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{{Short description|Deuterocanonical text}}{{Lacking ISBN|date=December 2024}}[[File:Kessler Daniel und König Cyrus im Tempel.jpg|thumb|240px|Stephan Kessler's ''Daniel and King Cyrus in Bel's Temple'']]
{{Daniel chapters}}
The narrative of '''Bel and the Dragon''' is incorporated as chapter 14 of the [[Additions to Daniel|extended Book of Daniel]]. The original [[Septuagint]] text in Greek survives in a single manuscript, [[Codex Chisianus]], while the standard text is due to [[Theodotion]], the 2nd-century AD revisor.

This chapter, along with chapter 13, is considered [[Deuterocanonical books|deuterocanonical]]: it was unknown to early [[Rabbinic Judaism]], and while it is considered non-canonical by most [[Protestants]], it is canonical to [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodox]] Christians, and is found in the [[Biblical apocrypha|Apocrypha]] section of some Protestant Bibles.<ref name="Hendrickson2009">{{cite book |title=Apocrypha-KJV-Reader's |date=2009 |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=978-1-59856-464-8 |language=English}}</ref>

== Summaries ==
[[File:Daniel Bel et le dragon.jpg|thumb|upright|Daniel, Bel and the Dragon (France, 15th century)]]

The chapter contains a single story which may previously have represented three separate narratives,<ref>''The [[Jerome Biblical Commentary]]'', vol. 1, p. 460, says of the second episode, "Although once an independent story, in its present form it is edited to follow the preceding tale;"</ref><ref>Daniel J. Harrington writes of Daniel 14:23–42: "This addition is a combination of three episodes" (Harrington, ''Invitation to the Apocrypha'', p. 118);</ref><ref>Robert Doran writes, "The links between all the episodes in both versions are so pervasive that the narrative must be seen to be a whole. Such stories, of course, could theoretically have existed independently, but there is no evidence that they did." (''Harper's Bible Commentary'', p. 868).</ref> which place [[Daniel (biblical figure)|Daniel]] at the court of [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]], king of the Persians: "When King [[Astyages]] was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom."<ref>{{bibleverse||Daniel|14:1|NRSVCE}}, but {{bibleverse||Daniel|13:66|VULGATE}} in the [[Vulgate]]</ref><ref>In the Greek version that has survived, the verb form ''parelaben'' is a diagnostic Aramaism, reflecting Aramaic ''qabbel'' which here does not mean "receive" but "succeed to the Throne" (F. Zimmermann, "Bel and the Dragon", ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' '''8'''.4 (October 1958), p 440.</ref> There Daniel "was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends".<ref>{{bibleverse||Daniel|14:2|NRSVCE}}, but {{bibleverse||Daniel|14:1|VULGATE}} in the Vulgate</ref> However, while [[Theodotion]]'s Greek apparently dates the story to the time of Astyages, the [[Old Greek]] versions of the story do not specify this.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://ia801505.us.archive.org/10/items/a-new-english-translation-of-the-septuagint-2007-albert-pietersma-and-benjamin-g.-wright-jo-e-juizes/A%20New%20English%20Translation%20of%20the%20Septuagint%202007%20Albert%20Pietersma%20and%20Benjamin%20G.%20Wright%20%28J%C3%B3%20e%20Ju%C3%ADzes%29.pdf |title=A New English Translation of the Septuagint |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |editor-last1=Pietersma |editor-first1=Albert |editor-link1=Albert Pietersma |location=New York / Oxford |editor-last2=Wright |editor-first2=Benjamin G.}}</ref> As such, the real identity of the king is up for debate. Some Bibles, such as the [[Douay-Rheims]], use the more traditional identification of this king as being Evil-Merodach, or [[Amel-Marduk]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://philologic.northwestern.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.9:1:32:16.bie | title=Philologic Results }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://haydockcommentary.com/daniel-14 | title=Daniel 14 – Haydock Commentary Online }}</ref> This identification is supported by the Scriptural Research Institute in their book ''Septuagint: Daniel'', where they cited similarities between Amel-Marduk's reign and the account, namely that Amel-Marduk was the only king of Babylon to have seen religious riots during his reign.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=99VDEAAAQBAJ | title=Septuagint: Daniel (Chisianus Version) | isbn=978-1-990289-24-8 | last1=Abal | first1=Daniel ben | last2=Jesus | first2=Habakkuk ben | date=1901 | publisher=Scriptural Research Institute }}</ref>

=== Bel ===

The narrative of [[Bel (mythology)|Bel]] (Daniel 14:1–22) ridicules the [[Idolatry|worship of idols]]. The king asks Daniel, "You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?"<ref>[http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/14 Daniel 14:6, ''New American Bible'']</ref> to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of [[clay]] covered by [[bronze]] and thus cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.

Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who enter through a secret door when the temple's doors are sealed.

The next morning, the king comes to inspect the test by observing from above. He sees that the food has been consumed and points out that the [[wax seals]] he put on the temple doors are unbroken, and offers a [[hosanna]] to Bel. Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple floor; which the king then realizes by seeing footprints, along with more slender ones and smaller ones, shows that women and children also participated in the gluttony. The priests of Bel are then arrested and, confessing their deed, reveal the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the "[[locked-room mystery]]".<ref>{{cite book | title = Murderous Schemes: An Anthology of Classic Detective Stories | first = Donald E. | last = Westlake | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1998 | chapter = The Locked Room | page = 7 | isbn = 978-0-19-510487-5 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h7OsO8GyjaAC&pg=PA7 }}</ref>

=== The dragon ===
According to the brief companion narrative of the [[dragon]] (Daniel 14:23–30), "there was a great dragon which the Babylonians revered".<ref>[http://www.usccb.org/bible/daniel/14 ''New American Bible'', Daniel 14:23]</ref> Some time after the temple's condemnation the Babylonians worship the dragon. The king says that, unlike Bel, the dragon is a clear example of a live animal. Daniel promises to slay the dragon without the aid of a sword, and does so by baking pitch, fat, and hair (''trichas'') to make cakes (''mazas'', [[Ancient Greek cuisine#Barley|barley-cakes]]) that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption. In other variants, other ingredients serve the purpose: in a form known to the [[Midrash]], straw was fed in which nails were hidden,<ref>Zimmermann 1958:438f, note 1 compares A. Neubauer, ''Book of Tobit'' (Oxford) 1878:43.</ref> or skins of camels were filled with hot coals.<ref>Zimmermann 1958:439, note 2 attests the Talmudic tractate ''[[Nedarim (tractate)|Nedarim]]'', ed. Krotoschin, (1866) 37d.</ref> A similar story occurs in the Persian poet [[Ferdowsi]]'s [[Shahnameh]], where [[Alexander the Great]], or "Iskandar", kills a dragon by feeding it cow hides stuffed with poison and tar.<ref>Zimmermann 1958:439, note 3 attests Spiegel, ''Iranische Altertümer'' II.293 and [[Theodor Nöldeke]], ''Beiträge zur geschichte Alexanderromans'' (Vienna) 1890:22.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2022/10/alexander-the-great-in-firdawsis-book-of-kings.html | title=Alexander the Great in Firdawsi's Book of Kings }}</ref>

Earlier scholarship has suggested a parallel between this text and the contest between [[Marduk]] and [[Tiamat]] in Mesopotamian mythology, where the winds controlled by Marduk burst Tiamat open<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Bel and the Dragon |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |url=https://archive.org/stream/jewishencycloped02sing#page/650/mode/2up |access-date=6 August 2015 |date=1900s |volume=2 |pages=650–1}}; Zimmermann 1958.</ref> and barley-cake plays the same role as the wind.<ref>Zimmermann 1958:440.</ref> However, David DeSilva (2018) casts doubt on this reading.<ref>DeSilva, David. ''Introducing the Apocrypha, 2nd Edition Message, Context, and Significance''. Baker Academic, 2018, 250–263.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Susanna (Book of Daniel)]]

== References ==
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=== Sources ===
* [[Amy-Jill Levine|Levine, Amy-Jill]] 2010. "Commentary on 'Bel and the Dragon{{' "}} in Coogan, Michael D. ''The New Oxford Annotated Bible'' (fourth ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
* F. Zimmermann, "Bel and the Dragon", ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' 8.4 (October 1958)

== External links ==
* {{Wikisource-inline|Bible (King James)/Bel and the Dragon}}
* {{commons category-inline|Bel and the Dragon}}

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[[Category:2nd-century BC books]]
[[Category:2nd-century books]]
[[Category:Additions to Daniel]]
[[Category:Angelic apparitions in the Bible]]
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[[Category:Daniel (biblical figure)]]
[[Category:Dragons]]
[[Category:Locked-room mysteries]]