Chazal's Seder Olam vs. commonly accepted historic chronology.

To begin this article, and how a 165-year period went ‘missing’ not only from the
accepted traditional Jewish calendar, but from the Seder Olam Rabbah (a late Tannaitic work
followed by most authorities detailing important dates and years in Jewish history), it is crucial
to understand when and how the current Jewish calendar ‘formed’ its chronology.
The accepted traditional Jewish calendar begins its chronology, or year 1 AM, on day
one (the 25th of Elul) of the first five days of creation. The sixth day of creation (the 1st of
Tishrei/the first Rosh Hashana), or the day Adam HaRishon was created, would initiate year 2
AM, beginning a ‘new year cycle’ every upcoming 1st of Tishrei/ Rosh Hashana
The above dates are at variance with Seder Olam Rabbah, which considers day one (the
25th of Elul) of the first five days of creation as year 0 AM (what the traditional Jewish
calendar would consider 1 AM), and only begins its chronology with year 1 AM, a full year
after Adam HaRishon was created (what the accepted traditional Jewish calendar would
consider to be 3 AM). Therefore, from this point onward, Seder Olam Rabbah and the accepted
traditional Jewish calendar are divided by a discrepancy of two years because of the dispute
regarding when year 1 A.M. was initiated. presumably edited by the Tanna Yose ben Chalafta
Different opinions and sources here.
assigning the year that Adam Harishon was created as 0 A.M. This results in a two-
For example, Seder Olam Rabbah gives the year of the Exodus from Egypt as 2448 AM; but,
according to the current system, the year would be 2450 AM.

Seder Olam uses two primary sources, both stemming from the Tanach.

Aside from the two-year discrepancy, the years leading up to the birth of Yitzchak are simple to compile as
they are almost directly brought down from lists found in Sefer BeReishit that inform of Adam HaRishon’s
descendants, how long they lived, and more significantly, how old they were when the next generation was born.
Such a list would be like that brought down in BeReishit 5:12-14 stating, “VaYechi Keinan Shiv’im Shanah
VaYoled Et Mahalaleil. VaYechi Keinan Acharei Holido Et Mahalaleil. . .VaYihyu Kol Yemei Keinan Eser
Shanim UTsha Mei’ot Shanah VaYamot [And Keinan lived 70 years, and he gave birth to Mahalaleil. . .and all the
days of Keinan were 910 years, and he died.]”

Similar lists are brought down for the descendants of Adam HaRishon to Noach—a span of ten
generations—along with the birth of Noach’s children (the eleventh generation), resulting the following
calculation of dates for when each new generation:

Name Father’s Age at Birth Year of Birth

Adam HaRishon N/A 0 AM
Seth 130 130 AM
Enosh 105 235 AM
Kenon 90 325 AM
Mahalalell 70 395 AM
Yered 65 460 AM
Henoch 162 622 AM
Methuselah 65 686 AM
 Lemech 187 874 AM
Noach 182 1056 AM
Noach is stated to have been 500 years of age at the birth of his sons Shem, Cham, and Yafet, as stated in
Beresheit 5:32 “When Noach had lived 500 years, Noach begot Shem, Cham, and Yafet.”

The Flood occurred when Noach was 600 years of age, in 1656 A.M. Meaning Shem, Cham, and Yafet would
have been around 100 years of age at this same time.
Shem 502 1558 AM
Arpachshad 100 1658 AM
Arpachshad, Shem’s son, is stated to have been born when Shem was 100 years of age (two years after the
Flood according to Beresheit 11:10 which states, “Shem was 100 years old when he begot Arpachshad, two years
after the Flood.” Meaning, Shem was truly born 98 years before the flood.
Shelach 35 1693 A.M.
Eiver 30 1723 A.M.
Peleg 34 1757 A.M.
Re’u 30 1787 A.M.
Serug 32 1819 A.M.
Nachor 30 1849 A.M.
Terach 29 1878 A.M.
Avraham 70 1948 A.M.
Terach is stated to have been 70 years of age at the birth of his sons Avraham, Nachor, and Haran. As brought
down in BeReishit 11:26, stating, “When Terach had lived 70 years, he begot Avram, Nahor, and Haran.” It is
assumed that Avraham was the oldest brother.
Yitzchak 100 2048 A.M.
Yitzchak, Avraham’s son, is stated to have been born when Avraham was 100 years of age. This is brought
down in BeResheit 21:5, stating, “Now Avraham was a hundred years old when his son Yitzchak was born to
him.”

