First Temple

The First Temple (Solomon’s Temple) was built by Solomon around the mid-10th Century (≈ 950 B.C.) and destroyed following Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (king of Babylon from 605 B.C. – 562 B.C.) In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great (King of Persia) who allowed the Jews exiled in Babylon to return to Jerusalem with a commission to rebuild the temple which was finished in c. 516 B.C. According to Josephus, Herod the Great completely rebuilt the temple in 20-18 B.C. and the rebuilt temple became known as Herod’s Temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.