Sources: Ezra; Nehemiah; Haggai; Zechariah; Josephus; the Dead Sea Scrolls; 1–2 Maccabees.

The Second Temple of Jerusalem is rebuilt under Zerubbabel and dedicated ~516 BC, but the restoration is deeply incomplete compared to the First Temple — no Ark of the Covenant, no fire from heaven, no Shekinah glory filling the sanctuary. The elderly priests who remembered Solomon’s Temple wept at the dedication while younger priests shouted for joy (Ezra 3:12–13). The five-century period between 516 BC and 70 AD is characterized by: (1) Persian period (~538–333 BC) — relative stability under Achaemenid patronage; Ezra and Nehemiah establish Torah as the constitutional law of the community; (2) Hellenistic period (~333–63 BC) — Alexander’s conquest opens the tradition to intense Greek cultural pressure; the translation of the Torah into Greek (Septuagint, ~250 BC) makes it accessible to the diaspora; the Maccabean revolt (~167–160 BC) and Hasmonean rule; (3) Roman period (~63 BC–70 AD) — Herod’s massive renovation makes the Second Temple of Jerusalem one of the ancient world’s most spectacular structures; but its political and priestly corruption generates the intense sectarian diversity that the subsequent nodes on this tree document. The Temple’s destruction by Rome in 70 AD is the event that forces every subsequent node on the Jewish branch to reinvent itself without it.