Based on Seder Olam Rabbah’s derivation from the Berit Bein HaBetarim—that the 400 years of Avraham’s
descendants dwelling in a foreign country begin with the birth of Yitzchak—it can be concluded that Exodus
occurred in 2448 A.M. based on Seder Olam Rabbah’s chronology.

“The next block of time is from [Exodus] until the start of construction of the First [Temple]” (Reuven Herzog,
Benjy Koslowe), which Sefer Melachim I 6:1 states took place “in the four hundred and eightieth year after the
departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, [otherwise known as the Exodus]. . .that [King Solomon] did [begin
to] build the house of the Lord.” Meaning the First Temple was constructed in 2928 AM (831/832 BCE).

Several sources record the length of time the First Temple stood. The first source, the Babylonian Talmud
in Yoma 9a, directly states “four hundred and ten years. . .in which. . . eighteen High Priests served.” Seder Olam
Rabbah, the second source, follows this view by placing the First Temple’s construction in 2928 AM (831/832
BCE) and destruction in 3338 AM (422 BCE), 410 years later.

The final source, Sefer Melachim, calculates the same 410 years by combining the length of each king’s
reign: starting with King Solomon—in which First Temple’s construction began in “the fourth year. . . of [his] reign
over Israel” (Sefer Melachim I 6:1), —and ending with Tzidkiyahu—in whose reign the temple was destroyed. The
following table lists the name of each king, along with how long each one reigned, and when.

Name Length of Reign Start of Reign

Shlomo 40 2924 AM
The First Temple’s construction began in “the fourth year. . . of [his] reign over Israel,” in 2928 AM (Sefer
Melachim I 6:1).
Rechav’am 17 2963 AM
 Aviyam 3 2979 AM
Yehoshafat 41 2981 AM
Yehoram 25 3021 AM
Achazya 8 3045 AM
Atalya 1 3052 AM
Yeho’ash 6 3057 AM
Amatzya 40 3096 AM
Uziva/Azariya 29 3124 AM
Yotam 52 3175 AM
Achaz 16 3190 AM
Chizkiyahu 16 3205 AM
Menasheh 29 3233 AM
Amon 55 3287 AM
Yoshiyahu 2 3288 AM
Yeho’achaz 31 3318 AM
Yehoyakim 0.3 3318 AM
Yehoyachin 0.3 3328 AM
Yeho’achaz and Yehoyachin each reigned for three months, and are therefore not even given credit for ruling
an entire year. They are not counted as “rulers.”
Tzidkiyahu 11 3328 AM
The First Temple was destroyed in 3338 AM, in Tzidkiyahu’s last year reigning. The destruction is brought
down in Sefer Melachim II 24:20 and 25:1-2, stating “Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Babylon…in the
ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Jerusalem with his
whole army. He besieged it; and they built towers against it all around…the city continued in a state of siege until
the eleventh year of King Tzidkiyahu.”

The ‘length of reign’ for all kings accumulates to 433 years—23 years ‘longer’ than the 410 documented by
our previous three sources. However, the dating system for a king’s reign considers the “final partial year of [his]
rule as a full year, and the [remainder] of that year. . .[as] a full year for the next king” (Reuven Herzog and Benjy
Koslowe). Meaning, in the above table documenting the length of each king’s reign, 19 years of overlap must be
subtracted: one year for each ruler—not including King Yehoyakim and King Yehoyachin. This reduces the
accumulated ‘length of reign’ for all 19 kings to 414 years. Nevertheless, an additional four years must be
removed from the new total of 414 years to account for the four years King Shlomo’s reigned prior to the
construction of the First Temple.

