Return to Zion

A journey · 5 stops

See the journey on the map

1. Babylon −538 – −538
Cyrus of Persia conquers Babylon and lets the Jews go home to rebuild their Temple. Some 42,000 set out under Zerubbabel and Jeshua; many others stay behind.
2. Mari −538 – −538
They carry the Temple vessels Cyrus gave back, walking up the Euphrates by the same road their grandparents had come down.
3. Carchemish −538 – −538
At the bend of the Euphrates they leave the river and turn south-west towards Syria.
4. Damascus −537 – −537
The last great city on the road. Now only a few days' march separate them from the land.
5. Jerusalem −537 – −516
They find ruins. The altar goes up first, then the Temple's foundations, with old men weeping and young ones shouting for joy. Delayed by opposition, it is finished after twenty years.