Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 24/09/2004 11:48, Yigal Levin wrote:

> ...
>
> > As for your "there was no such king", arguments from silence are
> > dangerous. This Darius (son of Ahasuerus, 62 years old, according to
> > Daniel 5:30, 9:1), could have been Cyrus' co-regent or governor of
> > Babylon - perhaps to be identified with the Gubaru, governor of Babylon,
> > known from ancient records.
> >    
>
> We have so many ducuments from Persian-period Babylon, Susa, Syria, Egypt
> and other places, even without Herodotus, that to postulate a king,
> otherwise unknown, based on a book written 300 years later or so, is not
> reasonable.
>  
Well, there is no real evidence that Daniel, or at least this part of 
it, was written 300 years later. (And Herodotus was written 100 years 
later.) In fact Daniel ties up so well with Herodotus, with the Persians 
capturing Babylon without warning while a feast was in progress in the 
city, that surely either they both witness to the same truth or one is 
dependent on the other. So why would the book of Daniel suddenly replace 
the well-known name of Cyrus by the obscure one of Darius the Mede, 
unless there was some truth in his story?

There is in fact some evidence that Darius was a secondary ruler. 
Although in chapter 6 he is called "king", in 5:31 and 9:1 there is the 
rather strange wording, "received the kingdom" and "was caused to reign" 
(Hophal of MLK) respectively, suggesting that he was king by appointment 
rather than by conquest. And is it really credible that an absolute 
monarch would not have been able to find a way to render null and void 
his decree that Daniel would be thrown into the lions' den? The story 
makes sense only if Darius had to be careful to preserve his reputation 
in the eyes of Cyrus. In other words, it makes sense if Darius was in 
fact a governor under Cyrus. Perhaps he was the Gobryas 1 or 2 of 
http://www.iranica.com/articles/v11f1/v11f1020.html, although from his 
age he could not have been Gobryas 3.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/