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Biblical History Atlas

Historical event dossier · Religious, Construction

The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15)

Researched — not human reviewedRevision 2Last reviewed: not reviewed

Human review pending. 1 item from this dossier is awaiting the project owner's review: “Disputed: was the Temple finished on 3 Adar (Ezra 6:15) or 23 Adar (1 Esdras 7:5; Josephus), and in Darius's sixth year or ninth (Josephus)?” (queued 2026-10-13, status open). All classifications on this page are machine-proposed unless marked otherwise. Review happens offline. This site has no review controls.

Biblical references

Text: World English Bible (public domain). The ESV and NKJV are the preferred study translations and are referenced, not reproduced.

Ezra 6:13–18Narration
13 Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shetharbozenai, and their companions did accordingly with all diligence, because Darius the king had sent a decree. 14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15 This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16 The children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18 They set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

6:13–14 completion under Darius's decree; 6:16–18 dedication.

Biblical account

Layer: Biblical text

Tattenai acted on Darius's decree; the elders built and prospered through Haggai and Zechariah, and finished the house by the command of God and the decree of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year; the exiles dedicated it with 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs and 12 male goats for the tribes of Israel, and set the priests and Levites in their divisions.

Historical overview

Layer: Historical reconstruction · Period: Achaemenid Persian rule over Judah

On Babylonian Nisan reckoning Darius's sixth year ran from spring 516 to spring 515, placing 3 Adar in late February or March 515.[1]

Kingdoms: Achaemenid Persian Empire, Kingdom of Judah

Date and chronology derivation

Ranges are computed by the project's deterministic chronology engine from the biblical statements and each model's reign anchors. They are reconstructions, not independent dates.

516 BC – 515 BC

Model-independent (applies under every chronology model) · precision: regnal year

How this range was derived

Earliest bound

  1. “This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” — The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) in regnal year reign of Darius I (the Great) (year 6) [reckoned accession, nisan new year] (Ezra 6:15)[1]Assumption: Babylonian Nisan-based years: year 6 = spring 516 – spring 515, so Adar falls in Feb–Mar 515 (Parker & Dubberstein table).

Latest bound

  1. “This house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king” — The rebuilt Temple completed on 3 Adar of Darius's sixth year (Ezra 6:15) in regnal year reign of Darius I (the Great) (year 6) [reckoned accession, nisan new year] (Ezra 6:15)[1]Assumption: Babylonian Nisan-based years: year 6 = spring 516 – spring 515, so Adar falls in Feb–Mar 515 (Parker & Dubberstein table).

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What else was happening? (model-independent)

  • Daniel's refusal of the king's food and the ten-day test (Dan 1:8–16): 606 BC – ?
  • Nebuchadnezzar's golden image on the plain of Dura (Dan 3:1–7): 603 BC – ?
  • Nebuchadnezzar's decree honouring the God of the three Judeans (Dan 3:28–30): 603 BC – ?
  • The refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace (Dan 3:8–27): 603 BC – ?
  • The thirty-day decree and Daniel in the lions' den (Dan 6:4–23): 539 BC – ?
  • Darius appoints 120 satraps and three chief officials (Dan 6:1–3, 28): 539 BC – ?
  • The accusers punished; Darius's decree honouring the God of Daniel (Dan 6:24–27): 539 BC – ?
  • Darius I (the Great) (reign): 522 BC – 486 BC
  • Darius I confirms Cyrus's decree and orders the Temple completed (Ezra 6:1–12): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • Gedaliah governs from Mizpah and is assassinated (2 Kgs 25:22–26): 589 BC – ?
  • Tattenai governor of Beyond the River inquires and writes to Darius (Ezra 5:3–17): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • Accusations to Ahasuerus and the Rehum–Shimshai letter to Artaxerxes; the city's rebuilding stopped (Ezra 4:6–23): 537 BC – ?
  • The returned exiles keep the Passover after the Temple's dedication (Ezra 6:19–22): 516 BC – 515 BC
  • Crowns made from the exiles' gifts and set on Joshua; the oracle of the Branch (Zech 6:9–15): 520 BC – 515 BC
  • The first "burden" of Zechariah 9–11 (undated oracle collection): 518 BC – ?
  • The second "burden" of Zechariah 12–14 (undated oracle collection): 518 BC – ?

Ancient and modern geography

Location confidence assumes the event as described. Whether it occurred is assessed in the claims below.

PlaceConnection to this eventLocation identification
JerusalemJerusalem (Old City / City of David)Object of the decreeLocation confidence: certainPleiades representative point: certain[2]

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Claims, evidence and classifications

Each claim is classified on its own. A classification describes the evidence for that specific claim, not for the event as a whole.

The rebuilt Temple was completed in Adar of Darius I's sixth year (spring 515 BC).

No independent corroboration foundMachine-proposedHistorical reconstruction

The completion is recorded only in Ezra; the conversion to 515 BC uses Parker & Dubberstein's table for Darius I. No external text mentioning the completion was found.

Supporting

  • Year 6 of Darius I ran from Nisan 516 to the following Adar (Feb–Mar 515).[1]Strength: indirect·Darius I year table·Claim checked

Limitations of this classification: 1 Esdras 7:5 (a parallel) not read.

Research date 2026-10-13

The Temple was finished on the third day of Adar (Ezra 6:15), not the twenty-third (1 Esd 7:5; Josephus), in Darius's sixth year (not his ninth, as in Josephus).

