Page 137 - Daniel

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Belshazzar’s Feast and the Fall of Babylon

hanks to the Babylonian Chronicle, the date of Belshazzar’s feast
Tcan be determined with a high degree of precision. The Chronicle
states that on the sixteenth day of the month Tishri in Nabonidus’s
seventeenth year (Saturday, October 12, 539 B.C.) “the army of Cyrus

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entered Babylon without a battle.” Herodotus notes that Babylon fell
during a time of “festival” or celebration (Herodotus, Histories 1.191).
This corresponds closely to Daniel’s description of the fall happening the
night Nabonidus held a “great feast for a thousand of his lords” (Dan.
5:1).

The identification of Belshazzar as “king” (5:1) was thought by some
past scholars to be a clear example of historical error since the final king
of Babylon was Nabonidus. Herodotus never mentioned Belshazzar as a

ruler in Babylon, identifying instead Labynetus (i.e., Nabonidus) as the
king when the city fell to Cyrus (Herodotus, Histories 1.77). Josephus,
reflecting the understanding of his day, tried to solve the apparent
problem by identifying Nabonidus and Belshazzar as two names for the
same individual. “And when he was dead, [the kingdom] came to
Baltasar, who by the Babylonians was called Naboandelus” (Josephus,
Antiquities 10.11.2).

Archeological discoveries over the past century have helped clarify the
alleged discrepancy and attest to the historicity, as well as the antiquity,

of the book of Daniel. The discovery of the Babylonian Chronicle finally
resolved the apparent problem. Nabonidus was an absent king who
abandoned the city of Babylon and its religious festivals and left his son,
Belshazzar, to rule in his place as crown prince. This continued for at
least five years—from the seventh through eleventh years of Nabonidus’s
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reign—and probably longer. Texts have been uncovered that elevate
Belshazzar to the functional role of king during the long absence of his

father.