The period during which the jews were persecuted was described by gabriel as the:

This is as much a Bible question as a history question. The angel Gabriel was giving revelations of the future to the prophet Daniel. In the Bible account, Gabriel said to Daniel: " Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation" (Daniel 8:19 King James Version). In other translations (such as the New International Version), the Hebrew phrase used in Daniel is put into English as the time of wrath. So, for your question, perhaps the time of indignation or of wrath, depending on what translation you might be referencing. In any event, the prophecy was of bad times that lay ahead.