The end of the First Temple (in 3338 AM/421 BCE) is recorded in Sefer Melachim 25:8-13, stating “On the
seventh day of the fifth month, [the seventh of Av], —the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon—
Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He burned the House of
the LORD, the king’s palace, . . .the houses of Jerusalem. . .[and] the house of every notable person. The entire
Chaldean force that was with the chief of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side.” This
catastrophic event began what would be known as the Babylonian Exile, where the “whole land [being----would] be
a desolate ruin. And those nations [which nations would] serve the king of Babylon seventy years” (Yirmiyahu
25:11-12), as prophesized by Yirmiyahu in 3321 AM.

THIS IS WHERE THE ESSAY INTERTWINES WITH THE AUDIO LESSON

The start and end point of the 70-year Babylonian exile was interpreted differently according to the current
king reigning. The ‘end’ of the 70-year period, each occurring at a different time due to each current king’s
interpretation regarding the chronology of events, was celebrated to the unfulfilled prophecy, as no second beit
hamikdash seemed to be built. As it is famously known that Achashverosh holds a feast celebrating the end of 70
years at the beginning of megilat esther, when he in fact miscalculated the start and end point.
 Another reference, since it is all so sparse, is a reference brought down in sefer Daniel, who (through his
reading of Nach), immersed in the exile in Bavel in the first year of the reign of Darius, son of
Achashverosh, also understands that the exile should only last 70 years. Daniel 9:1-2.

The third person who mentions the 70 years of exile is zecharia, who is prophesizing just after
Daniel, in the second year of daryavesh, an angel addresses hashem and says “how long will it be until
we have full mercy on yerushalayim and on the cities of yehudah which you have been agry at

Zercharia feels that there has already been 70 years. Zecharia 1:12

The next reference we have is in Ezra where he up to Eretz Yisrael with the returnees from exile
in the 7th year of the King Artachshastra/daryavesh (who halted construction of the second beit
hamikdash in his reign due to pressure from outside forces), only for it to resume once more in the
second year of daryavesh (son of achash and esther according to rashi). The same year that zecharia
asked how long The gemara says that archasashtra is daryavesh.

Nebuchadnezzars rule comes to an end in 3364, his death. Cyrus conquers Babylonia in 3377 () and is then
succeeded by evil meodoch

The seventy years of the Babylonian exile would end with the fulfillment of HaShem’s “promise of favor—
to bring [the Jewish people] back to this place [being Ere]” (Yirmiyahu 29:10-). Meaning, if the period of exile
began the year that the First Temple was destroyed (in 3338 AM/421 BCE: the first year of the Babylonian Exile),
the Second Temple would have stood 70 years later, in 3408 AM/351 BCE, built by returning “exiles with the
permission of the new Persian rulers.” WHO ARE THE RULERS IN BETWEEN HERE AND WHEN Cyrus
conquers babylonia after Nebuchasnezzar during the Babylonian exile. Nebu dies in 3364 (395 BCE), Cyrus
becomes king of Persia in 3377

The completion of the Second Temple is brought down in Ezra 6:15, stating, the “house was finished on the
third of the month of Adar in the sixth year [3408 AM/351 BCE] of the reign of King Darius [the second].” There
are limited dates mentioned after this time period. Of those mentioned, only the king of the time, not including
the order of succession, or the length of reign each Persian king ruled is brought down.

The next date we have is that of Ezra’s Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael, in the seventh year of king Artachshasta (whom
Seder olam consideres to be darius the second). (Ezra 7:7). Seder Olam assumes that these two names refer to the
same king, so these two events (the building of the temple and this) are only one year apart[11]. The last
reference we have to Daryavesh/Artachshasta is during the governorship of Nechemyah, in his 32nd year
(Nechemyah Perek 12). This can be calculated to be year 3438 of Seder Olam.

Arakhin 12b, The Gemara asks: Can you find such a possibility, that the Second Temple was destroyed in
the year after a Sabbatical Year? Now, for how many years did the Second Temple stand? It stood for
420 years.

