BilliardsBall
Veteran Member
It still doesn’t change the facts that the Book of Daniel wasn’t written in the 6th century BCE, and there no contemporary sources to Nebuchadnezzar II, Nabonidus and Cyrus II that speak of this Daniel, or that of Darius the Mede.
The absence of these fictional characters in the Book of Daniel in the Nabonidus cylinders and the Cyrus cylinder, which suggest that these 2 characters weren’t contemporary to these historical rulers of Neo-Babylonian empire and the Achaemenid Empire.
You had claimed that Darius the Mede being governor of Babylon, a subordinate of Cyrus, and yet, the Cyrus cylinder and Nabonidus verses don’t say anything about Darius the Mede.
And there have no Mede rulers since Cyrus defeated Astyages, who was the last ruler of Median Empire. What was once Media, were now part of Cyrus’ growing empire.
It is better to go by any contemporary records than texts that were written later...and in the case of Daniel, centuries later.
I'd be more concerned if it wasn't for three facts:
1) Archaeology contributes to history that evolves over time--the history five centuries BC is in flux, still
2) Archaelogy has verified many Bible events (for example, years ago you'd say there's no 5-porticoed pool at Bethesda, no Pool of Siloam, no Hezekiah's tunnel, no King Solomon (we have his border markers), etc., etc.
3) Whoever wrote the Book of Daniel was prescient, even dated to Hasmonean times--predict Jesus's death, predicts the splitting of Rome into Rome and Byzantium, etc.