The return
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.Cyrus of Persia permits the exiles to go up and rebuild the house in Jerusalem.
בית שני
The Second Temple
Rebuilt by returning exiles, restored by the Hasmoneans, enlarged by Herod, and remembered in the Mishnah in precise detail.
וְרַבִּים מֵהַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וְרָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר רָאוּ אֶת־הַבַּיִת הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּיָסְדוֹ זֶה הַבַּיִת בְּעֵינֵיהֶם בֹּכִים בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל וְרַבִּים בִּתְרוּעָה בְשִׂמְחָה לְהָרִים קוֹל׃
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’houses, the old men that had seen the first house standing on its foundation, wept with a loud voice, when this house was before their eyes; and many shouted aloud for joy;
Rebuilding
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.At the foundation, elders who remembered the First House weep while others shout for joy. The House is finished in Adar, in the sixth year of Darius. Haggai promises its glory will be greater than the first.
No Ark
Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.Rabbinic tradition lists five things present in the First Temple and missing from the Second, the Ark among them. On Yom Kippur the High Priest set the incense on a bare stone.
The Hasmonean restoration
Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.After Greek rule desecrated the altar, the Hasmoneans stored its stones away and repaired thirteen breaches in the soreg. Chanukah remembers the rededication.
Herod's expansion
Historical record: Ancient historical writing such as Josephus. Historical testimony, not religious law.From about 20 BCE Herod rebuilt on a vast platform whose retaining walls still stand, among them the Western Wall. The Talmud remembers the building's beauty. Jewish tradition does not centre Temple identity on him.
What the Mishnah preserves
Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.Tractate Middot records the measurements of this House, and Tamid its daily service. The site's reconstruction is built on them.
Destruction in 70 CE
Historical record: Ancient historical writing such as Josephus. Historical testimony, not religious law.Rome burns the Temple on the ninth of Av. The Arch of Titus shows the Menorah carried in triumph through Rome.