The 420 years of the Second Temple are calculated by our sages in Avodah Zarah 9a, lOb, based on
Seder Olam as follows: 34 years for the remainder of the Persian Era which lasted all together only 52
years. 180 years for the Greek Era. 103 years for the Hasmonian Era. 103 years for the Herodian Era. For
a total of 420.
This is the latest concrete date that can be found in Tanach. However, a hint to later events can be found in a
vision of Daniel. In Perakim 10 and 11, in the third year of Koresh[12], Daniel receives a long, prophetic,
colorful, and obscure description of much of the future political history from an angel. At the beginning of the
history the angel states, “Hinei Od Sheloshah Melachim Omedim LeParas,” “Behold, three more kings will stand
for Persia” (Daniel 11:2); the fourth of the line[13] will be tremendously rich, and he will be conquered by an
extremely powerful king of Greece[14].Seder Olam assumes this king to be Alexander the Great, and thus the
king succeeding Daryavesh/Artachshasta is Alexander. In addition, Seder Olam twice references that the Persians
ruled over Israel for 52 years, which leads to the deduction that Daryavesh/Artachshasta ruled for 36 years. (This
extra time is hinted at in Sefer Nechemyah, where Nechemyah mentions that he was in Persia during
Artachshasta’s 32nd year, and he took leave to return to Israel after a long period of time (Nechemyah 13:6).)
Koresh took control in 3390; hence, Alexander’s reign over the Persian Empire begins in year 3442 of Seder
Olam.

Note: It was only after the Second Temple’s construction when the true ‘starting’ point for the Babylonian exile was discovered.
Belshazzar, the last Babylonian king who ruled from 3386-3389 AM made a banquet in his last year, to celebrate the lack of a
Second Temple, something Yirmiyahu had prophesized, after his count of 70 years of the Babylonian exile. This banquet is
documented in Daniel 5:1-2, stating that “King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his thousand nobles, and in the presence of
the thousand he drank wine. . . [he]ordered the gold and silver vessels that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the
temple at Jerusalem to be brought so that the king and his nobles, his consorts, and his concubines could drink from them.” So
too did Achashverosh miscalculate the end of the 70 years, figuring them from 3327, the date that Nebuchadnezzar exiled the
1,000 Jewish sages. In the year 3395, the third year of his reign, believing that the 70 years had passed without Jewish
redemption, Achashverosh made his famous feast. (Although only 68 years elapsed from 3327, Achashverosh counted partial
years of previous kings as full years. That was not an error, as the Talmud reckons the reign of monarchs in a similar way. His
mistake was the starting point for the 70 years.) Megillah 11b:12 “He [Ahashverosh] said: He (Belshazzar) calculated and made
a mistake, I will calculate and make no mistake. Is it written, “seventy years for the kingdom of Babylon?” It is written, “Seventy
years for Babylon.” What is meant by Babylon? The exile of Babylon. How many years [is this counting] less [than the other]?
Eight. So in place of them he inserted one of Belshazzar, five of Darius and Cyrus, and two of his own, which made seventy.
When he saw that seventy had been completed and they were not redeemed, he brought out the vessels of the Temple and used
them.

The Babylonian Exile (Galut Bavel) began in 586 BCE after Jerusalem and the Holy Temple were
destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Fifty years later, under Persian King Cyrus the Great, the
exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuid the Temple.

Rabbinical literature. Traditional rabbinic literature states that the Second Temple stood for 420
years, and, based on the 2nd-century work Seder Olam Rabbah, placed construction in 356 BCE
(3824 AM), 164 years later than academic estimates, and destruction in 68 CE (3828 AM).

490 years between the destruction of the first temple and the destruction of the second
According to this anyone who participated in this celebration was actually celebrating the
destruction of the Beit Hamikdash...

Therefore, the second year of Daryavesh and the beginning of the construction of the second Beit
HaMikdash was in year 3338+70=3408 of Seder Olam. Construction took four years (Ezra 6:15),
finishing in Daryavesh’s sixth year, year 3412.

Ezra 6:15 The house was finished on the third of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of King
Darius.

