The Second Temple was the Jewish holy temple which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem from 516 BC to 70 AD. It replaced the First Temple, which had been destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 586 BC, and it was originally a modest structure built by returning refugees from Babylonian captivity. However, during the reign of Herod the Great, the temple was refurbished and turned into a large and magnificent structure. In 70 AD, during the First Jewish-Roman War, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in retaliation.