Read this if you…
- want the source for the lion's den, the fiery furnace, and the writing on the wall — three of the most-painted scenes in Christian art
- like apocalyptic literature: world empires as beasts, visions of the end, the Son of Man on clouds
- care about a Jewish exile story written to encourage Jews under Greek persecution — a coded protest book
Skip this if you…
- don't want to read explicitly religious/Christian texts
The lineage through Daniel
- The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. Daniel shaped it. - Daniel judging Susanna — the wise young judge who turns a trial inside out — is the figure Shakespeare summons for the *Merchant of Venice* courtroom - Shylock hails Portia twice: "A Daniel come to judgment! Yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge" - Portia even tries the case under Daniel's Babylonian name, Balthasar — the borrowing runs that deep
- Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville. Daniel shaped it. - Daniel 5's writing on the wall — "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin," the verdict that Belshazzar has been weighed and found wanting — becomes Melville's image for doom foreseen and unread - The Bible was Melville's foremost source, and *Moby-Dick* hangs the Pequod's fate on this scene - In the doubloon chapter, Starbuck watches Ahab and says "the old man seems to read Belshazzar's awful writing" — Daniel's prophecy of a kingdom already condemned
Depicted in Art
Daniel sits among nine life-size lions in a rocky den, hands clasped in prayer, his eyes turned up to a shaft of dawn light.
Peter Paul Rubens, 1615
A bearded creator god kneels in a fiery red sun, leaning down through clouds to measure the dark void below with a pair of golden compasses.
William Blake, 1794
Daniel stands with his back to the viewer in a shadowy underground pit, surrounded by quiet lions; a single beam of light falls from above.
Briton Rivière, 1872
Daniel stands among the lions at the pit's mouth, looking up to address the king above; the lions are calm and watchful around him.
Briton Rivière, 1890
Daniel stands at the center of a shadowy stone pit, the lions tame around his feet, light streaming down through a narrow opening above.
Gustave Doré, 1866
A vast columned hall opens onto Babylon at night; tiny figures recoil from a wall of fiery Hebrew letters as the city burns in the distance.
John Martin, 1820
Recommended Editions
King James Version
Oxford University Press · 1611
The most influential and commonly quoted translation in English. The prose rhythm everyone else is responding to, even modern translations.
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Notable Quotes
And this is the writing that was written, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.
Screen & Stage
Nabucco
Opera · 1842
Giuseppe Verdi
Belshazzar's Feast
Opera · 1931
William Walton
Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)
- Sir Isaac Newton, physicist & mathematician, 1642–1727: "And to reject his Prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion."
- St. Jerome, Church Father & translator of the Vulgate, c. 347–420: "None of the prophets has so clearly spoken concerning Christ as has this prophet Daniel."
- Martin Luther, Reformation theologian, 1483–1546: "From this we see what a splendid, great man Daniel was, before both God and the world."
- Flavius Josephus, Jewish historian, c. 37–100: "He had the esteem and applause both of the kings and of the multitude."
- Jesus of Nazareth, founding figure of Christianity, 1st century: "The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet."
- John Calvin, Reformation theologian, 1509–1564: "What, at first sight, is more unbecoming, than that youths endued with almost angelic virtues should be the slaves and captives of a proud conqueror?"