From this point on everything becomes much murkier. There are no “anchor dates” like in
Yirmiyahu 25[10]. The few dates mentioned after the construction of the second Beit
HaMikdash are only in reference to the king of the time, and we do not even know for sure the
order of succession, much less for how long each Persian king ruled.

The latest date recorded in Tanach about Daryavesh is his sixth year, the year in which the
second Beit HaMikdash was completed. The next date we have is that of Ezra’s Aliyah to Eretz
Yisrael, in the seventh year of king Artachshasta (Ezra 7:7). Seder Olam assumes that these
two names refer to the same king, so these two events are only one year apart[11]. The last
reference we have to Daryavesh/Artachshasta is during the governorship of Nechemyah, in his
32nd year (Nechemyah Perek 12). This can be calculated to be year 3438 of Seder Olam.

Nebuchadnezar destroyed the first temple and this is where the controversy of 70 and how it
was counted comes into play, this is where the story of purim takes place.
The Talmud (Yoma 9a, Arachin 12b, Avodah Zarah 9b,
Jer.Megillahi,basedonSederOlamXI;seealsoMidrashLev R. 21:9 and Tossef. Korbanoth XIII) stipulates that
the periods of the First and Second Temples lasted 410 and 420 years respectively, and were separated
by 70years of the Babylonian Exile.

Second Temple consecrated 3408 years after Creation

Since, according to Ezra 6:15 “The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in
the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.”, the Second Temple was completed in the sixth year
ofDariusl, the date, following the secular chronology, must have been 517 BCE, i.e. exactly 70 years after
the date (again established by secular historians) of the destruction of the First Temple (587 BCE).
Consequently, the first year of the era of the Second Temple was 517 BCE and not 351 BCE. As long as
we do not doubt the date given for the destruction of the Second Temple (on or about 70 CE) we are
compelled to admit that the 'lV~:l must have existed for no less than 586 years instead of the 420 years
given by tradition. This amounts to a discrepancy of over 165 years when compared with our Jewish way
of reckoning! Therefore, the second year of Daryavesh and the beginning of the construction of the
second Beit HaMikdash was in year 3338+70=3408 of Seder Olam. Construction took four years (Ezra
6:15), finishing in Daryavesh’s sixth year, year 3412.
This is the latest concrete date that can be found in Tanach. However, a hint to later events can be
found in a vision of Daniel. In Perakim 10 and 11, in the third year of Koresh[12], Daniel receives a
long, prophetic, colorful, and obscure description of much of the future political history from an angel.
At the beginning of the history the angel states, “Hinei Od Sheloshah Melachim Omedim
LeParas,” “Behold, three more kings will stand for Persia” (Daniel 11:2); the fourth of the line[13] will
be tremendously rich, and he will be conquered by an extremely powerful king of Greece[14].Seder
Olam assumes this king to be Alexander the Great, and thus the king succeeding
Daryavesh/Artachshasta is Alexander. In addition, Seder Olam twice references that the Persians ruled
over Israel for 52 years, which leads to the deduction that Daryavesh/Artachshasta ruled for 36 years.
(This extra time is hinted at in Sefer Nechemyah, where Nechemyah mentions that he was in Persia
during Artachshasta’s 32nd year, and he took leave to return to Israel after a long period of time
(Nechemyah 13:6).) Koresh took control in 3390; hence, Alexander’s reign over the Persian Empire
begins in year 3442 of Seder Olam.

fifty years after the Temple’s destruction the Babylonian empire fell into the
hands of Cyrus the Great, making way for the rise of the Persian Empire. The historical
dispute centers on the duration of Persian rule.

Modern scholarship, which bases itself on Greek works written during the
Persian period and the astronomical tables of the Egyptian scholar Ptolemy, and more
recently has found additional support in Persian cuneiform inscriptions, assumes that
the Persian empire spanned approximately 206 years and included the following kings:
Cyrus, Cambyses II, Darius I, Xerxes I (likely the Achashverosh of Esther), Artaxerxes I,
Xerxes II, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III, and Darius III. According to this widely
accepted view, the First Temple was destroyed in 587 or 586 BCE, with the new
Temple completed in 517 or 516. The Second Temple, which was destroyed in 68 or 70
CE, stood for approximately 585 years.

