This study, the companion to Volume 1, continues the history of the Jewish people to the time when Christianity became independent of Judaism. The historical study of the life and times of Jesus has brought a clearer realization of the importance of understanding post-exilic Judaism. Contents include the historical sources and literature of the period; the causes and occasion of the Maccabean uprising; the struggle for religious and political freedom; the attainment of independence; Judaism in Syria and Egypt; internal divisions and the growth of parties; the revival of Hellenism; the Roman period of Jewish history, the last of the Hasmoneans, Herod the King of the Jews, the inner life of the nation, the final catastrophe at Masada and glimpses of Judaism in Palestine after the war and of Judaism in the Dispersion. This comprehensive study clearly shows the complex background to the present, where both faiths -- Judaism and Christianity -- continue to work out their destinies.