User:Davidbena/sandbox/Blank Page

Primitive ploughs of the eastern Mediterranean, Jordan and Iraq
One of the earliest ploughs in use in the 2nd-century CE is described by its parts in the compendium known as the Mishnah. German orientalist Gustaf Dalman, who studied the ploughs used in Palestine in the 20th-century, has shown that these implements had undergone very little changes over the course of these many years. Most were constructed of several wooden parts connected together by ropes, pegs with wedges, and iron rings, and consisted of: 1) a central draft-pole, which ran between the two draft animals (usually oxen); 2)...

According to the Aramaic Scroll of Antiochus, from the Second Temple's rebuilding till the 23rd year of the reign of Antiochus Eupator, son of Antiochus Epiphanes who invaded Judaea, there had transpired 213 years in total. Quoting verbatim from that ancient Aramaic record: בִּשׁנַת עַסרִין וּתלָת שְׁנִין לְמִמלְכֵיהּ, בִּשׁנַת מָאתַן וּתלָת עֲסַר שְׁנִין לְבִניַין בֵּית אֱלָהָא דֵיך, שַׁוִּי אַנפּוֹהִי לְמִיסַּק לִירוּשְׁלֵם −	Literal translation: In the twenty third year of his kingdom, in the two-hundred and thirteenth year of the rebuilding of this, God's house, he (Antiochus Eupator) put his face to go up to Jerusalem. This timeframe is taken in conjunction with another date in the Seleucid Era counting mentioned by Josephus, in his Antiquities of the Jews (book 12, chapter 9, section 2). Based on Josephus' record, Antiochus Eupator began his reign after his father's death (Antiochus Epiphanes) in anno 149 of the Seleucid Era (= 162 BCE). Twenty-three years into Antiochus Eupator's reign would have then been anno 172 of the Seleucid Era, or what was then 139 BCE. Since, according to the Scroll of Antiochus, the Second Temple had already been standing 213 years, this means that the Second Temple was completed in anno 352 BCE, being what was then the 6th year of the reign of Darius the king (i.e. Darius, the son of Hystaspes), the year in which the king finished its building according to Ezra 6:15. Although this date of the Temple's rebuilding largely disagrees with modern scholarship who base their chronologies upon the Babylonian Chronicles and its rebuilding in 516 BCE, it is, nonetheless, held by religious Jewish circles as being accurate and reliable, since it is founded upon a tradition passed down generation after generation. The Babylonian Chronicles, however, are known to be lacking in certain regnal years ascribed to some kings, besides disagreeing in other places with the ancient Egyptian records outlining the regnal years of eight successive Persian kings, preserved in the Third Book of Manetho. In Jewish tradition, the Second Temple stood 420 years, meaning, it was destroyed by Titus in the 2nd year of the reign of Vespasian, in 68 CE. For a discussion of subject, see Seder Olam Rabbah. The 2nd century Jewish chronicler wrote in Seder Olam Rabbah (chapter 30): "Rabbi Yose says: The kingdom of Persia during the time of the Temple lasted [only] 34 years." Many have misconstrued these words to mean that the author of Seder Olam Rabbah has contracted the entire Persian period of over 200 years into a supposed period of 34 years. According to RASHI, the 34-year Persian period must be understood in the context of their hegemony over Israel while the Second Temple stood. Meaning, 34 years is the precise timeframe between the building of the Second Temple under Darius (I) in 352 BCE (according to Jewish calculations) and Alexander the Great's rise to power in 318 BCE – collected altogether as 34 years of Persian hegemony over Israel while the Temple stood. This timeframe, therefore, does not signify the end of the dynasties in Persia, but rather of their rule and hegemony over Israel before Alexander the Great rose to power.

According to Josephus (p. 313), 41 BCE should have been a Sabbatical Year too. Sosius and Herod laid siege to Jerusalem for 5 months.


 * 150 Seleucid era = 162 BCE–161 BCE (Sabbatical Year)
 * 200 SE = Sabbatical Year = 112 BCE–111 BCE (Sabbatical Year)
 * 250 SE = Sabbatical Year = 62 BCE–61 BCE (Sabbatical Year)
 * 257 SE = 55 BCE–54 BCE (Sabbatical Year)
 * 264 SE = 48 BCE–47 BCE (Sabbatical Year)
 * 271 SE = 41 BCE–40 BCE (Sabbatical Year) = Capture of Jerusalem by Herod and Sosius.
 * 278 SE = 34 BCE–33 BCE (Sabbatical Year, or perhaps even 279 SE = 33 BCE–32 BCE being the Sabbatical Year, if we account for the Year of Jubilee)
 * 285 SE = 27 BCE (or perhaps even 286 SE = 26 BCE was the Sabbatical Year, if we account for a Jubilee)
 * 292 SE = 20 BCE (or perhaps even 293 SE = 19 BCE was the Sabbatical Year, if we account for the Jubilee)
 * 300 SE = 12 BCE definitely a Sabbatical Year, with the Year of Jubilee already accounted for.

Adding section with table on "Comparative Jewish Chronology," based on WP:CALC.