, confessing Israel's sins over a second goat and sending it into the wilderness. After further immersions and changes of garments, the high priest concluded the day with additional sacrifices and the evening tamid.
Archaeological understanding of the Second Temple is primarily derived from investigations of the outer walls of the Temple complex, as direct excavations on the Temple Mount itself have been limited due to the presence of later Islamic structures. Foundational research was conducted by Sir Charles Warren between 1867 and 1870; his work remains a principal source for the site's architectural layout.
In 1871, a hewn stone measuring 60 cm × 90 cm (24 in × 35 in) and engraved with Greek uncials was discovered near a court on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and identified by Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau as being the Temple Warning inscription. The stone inscription outlined the prohibition extended to those who were not of the Jewish nation to proceed beyond the soreg separating the larger Court of the Gentiles and the inner courts. The inscription read in seven lines:
Today, the stone is preserved in Istanbul's Museum of Antiquities.
In 1935 a fragment of another similar Temple warning inscription was found.
The word "foreigner" has an ambiguous meaning. Some scholars believe it referred to all gentiles, regardless of ritual purity status or religion. Others argue that it referred to unconverted Gentiles since Herod wrote the inscription. Herod himself was a converted Idumean (or Edomite) and was unlikely to exclude himself or his descendants.
Another ancient inscription, partially preserved on a stone discovered below the southwest corner of the Herodian Mount, contains the words "to the place of trumpeting". The stone's shape suggests that it was part of a parapet, and it has been interpreted as belonging to a spot on the Mount described by Josephus, "where one of the priests to stand and to give notice, by sound of trumpet, in the afternoon of the approach, and on the following evening of the close, of every seventh day" closely resembling what the Talmud says.
After 1967, archaeologists found that the wall extended all the way around the Temple Mount and is part of the city wall near the Lions' Gate. Thus, the remaining part of the Temple Mount is not only the Western Wall. Currently, Robinson's Arch (named after American Edward Robinson) remains as the beginning of an arch that spanned the gap between the top of the platform and the higher ground farther away. Visitors and pilgrims also entered through the still-extant, but now plugged, gates on the southern side that led through colonnades to the top of the platform. The Southern wall was designed as a grand entrance. Recent archaeological digs have found numerous mikvehs (ritual baths) for the ritual purification of the worshipers, and a grand stairway leading to one of the now blocked entrances.
Inside the walls, the platform was supported by a series of vaulted archways, now called Solomon's Stables, which still exist. Their current renovation by the Waqf is extremely controversial.
On September 25, 2007, Yuval Baruch, archaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a quarry compound that may have provided King Herod with the stones to build his Temple on the Temple Mount. Coins, pottery and an iron stake found proved the date of the quarrying to be about 19 BCE. Archaeologist Ehud Netzer confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked by hundreds of slaves.
More recent findings from the Temple Mount Sifting Project include floor tiling from the Second Temple period.
The Magdala stone is thought to be a representation of the Second Temple carved before its destruction in the year 70.
In 66 CE, the Jewish population of Judaea launched a rebellion against the Roman Empire. Four years later, on the Hebrew calendrical date of Tisha B'Av, either 4 August 70 or 30 August 70, Roman legions under Titus retook and destroyed much of Jerusalem and Herod's Temple. Josephus, while an apologist for the Empire, claims the burning of the Temple was the impulsive act of a Roman soldier, despite Titus's orders to preserve it, whereas later Christian sources, traced to Tacitus, suggest that Titus himself authorized the destruction, a view currently favored by modern scholars, though the debate persists.
Historical accounts relate that not only the Jewish Temple was destroyed, but also the entire Lower city of Jerusalem. Even so, according to Josephus, Titus did not totally raze the towers (such as the Tower of Phasael, now erroneously called the Tower of David), keeping them as a memorial of the city's strength. The Midrash Rabba (Eikha Rabba 1:32) recounts a similar episode related to the destruction of the city, according to which Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, during the Roman siege of Jerusalem, requested of Vespasian that he spare the westernmost gates of the city (Hebrew: פילי מערבאה) that lead to Lydda (Lod). When the city was eventually taken, the Arab auxiliaries who had fought alongside the Romans under their general, Fanjar, also spared that westernmost wall from destruction.
The Arch of Titus, which was built in Rome to commemorate Titus's victory in Judea, depicts a Roman triumph, with soldiers carrying spoils from the Temple, including the temple menorah. According to an inscription on the Colosseum, Emperor Vespasian built the Colosseum with war spoils in 79–possibly from the spoils of the Second Temple. The sects of Judaism that had their base in the Temple dwindled in importance, including the priesthood and the Sadducees.
Although Jews continued to inhabit the destroyed city, Emperor Hadrian established a new Roman colonia called Aelia Capitolina. At the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, many of the Jewish communities were massacred. Jews were banned from entering Jerusalem. A Roman temple was set up on the former site of Herod's Temple for the practice of Roman religion.
Jewish eschatology includes a belief that the Second Temple will be replaced by a future Third Temple in Jerusalem.