DisputedOwner review pendingBiblical textIn owner review queue

The Hebrew (and, per Keil, the LXX) has the third day; 1 Esdras has the twenty-third; Josephus has the twenty-third of Adar in the ninth year. Keil rejects Bertheau's preference for the twenty-third. No external evidence dates the completion; the year (sixth) is the common reading of Ezra and 1 Esdras.

Supporting

  • The Hebrew and the LXX read the third day; Bertheau's preference for 1 Esdras's twenty-third is arbitrary.[3]Strength: indirect·on 6:15 (n.)·Claim checked

Challenging

  • Finished by the twenty-third day of Adar, in the sixth year.[4]Strength: direct·1 Esd 7:5·Claim checked
  • Dedication sacrifices on the twenty-third of Adar in the ninth year of Darius; built in seven years.[5]Strength: direct·Ant. 11.4.7·Claim checked

Context

  • Esdras reads the 23rd day; the year phrase needs emendation.[6]Strength: indirect·on 6:15·Claim checked

Limitations of this classification: Textual variants beyond these witnesses not researched.

Research date 2026-10-13

Evidence by type

The same evidence regrouped by kind of source. Each item names the claims it bears on.

Archaeological evidence

None recorded for this event.

Scientific findings

None recorded for this event.

Ancient documents

Modern news and announcements

None recorded for this event.

Reference works and summaries

Historical disputes and competing reconstructions

Disputed claims: The Temple was finished on the third day of Adar (Ezra 6:15), not the twenty-third (1 Esd 7:5; Josephus), in Darius's sixth year (not his ninth, as in Josephus).

  • Spring 515 BC

    Operator conversion with Parker & Dubberstein

    Adar of year 6 of Darius I.[1]

  • Interval from 587/586: about 70 years

    Temple-desolation reading of Jeremiah's seventy years

    See Jeremiah's seventy years.[7]

  • Third or twenty-third of Adar; sixth or ninth year

    Ezra 6:15 (third; sixth year); 1 Esdras 7:5 (twenty-third; sixth year); Josephus Ant. 11.4.7 (twenty-third; ninth year)

    Keil explains the 1 Esdras reading as an adjustment to give an eight-day dedication ending the year.[3, 4, 5]

Related passages and events

FromRelationshipToBasis
this eventThematic parallelhigh · Biblical textZechariah 1:12"These seventy years" of indignation, spoken in Darius's second year.
this eventPreceded byhigh · Biblical textThe foundation of the Second Temple laid (Ezra 3:8–13)Completion of the work whose foundation Ezra 3 narrates.
this eventFollowed byhigh · Biblical textThe returned exiles keep the Passover after the Temple's dedication (Ezra 6:19–22)The Passover of the following first month.
this eventThematic parallelmedium · Biblical text1 Kings 8:62–64Solomon's dedication sacrifices, vastly larger.

Prophetic relationships

No prophecy or proposed-fulfillment relationships have been recorded for this event.

Unanswered questions and research gaps

  • 1 Esdras 7 and Josephus Ant. 11.4.7 not read.

Research process

2 logged searches
DateQueryWhereUseful
2026-10-13Parker & Dubberstein: Darius I, Xerxes, Artaxerxes I evidence and year tableslocal text1
2026-10-13Ezra 6 unit: 1 Esdras 7:5; Josephus Ant. 11.4.7; Keil and Batten on 6:15local text3

Sources

  1. 1.
    Parker, Richard A., Dubberstein, Waldo H.. Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.–A.D. 45 (SAOC 24). University of Chicago Press (Oriental Institute). archive.orgClaim checkedAcademic monographRead through the Internet Archive OCR text of the Oriental Institute PDF; OCR has digit errors (e.g. "589" for 539) checked against context. The 1956 revised edition was not consulted.Verification log
  2. 2.
    Pleiades contributors. Ierusalem/Hierosolyma — Pleiades place 687928. Pleiades (pleiades.stoa.org). pleiades.stoa.orgClaim checkedInstitutional databaseRepresentative point read from the Pleiades JSON record: lon 35.234978, lat 31.7771895.Verification log
  3. 3.
    Keil, C. F., Taylor, Sophia (trans.). Biblical Commentary on the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (Clark's Foreign Theological Library). T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1873. archive.orgClaim checkedScholarly commentaryRead through the Internet Archive OCR text.Verification log
  4. 4.
    World English Bible (translators). World English Bible — Apocrypha/Deuterocanon (1 Esdras 7). eBible.org. ebible.orgClaim checkedAncient primary textGreek parallel to Ezra 6:13–22.Verification log
  5. 5.
    Josephus, Whiston, William (trans.). Josephus, Antiquities 11.4.6–7 (trans. W. Whiston). Project Gutenberg #2848. www.gutenberg.orgClaim checkedAncient primary textVerification log
  6. 6.
    Batten, Loring W.. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (International Critical Commentary). T. & T. Clark / Scribner, 1913. archive.orgClaim checkedScholarly commentaryRead through the Internet Archive OCR text.Verification log
  7. 7.
    Jerome, Archer, Gleason L. (trans.). Jerome, Commentary on Daniel (trans. Gleason L. Archer, 1958) — chapter 9. tertullian.org (transcribed by Roger Pearse). www.tertullian.orgClaim checkedAncient primary textVerification log
  8. 8.
    Guzik, David. Ezra 6 — Enduring Word Bible Commentary. Enduring Word. enduringword.comClaim checkedTheological commentaryInterpretive resource — not historical corroboration.Verification log