In a larger sense, it also refers to the discrepancy between conventional chronology versus that of Seder Olam in what concerns the Persian period during which time it exercised hegemony over Israel, a period which spanned 207 years according to conventional chronology,[2] but only 34 years according to Seder Olam.
The Babylonian Chronicles (as published by Donald Wiseman in 1956) establish that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time on 2 Adar (16 March) 597 BCE.
[12] Thiele's reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah's reign on an accession basis, which was used for most but not all of the kings of Judah.
Since Judah's regnal years were counted from Tishrei in autumn, this would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BCE.
[14] In traditional Jewish calculations, based on Seder Olam Rabbah, the destruction of the Second Temple fell in the year 68 of the Common Era, implying that it was built in about 352 BCE.
[28] Azariah dei Rossi[29] was likely the first Jewish authority to claim that the traditional Hebrew dating is not historically precise regarding the years before the Second Temple,[30]: 262 [19]: 82 [31]: 77 and suggests that the Sages of Israel may have chosen to include in their chronology only those years of the period of Persian dominion that were clearly expressed or implied in the Bible.
[32] Nachman Krochmal[33] agreed with dei Rossi,[19]: 51 pointing to the Greek name Antigonos mentioned in Pirkei Avot 1:3 as proof that there must have been a longer period to account for this sign of Hellenic influence.
[19]: 126 Astrologer and chronicler, Raḥamim Sar-Shalom, following the view of dei Rossi, suggests that the purpose of the author of Seder Olam was only to state the number of years of the Persian period that were included in the Bible, and that a lack of understanding of the purpose by the Amoraim is what caused them, among other things, to calculate the date from creation erroneously.
He suggests that the authors of the traditional Jewish chronology intentionally omitted years from the Persian period to obtain the round number with the intent of allowing Jews who had counted years from the Exodus to easily switch to the Seleucid era system, used by Greek rulers at the time.
[31]: 67–115 Mordechai Breuer suggested that like other works of midrash, the tradition chronology in Seder Olam Rabbah was never meant to be taken literally but rather was intended to be symbolic.
[37] Some Jewish thinkers, including Isaac Abarbanel, Chaim Hirschensohn and Adin Steinsaltz, have argued that the original Jewish chronology agreed with the academic chronology, but later misunderstandings or textual corruptions of Seder Olam Rabbah gave the impression that it refers to a shorter period of time.