When Was Daniel Written?
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.Daniel 1:1 · World English Bible
Original Language & Text
Daniel is unusual because it's written in two languages: parts are in Hebrew (1:1-2:4a and chapters 8-12) and parts are in Aramaic (2:4b-7:28). The Aramaic section includes several words borrowed from Persian, describing officials and government roles, and at least a few words that appear to be borrowed from Greek, naming musical instruments (commonly identified in Daniel 3:5 as Greek words for the lyre, harp, and a type of bagpipe). Language experts debate whether this vocabulary fits better with a 6th-century-BCE Babylonian/Persian setting or a later, 2nd-century-BCE setting after Greek culture had spread through the region. The Greek loanwords in particular are a major argument for a later date, since sustained contact with Greek culture is most easily explained after Alexander the Great's conquests in the 300s BCE - though defenders of an earlier date point out that Greek traders and soldiers were present in the region even before that.
History & Authorship
A pagan philosopher named Porphyry, writing in the 200s AD (known to us only through a Christian scholar's rebuttal), was the first to argue that Daniel wasn't written by a 6th-century-BCE exile, but around 167-164 BCE, during the Jewish revolt against the Greek ruler Antiochus IV. Porphyry pointed out that the book's 'predictions' are detailed and accurate up through Antiochus IV's reign but become vague and inaccurate about what happens after his death. Modern scholars revived this argument starting in the 1700s-1800s, pointing to apparent historical errors - such as the figure 'Belshazzar,' described as Babylon's last king, and 'Darius the Mede,' neither of whom is clearly confirmed in outside historical records in the role Daniel gives them - as more consistent with a later author who had imperfect knowledge of the earlier Babylonian period. Fragments of Daniel found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century AD, confirm the book was known and treated as authoritative by that community shortly after the later date scholars propose - something that could fit either dating view, depending on how quickly a new book could gain scriptural status.
The Popular / Mainstream View
The traditional Jewish and Christian view is that Daniel was a real person who lived through the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE, and that he wrote the book bearing his name - or at least its vision chapters - during or shortly after that time, including real predictions of empires and events centuries before they happened. Christians have often connected this material to later historical figures, and some interpret parts of it as prophecy about the end times. This remains the standard position of Orthodox Judaism, Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, and most evangelical Protestant scholarship.
Minority & Alternative Views
Maccabean-era (2nd century BCE) composition
The dominant view among scholars who study the Bible's historical background, going back to Porphyry, is that Daniel was written around 167-164 BCE to encourage Jews who were being persecuted under the Greek ruler Antiochus IV. On this view, the visions describing events up to Antiochus's reign in remarkably exact detail (Daniel 11) are 'prophecy written after the fact' - a known and accepted literary device in the ancient world - while the actual predictions about the future, such as Antiochus's death and the end times, are vague or don't match what happened. This fits an author writing close to, not centuries before, those events.
Composite/multi-stage composition
Some scholars think Daniel was written in stages: the older stories about Daniel's life (chapters 1-6) may reflect genuine older Babylonian or Persian-era traditions or folklore, while the visionary chapters (7-12) were written or heavily reworked later, during the crisis under Antiochus. This would explain the book's differences in language and themes.
What Scholars Say
Mainstream scholars who study the Bible's historical background date the final form of Daniel, especially its visionary chapters, to the 160s BCE. They point to Greek and Persian loanwords, apparent historical mistakes about the 6th-century setting, and remarkably precise 'predictions' that stop being accurate right after Antiochus IV's reign - a pattern often seen in this kind of ancient prophetic writing. This is close to a consensus in academic Bible studies and mainline seminaries. Conservative scholars maintain a 6th-century date, arguing that the supposed 'historical mistakes' may just reflect gaps in the historical record outside the Bible rather than actual errors, and that the book's early acceptance as scripture and its presence at Qumran fit an earlier date better. This remains one of the most sharply debated dating questions in the Old Testament.
Sources & Further Reading
- John J. Collins, Daniel, Hermeneia commentary series
- Porphyry, Against the Christians (preserved via Jerome's Commentary on Daniel)
- Dead Sea Scrolls, Daniel fragments (4QDan a-e), Qumran
- Robert Gundry and other conservative-dating scholars
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