After months of relentless siege, the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar II finally breached the fortified walls of Jerusalem in 586/587 BCE, bringing the Kingdom of Judah to a catastrophic end. The city was systematically destroyed—its defenses broken, its neighborhoods burned, and its political authority extinguished. At the center of this devastation stood the First Temple, traditionally known as Solomon’s Temple, which was set ablaze and reduced to ruins. Built by King Solomon as the earth