Medes and Persians. Then Darius the
Mede "took the kingdom," Cyrus making
him governor of the Medo-Persian
empire, with the title of King. Daniel
cast into the den of lions.
Palestine becomes a province of the
Persian empire. Return of the first caravan
"of the children of the province" — i.e., of
Judea — under Zerubbabel, whom Cyrus
made tirshatha or governor of Judea. Only
about 50,000 Jews returned on this
occasion.
536 Cyrus's first year, on the death of Darius,
Issues his edict in favor of the Jewish
captives (Ezra 1:1-4; 6:3-5; comp Isaiah
44:28).Rebuilding of the temple begun. 535
Daniel sees the vision recorded in ch. 10-
- The Samaritans oppose the building of
the temple.
534529 Tarquinius Superbus at Rome.
Ahasuerus (Cambyses, Cyrus's son)
succeeds Cyrus as king of Persia (Ezra
4:6).
The temple completed and dedicated in
the sixth year of Darius.
515
490 Battle of Marathon.
486 Xerxes I. (Ahasuerus of Esther).
483 In the third year of his reign, he holds a
great assembly previous to his invasion
of Greece, and divorces Queen Vashti.
Probably not till after his return from the
disastrous invasion did he marry
Hadassa (Esther).
480 Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis.
The Jews are under persian governors.
Many abuses appear among them.
479 Battle of Platea. Sea-fight of Mycale.
478 Esther made queen.
466 Xerxes slain by two of his courtiers,
succeeded by his son Artaxerxes
(Longimanus).
Ezra obtains a commission from
Artaxerxes (Longimanus) and leads a
second company of exiles back to
Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8).
457Nehemiah, cupbearer of Artaxerxes,
appointed governor of Jerusalem Is
opposed by Sanballat and Tobiah.
446Nehemiah returns to persia. 433
Nehemiah revisits Jerusalem, and reforms
many abuses.
432
431 Peloponnesian War begins.
432 Socrates, Xenophon, and Thucydides at
Athens.
Death of Nehemiah 413
Ezra and the Great Synagogue, including
the prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi, probably gathered together the
several books which form the Old
354 Demosthenes.