By contrast, the rabbis present a dramatically different portrait of the Persian era.
On their reckoning, the Second Temple stood for just 420 years (Arakhin 12b), not 585.
This position is reflected in a Talmudic passage (Avoda Zara 8b-9a) which asserts that
the Jews of the Second Temple period were governed by four kingdoms: the Persians
for 34 years, the Greeks for 180, the Hasmoneans for 103 and the Romans for an
additional 103. After accounting for the eighteen years between Cyrus’ ascension to the
throne and the Temple’s completion, the rabbinic assign a mere 52 years to Persian
rule, a far cry from the scholarly consensus of 206.

according to our Talmudic tradition the Second Temple stood for only 420 years, 1we must of necessity
assume reckoning backward in time that the Second Temple was consecrated in the year 352-351 BCE
and that the Babylonian Captivity began immediately after the destruction of the First Temple, in 422-
421 BCE. We may be able to equate the Jewish and non-Jewish data and arrive at the following
conclusion:

Second Temple destroyed ............. 3830 ........ 70 CE

The Second Temple (Hebrew: ‫בית־המקדש השני‬, romanized: Beit HaMikdash HaSheni, transl. 'Second
House of the Sanctum'), also known in its later years as Herod's Temple, was the
reconstructed Jewish holy temple that stood on the Temple Mount in the city
of Jerusalem between c. 516 BCE and 70 CE

Modern scholarship, which bases itself on Greek works written during the Persian
period and the astronomical tables of the Egyptian scholar Ptolemy, and more recently
has found additional support in Persian cuneiform inscriptions, assumes that the
Persian empire spanned approximately 206 years and included the following kings:
Cyrus, Cambyses II, Darius I, Xerxes I (likely the Achashverosh of Esther),
Artaxerxes I, Xerxes II, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III, and Darius III.
According to this widely accepted view, the First Temple was destroyed in 587 or 586
BCE, with the new Temple completed in 517 or 516. The Second Temple, which was
destroyed in 68 or 70 CE, stood for approximately 585 years.
However, the widely accepted notion (by both Torah secular scholars alike) is that the
Second Beit Hamikdash was destroyed in the year 70 C.E. (or 3830 A.M. according to the current
traditional Jewish calendar which begins its chronology with the first five days of creation, being
year 1 A.M., the sixth day of creation—when Adam HaRishon was created—as year 2 A.M., and
the first day of Tishrei/the second Rosh HaShanah a full year after Adam HaRishon was created
as 3 A.M.).
Note that the year 3830 A.M. is not the year of the Second Beit Hamikdash’s destruction
according to Seder Olam (which only begins its chronology with the creation of Adam
HaRishon and makes no mention of Beri’at HaOlam), leaving a two-year discrepancy and
the year of the Second Beit Hamikdash’s destruction at 3828 A.M.

the a Tannaitic work generally attributed to the mid-2nd century Tanna Rabbi Yosi ben
Halafta. A Midrashic commentary on Jewish history, it chronicles and exegetes the stories of
Tanach and a little beyond, using the historical narratives as a springboard for Chazal’s
teachings and messages: its goal is not to explicitly comment on historical facts, but rather to
use stories as an educational tool. Seder Olam uses two primary sources, both stemming from
the Tanach. The first and dominant source is explicit references from the books of Tanach to
specific years and periods of time, combined via simple arithmetic intuition. These references
are plentiful and clear enough to write the timeline almost entirely, from Adam HaRishon to
the Churban of the first Beit HaMikdash. (The dating of Malchut Yehudah is slightly cloudier;
we will deal with this later.) The second source is implicit references and inferences used to fill
in the gaps where Tanach is more ambiguous. These are primarily used in the works post-
Churban HaBayit, where dates of certain events are given, but there are no large blocks of time
recorded. It gives a chronology of the history of the Jewish people and the world
around them since the first man Adam until the Great Revolt against the Roman rule.

