Great Assembly
According to Jewish tradition the Great Assembly (Hebrew: כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה, romanized: Kəneset haGədōlā, also translated as Great Synagogue or Synod) was an assembly of possibly 120 scribes, sages, and prophets, which existed from the early Second Temple period (around 516 BCE) to the early Hellenistic period (which began in the region with Alexander's conquest in 332 BCE), roughly coinciding with the Persian hegemony over the nation of Israel. The assembly's members, known as Anshei Knesset HaGedolah (אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה, the "Men of the Great Assembly"), traditionally included such figures as Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, Mordechai and Zerubbabel.