The Book of Daniel
Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2021 1:47 pm
The Book of Daniel, found among the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament and among the Ketuvim (writings) in the Jewish canon, has been brought up in a number of posts on the Archive over the years. Ive decided that its time to explore the opening chapters in terms of what they might mean for readers here.
Daniel is considered to be a work of historical fiction. It was written in about 150 to 160 BCE and provides a narration set in the 6th century BCE, providing an account of the activities of Daniel, a Jew exiled to Babylon. In 586 BCE, an army under King Nebuchadnezzer defeated the Kingdom of Judah and deported the citizens of its capital of Jerusalem and of the surrounding lands to Babylonia. This is referred to in Jewish history as the Babylonian Captivity and figures very large in historical memory.
When the Book of Daniel was written, it built upon that historical memory and upon many writings both from that period and from later. Parts are clearly historical and parts are historical fiction. While parts are fictional, they conform to the contemporary understanding of history in the 2nd century BCE.
Wars of the period had the goals of capturing loot and people to be carried back to the heartland of the kingdom or empire. All of the cities of the world, until the development of public health measures in 19th century London, were population sinks. The urban death rate was higher than the birth rate. Disease and pestilence meant that cities needed to continually attract newcomers, whether by choice or by force, or they would die.
The areas surrounding cities also needed population replacement. Work to produce a crop surplus to feed both the farmers and the city dwellers was generally so onerous that people frequently attempted to flee to less demanding areas. Run-away slaves were a frequent problem addressed in the legal codes that have survived. Declining rural populations needed to be replaced.
The taking of boys for royal service was standard procedure. Eunuchs were in high demand in the ancient Middle East to serve in many capacities. Before the defeat of the Assyrian Empire by Babylonia, the taxation/tribute required from Babylon included 500 castrated boys per year. Castrated boys were also part of the taxes required from other areas of the empire as well.
The practice of sending castrated boys, both as taxation/tribute and as spoils of successful warfare, continued long past the end of the Babylonian Empire. The writers of the Book of Daniel would have been aware of the more recent (499 BCE) conquest of the Greek city of Miletus by the Persians. The Persians killed all adult males and castrated ALL of the boys before sending the boys and all women and girls back to the capital. As Miletus had rebelled against the Persians, no Miletian was ever to be born again.
This was a practice that continued in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures well into modern times. When the Persian Empire reconquered a rebellious Georgia in 1795, 25,000 women and children were carried off to the heart of the empire to be sold as slaves. Its reported that many of the boys were castrated. In the first half of the 18th century, the most common court or household eunuch in Persia was Georgian. (African eunuchs became common only later in Persia.)
The Book of Daniel states in Chapter 1 that:
[3] And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;
[4] Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. [KJV]
The author(s) of the Book of Daniel would have understood that the boys sent to the capital were to be castrated in order to serve in the kings palace. While the Book of Daniel only refers directly to four boys, there were likely to have been many more sent for castration and palace service (as well as for distribution to the wealthy and powerful in the capital).
While most eunuchs would remain in low-level service positions, a few with important skills or connections might rise to powerful positions in administration or military. According to historians of the period, many of the eunuchs who rose to powerful positions were members of the royal family or from other powerful families. Those in power had access to many women and produced many children. Some of the kings of early empires had more than 100 children, but only a handful of the boys would grow up to become contenders to be successor to kingship (or family headship and inheritors in other powerful families). What to do with excess boys was a question easily solved by castrating most of the sons. It has been speculated that Ashpenaz, master of his eunuchs was an uncle or brother of Nebuchadnezzar. We know that the positions of treasurer and head of the palace guard (as well as provincial governors and military commanders) were sometimes filled by members of the royal family who had been castrated as children.
That Daniel would have been castrated was clearly understood at the time of the writing of the Book of Daniel and up until fairly recent times. I spoke with the fresco artist who was painting Daniel on the wall of the local Orthodox Church and asked about his depiction of Daniel as macroskeletal and with no beard. He responded that Daniel was, of course, a eunuch and should be depicted as one. (The artist also noted that the archangels on either side of the altar were also depicted with macroskeletal eunuch-like bodies as archangels were sexless.)
