500 - 400 BCE

After the Cyrus Edict, and the return to Zion, the Jewish people were split between Israel and Babylon. Only 42,300 Jews returned from Babylon, about 10% of the Jewish population. After finishing rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews in Israel continued to face hostile resistance from the Samerians while rebuilding their lives.

Meanwhile, hostility against the Jews reared its head in Babylon. The Babylonian Jews were about to face total annihilation driven by the anti-Semitic rhetoric from their ancient enemy, Amalek. A significant schism in dating occurs in this time period driving two schools of thought. The academic world adds many Persian kings in succession, whereas the Jewish and Biblical accounts only name a few in a shorter period of time. This causes a discrepancy called the missing 164-years and changes the dating order of certain events. Followers of the Biblical narrative might find it challenging to reconcile the academic dating with the Biblical narrative. This site follows the academic dating but does not in so doing disregard the Biblical dating account.