If we reckon back two thousand three hundred _half_-days, eleven hundred and fifty _whole_ days, we must go back three years and seventy days, but we cannot tell what exact event the writer had in mind as the starting-point of his calculations. The actual time which elapsed from the final defilement of the Temple by Apollonius, the general of Antiochus, in B.C. 168, till its repurification was roughly three years. Perhaps, however--for all is uncertain--the writer reckoned from the earliest steps taken, or contemplated, by Antiochus for the suppression of Judaism. The purification of the Temple did not end the time of persecution, which was to continue, first, for one hundred and forty days longer, and then forty-five days more (xii. 11, 12). It is clear from this that the writer reckoned the beginning and the end of troubles from different epochs which we have no longer sufficient data to discover. It must, however, be borne in mind that no minute certainty about the exact dates is attainable. Many authorities, from Prideaux[585] down to Schürer,[586] place the desecration of the Temple towards the close of B.C. 168. Kuenen sees reason to place it a year later. Our authorities for this period of history are numerous, but they are fragmentary, abbreviated, and often inexact. Fortunately, so far as we are able to see, no very important lesson is lost by our inability to furnish an undoubted or a rigidly scientific explanation of the minuter details. APPROXIMATE DATES, AS INFERRED BY CORNILL AND OTHERS[587] B.C. Jeremiah's prophecy in Jer. xxv. 12 605 Jeremiah's prophecy in Jer. xxix. 10 594 Destruction of the Temple 586 or 588 Return of the Jewish exiles 537 Decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus (Ezra vii. 1) 458 Second decree (Neh. ii. 1) 445 Accession of Antiochus Epiphanes (August, Clinton) 175 Usurpation of the high-priesthood by Jason 175 Jason displaced by Menelaus 172(?) Murder of Onias III. (June) 171 Apollonius defiles the Temple 168 War of independence 166 Purification of the Temple by Judas the Maccabee (December) 165 Death of Antiochus 163 FOOTNOTES: [537] Ezra vi. 2; Neh. i. 1; Herod., v. 49; Polyb., v. 48. A supposed tomb of Daniel has long been revered at Shushan. [538] Pers., _baru_; Skr., _bura_; Assyr., _birtu_; Gk., βάρις. Comp. Æsch., _Pers._, 554; Herod., ii. 96.