The Return
c. 515 BC · one of the six stops on the atlas era rail
Slide the atlas to the Return era and the map redraws itself as the world stood about 515 BC: cities rise to their height, fall to ruin, or have not yet been built. Every change below comes from the era notes written for this stop.
Painted vignettes
The map at this stop
- Jerusalem · rebuilt. Rebuilt by the returned exiles; the Second Temple finished c. 515 BC.
- Jericho · standing. Men of Jericho were among those who came back from exile.
- Shiloh · absent from the map.
- Samaria · standing. Seat of the Persian province; its governor Sanballat opposed Nehemiah’s wall.
- Nineveh · in ruins. Left desolate, as the prophets had said.
- Babylon · standing. Taken by Cyrus in 539 BC, not destroyed; from here he sent the exiles home.
- Hazor · absent from the map.
- Susa (Shushan) · at its height. Darius built his winter palace here; Esther was made queen in this citadel, and Nehemiah served the king here.
- Dan · absent from the map.
- Bethel · standing. Its men were among those who returned from exile.
- Megiddo · absent from the map.
- Lachish · rebuilt. Settled again after the exile; Nehemiah names Lachish and its fields.
- Tyre · standing. Tyre and Sidon again shipped cedar for the Second Temple.
- Thebes (No-Amon) · standing. Its temples endured, though its power never returned.
The wonders
- The Temple · rebuilt. The Second Temple rose on the same platform, finished c. 515 BC.