Heres a link to a painting in a Dutch museum depicting the castration of Daniel as King Nebuchadnezzer and other Jewish boys waiting their turn to be castrated look on:
https://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB ... 3A222v_min
Daniel is considered to be a work of historical fiction. It was written in about 150 to 160 BCE and provides a narration set in the 6th century BCE, providing an account of the activities of Daniel, a Jew exiled to Babylon. In 586 BCE, an army under King Nebuchadnezzer defeated the Kingdom of Judah and deported the citizens of its capital of Jerusalem and of the surrounding lands to Babylonia. This is referred to in Jewish history as the Babylonian Captivity and figures very large in historical memory.
When the Book of Daniel was written, it built upon that historical memory and upon many writings both from that period and from later. Parts are clearly historical and parts are historical fiction. While parts are fictional, they conform to the contemporary understanding of history in the 2nd century BCE.
Wars of the period had the goals of capturing loot and people to be carried back to the heartland of the kingdom or empire. All of the cities of the world, until the development of public health measures in 19th century London, were population sinks. The urban death rate was higher than the birth rate. Disease and pestilence meant that cities needed to continually attract newcomers, whether by choice or by force, or they would die.
The areas surrounding cities also needed population replacement. Work to produce a crop surplus to feed both the farmers and the city dwellers was generally so onerous that people frequently attempted to flee to less demanding areas. Run-away slaves were a frequent problem addressed in the legal codes that have survived. Declining rural populations needed to be replaced.
The taking of boys for royal service was standard procedure. Eunuchs were in high demand in the ancient Middle East to serve in many capacities. Before the defeat of the Assyrian Empire by Babylonia, the taxation/tribute required from Babylon included 500 castrated boys per year. Castrated boys were also part of the taxes required from other areas of the empire as well.
The practice of sending castrated boys, both as taxation/tribute and as spoils of successful warfare, continued long past the end of the Babylonian Empire. The writers of the Book of Daniel would have been aware of the more recent (499 BCE) conquest of the Greek city of Miletus by the Persians. The Persians killed all adult males and castrated ALL of the boys before sending the boys and all women and girls back to the capital. As Miletus had rebelled against the Persians, no Miletian was ever to be born again.
This was a practice that continued in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures well into modern times. When the Persian Empire reconquered a rebellious Georgia in 1795, 25,000 women and children were carried off to the heart of the empire to be sold as slaves. Its reported that many of the boys were castrated. In the first half of the 18th century, the most common court or household eunuch in Persia was Georgian. (African eunuchs became common only later in Persia.)
The Book of Daniel states in Chapter 1 that:
[3] And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;
[4] Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. [KJV]
The author(s) of the Book of Daniel would have understood that the boys sent to the capital were to be castrated in order to serve in the kings palace. While the Book of Daniel only refers directly to four boys, there were likely to have been many more sent for castration and palace service (as well as for distribution to the wealthy and powerful in the capital).
While most eunuchs would remain in low-level service positions, a few with important skills or connections might rise to powerful positions in administration or military. According to historians of the period, many of the eunuchs who rose to powerful positions were members of the royal family or from other powerful families. Those in power had access to many women and produced many children. Some of the kings of early empires had more than 100 children, but only a handful of the boys would grow up to become contenders to be successor to kingship (or family headship and inheritors in other powerful families). What to do with excess boys was a question easily solved by castrating most of the sons. It has been speculated that Ashpenaz, master of his eunuchs was an uncle or brother of Nebuchadnezzar. We know that the positions of treasurer and head of the palace guard (as well as provincial governors and military commanders) were sometimes filled by members of the royal family who had been castrated as children.
That Daniel would have been castrated was clearly understood at the time of the writing of the Book of Daniel and up until fairly recent times. I spoke with the fresco artist who was painting Daniel on the wall of the local Orthodox Church and asked about his depiction of Daniel as macroskeletal and with no beard. He responded that Daniel was, of course, a eunuch and should be depicted as one. (The artist also noted that the archangels on either side of the altar were also depicted with macroskeletal eunuch-like bodies as archangels were sexless.)
Heres a link to a painting in a Dutch museum depicting the castration of Daniel as King Nebuchadnezzer and other Jewish boys waiting their turn to be castrated look on:
https://manuscripts.kb.nl/zoom/BYVANCKB ... 3A222v_min