At this period, then, is concluded the 483 years, when they came to an end who held, according to the Mosaic Law, the primacy of the nation, and the priesthood, whom I understand the Holy Scriptures to call here "Christ the governor." And if it be necessary to publish a roll of the succession of the high priests who held office during this (b) intermediate period, I have no objection so to do in confirmation of my statements. First, then, after Daniel's prophecy, in the reign of Cyrus, King of Persia, after the Return from Babylon, came Joshua son of Josedec, called the Great Priest, with Zerubbabel from captivity, and laid the foundations of the Temple, but since he was hindered in the work by the neighbours, the first seven weeks of years named by the prophet came to an end, during which the building of the Temple remained unfinished. This is why (c) the divine word separates the first seven from the remaining weeks, saying seven weeks, and then after an interval adding, and sixty-two weeks. For from Cyrus to the completion of the building of the Temple are seven weeks of years. Hence the Jews attacking our Saviour said, "Forty and six years was this Temple in building, and wilt thou raise it up in three days?'' These men, you say, said that the Temple was built in forty-six years. So they reckoned (d) from the reign of Cyrus first, who first permitted those of the Jews who wished to go up to their own land, to the sixth year of King Darius, in whose reign the Temple was finally completed. But Josephus, a Jewish author, says that three more years were spent in completing the surrounding outside buildings, so that it seems probable that the seven first weeks were divided in the prophet's words into nine years and forty years, and that the remaining sixty-two were counted from the reign of Darius, in whose time Joshua, son of Josedec, and Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, who were still alive, were both at the head of the rebuilding of the (393) Temple, when Haggai and Zechariah were prophets, after whom Ezra and Nehemiah, who also came up from Babylon, built the wall of the city, when Joiachim was high priest. He was son of Joshua, son of Josedec, and Eliashib succeeded him in the high-priesthood, then Joiada, after him Jonathan, and after him Jaddua. The books of Ezra record them, saying, "And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim begat (b) Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua."