The Book of Daniel: Historical people, places, and problems

The book of Daniel purports to relate the experiences and visions of its title character, a Hebrew noble and prophet, during the Babylonian Exile in the 6^th century BCE. As with myriad other marvelous accounts from antiquity, Daniel’s text explicitly (and implicitly) refers to a number of verified individuals, locations, and events. Despite these convergences between the story and reality, though, several passages and references conflict with the extrinsic archaeological and written evidence. While the book doubtless conveyed theologically and psychologically resonant messages about national identity, oppression, fidelity, perseverance, vindication, and hope to its intended audience, it is not an inerrant work of history.

For purposes of this discussion, we’ll put aside the astounding tales about the lions’ den and fiery furnace and such, as well as the extent to which the prophetic visions did nor did not get the future right, to focus instead on whether the book did or did not get the past right. And the results are...well, human, as Mr. Spock would say. A few thoughts (by no means comprehensive) about the more problematic passages follow.

Adventures in Chronology