Let us begin by framing the controversy. As we discussed last week, some fifty
years after the Temple’s destruction the Babylonian empire fell into the hands of Cyrus
the Great, making way for the rise of the Persian Empire. The historical dispute centers
on the duration of Persian rule.
 Seder Olam records that the time between the destructions of the two Batei Mikdash lasted 490
(with 70 years of the Babylonian exile until we built it after those 70 where we get 490). years.
However, secular history records that the Churban of the first Beit HaMikdash took place in
586 BCE, and that the Churban of the second Beit HaMikdash occurred in 70 CE; this leaves us
with a period of 655 years[2]. Thus, there is a discrepancy of 165 years between Seder
Olam and secular history!

Because the year 70 C.E. is widely accepted at the year of the second temple’s destruction, and
the length of its presence lasted 420 years (according to seder olam raba and first appears in
Avodah Zarah 9a, 10b), this means that the secular year for the destruction of the second
temple must have been consecrated in the year 352-351 BCE, and the 70 years of the
Babylonian captivity of 70 years occurred immediately after the first temples destruction
around 422-421 BCE.

Seder olam breaks up the span of these 420 years as. . . There were 490 years
between the destruction of the First (423 BCE) and the Second (70 CE or
68 CE, depending how you count) Beis Hamikdash. Yet the secular
historians date the destruction of the First Beis Hamikdash to 586 BCE.

Some think that chazal at some point messed up the years so that we
wouldn’t really know when we were hitting 6000.
19. There is a widespread belief in both the Jewish community and the academic
historical community that the Talmud, Seder Olam and Rambam all place the destruction
of the Second Temple in 68 or 69 ce in contradiction to the overwhelming historical
evidence that it occurred in 70 ce. Edgar Frank, in his important book on the
calendar, Talmudic and Rabbinical Chronology, convincingly demonstrated that all of the
sources accurately placed the destruction in 70 ce. This misconception arose due to
misunderstanding that there are various AM systems with differing epochs. In other
words, according to AM I, the current year is 5780 and the Churban Bayit Sheni was in
3830, exactly 1,950 years ago, placing the destruction` in 70 ce.

Modern scholarship, which bases itself on Greek works written during the
Persian period and the astronomical tables of the Egyptian scholar Ptolemy, and more
recently has found additional support in Persian cuneiform inscriptions, assumes that
the Persian empire spanned approximately 206 years and included the following kings:
Cyrus, Cambyses II, Darius I, Xerxes I (likely the Achashverosh of Esther), Artaxerxes I,
Xerxes II, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III, and Darius III. According to this widely
accepted view, the First Temple was destroyed in 587 or 586 BCE, with the new
Temple completed in 517 or 516. The Second Temple, which was destroyed in 68 or 70
CE, stood for approximately 585 years.

By contrast, the rabbis present a dramatically different portrait of the Persian era.
On their reckoning, the Second Temple stood for just 420 years (Arakhin 12b), not 585.
This position is reflected in a Talmudic passage (Avoda Zara 8b-9a) which asserts that
the Jews of the Second Temple period were governed by four kingdoms: the Persians
for 34 years, the Greeks for 180, the Hasmoneans for 103 and the Romans for an
additional 103. After accounting for the eighteen years between Cyrus’ ascension to the
throne and the Temple’s completion, the rabbinic assign a mere 52 years to Persian
rule, a far cry from the scholarly consensus of 206.

‫מ״א‬-‫ל״ב‬:‫מגילה י״א ב‬
‫אמר איהו מיטעא טעי אנא חשיבנא ולא טעינא מי כתיב למלכות בבל לבבל כתיב מאי לבבל לגלות בבל כמה בצירן‬
‫תמני חשיב ועייל חילופייהו חדא דבלשצר וחמש דדריוש וכורש ותרתי דידיה הא שבעין כיון דחזי דמלו שבעין ולא‬
‫איפרוק אמר השתא ודאי תו לא מיפרקי אפיק מאני דבי מקדשא ואשתמש בהו‬