of the Persian province of Yehud, most scholars identify year 2 with 520–519 B.C. (4 April 520–3 March 519 B.C.).28 The eighth month in the Jewish calendar straddles the modern months of October and November. These words are thus delivered in the wake of probably the most unsettled period in the history of the Persian Empire (except its demise at the hands of Alexander in the late fourth century B.C.). It is in this period (see Introduction above) that Persia’s founding royal dynasty (Cyrus and his