December 17 520 BCE – 24 Kislev 3242
With more than a gentle nudge from the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the community of Babylonian exiles in Jerusalem resumed work on the Second Temple during the second year of the Persian ruler Darius’ reign. It would take four years and a nail-biting search for the original building permit (issued eighteen years earlier under Cyrus the Great – see Ezra 5) to complete the project.