Cyrus conquer Return of Judah the Babylonians 538 from Exile 536 Cambyses 529 Haggai and Darius 522 Zechariah, defeated at prophets 520-516 Marathon 490 Second Temple Xerxes 485 rebuilt 516 FLOURISHED Artaxerxes I Esther and Gautama Buddha 500 (Longimanus) 465 Mordecai 485 Confucius 500 Ezra goes to Jerusalem with second group of exiles 458 Nehemiah's first visit 444 Nehemiah Governor of Judah 432 Socrates 430 Malachi the prophet about 430 Darius II 424 Xenophon 400 Artaxerxes II Artaxerxes III Plato d. 347 (Mnemon) 404 (Ochus) 358 Alexander, the Greek, overthrows the Persian Empire 332 The story covered by the early dates in this table is not yet post-Biblical. It is already told in the later Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah i-viii. The history of this volume begins with the close of the life-work of these men. The restoration of the Jews to Judea did not materialize as gloriously as Isaiah of Babylon had prefigured in his sublime addresses (Isaiah xl-xlvi.) Life's realizations very often disappoint their anticipations. Cyrus, the Persian king, opened the door; but only a poor remnant returned to a poor land. Even then, enemies made their appearance, envious of the royal grant, and plotted against their welfare. So it took many years to rebuild the Temple and many more to rebuild Jerusalem and to reorganize a new community. This service we owe to Nehemiah. Political Silence. After the chronicle of Nehemiah's service in placing the Jewish settlement on a working basis, we are told hardly anything more of the doings of Israel in this epoch. Either there was no further historic incident of the Jews under Persian sway, or it has never been told. There is a silence of about a hundred years after the last chapter of Nehemiah, which is, roughly speaking, the last chapter of Jewish history in the Bible. One reason for this silence of course, is that the Jews had no separate political life. They were a subject people; their State was gone. What there is to tell can be disposed of in a few sentences.