Babylonian captivity

American  

noun

1. the period of the exile of the Jews in Babylonia, 597–538 b.c.

2. the exile of the popes at Avignon, 1309–77.

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Babylonian captivity British  

noun

1. the exile of the Jews in Babylonia from about 586 to about 538 _bc

2. the exile of the seven popes in Avignon (1309–77)

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Example Sentences

In particular, Trump has been compared to King Cyrus, who, according to the Bible, liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity, despite himself being a Persian ruler.

From The Guardian

Back past the Babylonian Captivity, in fact: The first Jews in Kurdistan, tradition holds, were among the last tribes of Israel, taken from their land in the Eighth Century B.C.

From New York Times

Nebuchadnezzar, I remembered, had destroyed the first temple in Jerusalem, forcing the Jews into the Babylonian captivity.

From The Guardian

This work, which purports to deal with events of the Babylonian Captivity, is actually designed to apply to the struggles of the Jews of the Hellenic period against their Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, and it contains, in Daniel’s visions and Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams, the first extensive examples of the apocalypse in its characteristic form.

From The New Yorker

I am not sure how a scream can “build” all the way from antiquity, but perhaps the next time my wife and I argue, I should invoke the Babylonian Captivity.

From Los Angeles Times