The Persian inscriptions date after the fall of Babylon and are negative toward Nabonidus and mostly positive toward Cyrus. To review the historiographical principles from chapter two, they appear again here. First, I will preview each text with basic information including its discovery, likely date, physical character, relevance for Daniel, and other elements. Second, I will provide an outline or literary structure. Third, I will offer my interpretation of the text’s bias and disposition which will include drawing conclusions about the authors and historical context, as well as highlighting key themes.
Fourth, I will attempt to extract historical details that contribute to the understanding of relevant events. Fifth, I will discuss the text’s intersection with Daniel and any historical tensions.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, I have categorized the ancient Near Eastern inscriptions into two sections: Babylonian and Persian. This chapter focuses on the second category: Akkadian inscriptions that appear to be written from the Persian perspective and thus contain a pro-Persian bias.
Persian Historical Background
The Persian texts are the next category of inscriptions to be analyzed. Before scrutinizing the individual texts, an overview of the Persian empire will be beneficial.1 The following table shows Achaemenid rulers before and briefly after the fall of Babylon.
1 Like the similar section in the previous chapter, this overview will take many liberties and rush past many controversial details for the sake of brevity and focus. It is meant to be the briefest of introductions to the timeline and key players.
Table 3. Achaemenid rulers with dates2
Name Dates of Reign (BC)
Astyages (king of Media)3 585–550
Cyrus 559/557–530
Cambyses II 529–522
Darius I 522/521–486
Chronology
The Persian empire was unlike anything the ancient world had ever seen. The empire’s beginning is generally dated to Cyrus’s defeat of the Medes around 550 BC, though it was through Cyrus’s later victories that it became a true empire. Ancient sources do not agree on the method of Cyrus’s ascension. Herodotus and Xenophon both remarked on multiple and contradictory traditions for Cyrus’s origin and early years.4 For example, Herodotus presents him as a vassal overthrowing a master, while the
Babylonian sources speak of one state conquering another.5 Whatever the process and means of his rise, Cyrus’s empire did eventually dominate the ancient world. After defeating the Medes and conquering several other key kingdoms, most notably Babylon,
2 This table is built on the list from Van De Mieroop. Marc Van De Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East ca. 3000–323 BC, 2nd ed., Blackwell History of the Ancient World (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007), 314.
3 Astyages is obviously the odd ruler in this table. I have placed him here though to help draw attention to my best guess at Cyrus’s earliest conquests and consolidation of power. In short, it is possible that Cyrus defeated the Medes, but not totally, and that he struck an agreement with Astyages to effectively combine their kingdoms with Cyrus as the sole heir. There is obviously speculation to this theory, but two details lend weight to its plausibility: (1) Cyrus’s styling himself as Astyages’s successor and (2) sources referring to a Medo-Persian empire. I will go into some detail below, but for more information, see Duane A. Garrett, “Daniel” (unpublished manuscript, Louisville, 2016); Steven D. Anderson, Darius the Mede: A Reappraisal (Grand Rapids: Self-published, 2014).
4 M. A. Dandamaev, A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire, trans. W. J. Vogelsang (Leiden: Brill, 1989), 11.
5 Van De Mieroop, History Ancient Near East, 287.
the rest of the Fertile Crescent bent knee to Cyrus the Great.6 He continued expansion until his death in central Asia in 530,7 which apparently occurred in battle with a relatively obscure Saka tribe.8
Upon his father’s death, Cambyses became ruler of the largest empire in the world. He had already played a role in the administration of Babylon on behalf of his father after its conquest in 539.9 Following his accession, Cambyses turned toward the last major power in the ancient Near East: Egypt. In 525, Persia invaded Egypt and had their first engagement east of the Nile delta. They subsequently conquered the Egyptian capital Memphis and became the sole power in the ancient Near East.10 Following his success, Cambyses sought to expand even further west and south. He then was returning to Persia after some unsuccessful campaigns when he died in 522, throwing the empire into instability.
The Persian empire reached its peak under Darius I, reaching from the Indus to the Balkans.11 Before this expansion though, Darius had to secure the throne. Upon Cambyses’s death, the throne went to his brother Bardiya whom Darius asserted was a lookalike imposter called Guamata.12 Darius conspired with others to murder the king
6 Pierre Briant, “History of the Persian Empire 550–330 BC,” in Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia, ed. John Curtis and Nigel Tallis (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 12.
Dandamaev remarks that the Near East had four major kingdoms during Cyrus’s early years: Media, Lydia, Babylonian, and Egypt. Cyrus subdued the first three of these powers during his reign. Dandamaev, Political History, 14.
7 Van De Mieroop, History Ancient Near East, 287.
8 A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), 66.
9 Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire, 86–87.
10 Matt Waters, Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 54–55.
11 Briant, “History of the Persian Empire,” 13. See also the map on page 11.
12 Waters, Ancient Persia, 58–59.
and usurp the throne, though his role in the conspiracy may have been limited.13 Regardless, Darius the Great seized power in 522 but was forced to deal with multiple uprisings and rebellions over the next year.14 The ones leading the Babylonian rebellions styled themselves as sons of Nabonidus.15 After securing his authority, Darius was able to expand the empire to its peak through annexations including Libya and western India.16 The impressive Achaemenid empire would last almost 200 more years and boast several famous rulers like Xerxes and Artaxerxes I.
Key Figures
The leading Persian figures found in the sources for understanding Daniel are as follows: Cyrus II, Cambyses II, Astyages,17 and Darius the Mede. All these rulers either appear directly in Daniel’s narrative or have a meaningful impact on the understanding of Daniel’s context.
Cyrus II. Cyrus is a man whose stature rivals and perhaps even surpasses that