Cyrus ascended the throne of Persia B.C. 536, and in the first year of his reign allowed the Jews to return to Palestine and rebuild the Temple[216]; fifty-two years after the destruction of the city, and sixty-three after the exile of King Jehoiakim[217], a numerous band, headed by Zerubbabel and Joshua, set out for Judæa, and arrived there after a journey of four months[218]. The next year, B.C. 535, in the second month, Zerubbabel began to rebuild the Temple, and the new walls rose among the joyful shouts of the young men, who saw them for the first time, and the tears of the old, who remembered the greater glories of the former House[219]. Hence we see that persons, worthy of credit, who had seen the first Temple, were alive when the second was built; and therefore cannot but believe that it stood on its ancient foundations. The Samaritans, ever the rivals of the Jews, wished to share in this work; and when their offers were rejected, harassed the workmen and interrupted its progress, until, at last, by sending exaggerated and false reports to the King, they obtained an order suspending it[220]. After a lapse of fifteen years, in the second year of Darius, Zerubbabel[221], instigated by Haggai, re-commenced the building; which was finished and solemnly inaugurated[222], in the sixth year of Darius B.C. 517, on the third day of the month _Adar_ (February-March). We do not find any description of the dimensions and appearance of Zerubbabel's Temple: according to the decree of Cyrus[223], it was to be sixty cubits broad and as many high; but these dimensions cannot be relied on, because we are told that the new edifice was not in any respect equal to the former[224]. It was visited by Alexander the Great B.C. 332; and if we can credit Hecatæus of Abdera, a contemporary of the conqueror, it differed considerably in style and size from Solomon's Temple; the dimensions of the enclosure in which it stood were six plethra (606 feet) long and 100 cubits wide; the great altar of burnt-offerings was built of large white unpolished stones, being 20 cubits square and 12 high. According to the assertion of Herod the Great, quoted by Josephus[225], the second House was not so high as the first. Antiochus Epiphanes entered Jerusalem B.C. 170, and after killing many of the Jews and plundering the Temple, withdrew to Antioch. After two years he returned, persecuted the people more barbarously than ever, and profaned the House of the Lord, despoiling it of all that had been left on the former occasion. He built a fortress in the lower city in a commanding position, and placed therein a Macedonian garrison to harass all who went to pray at the Holy Place[226]; still the form of the Temple and its enclosure remained unaltered during this calamitous period.