The Second Temple was an important Jewish Holy Temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE. When the Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem following a decree from Cyrus the Great, construction started at the original site of Solomon’s Temple, which had remained a devastated heap during the approximately 70 years of captivity. After a relatively brief halt due to opposition from the people, work resumed around 521 BCE under the Persian King Darius the Great and was completed during the sixth year of his reign (c. 516 BCE). Flavius Josephus records that Herod the Great completely rebuilt the Temple in 20-18 BCE, even going so far as to replace the foundation stones and to smooth off the surface of the Temple Mount. This Temple became known as Herod’s Temple. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple in 70 CE under Titus, decisively ending the Great Jewish Revolt that had begun four years earlier. The lower levels of the Western Wall form part of the few surviving remains of Herod’s complex.
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