Daniel at a Hellenistic Court. Editorial Changes and Political Ideology in Daniel 5 OG

The Old Greek version of Daniel 5 is analyzed so as to detect how specific phrases convey a distinctive attitude toward foreign power in the everchanging political scenarios in both Seleucid and Ptolemaic territories. It is contended that the present text carries traces of subsequent interventions, as can above all be inferred by the three different interpretations given to the mysterious words mane phares thekel. Ever since the time of Seleucus Nicator, Jews who had settled in Antioch and were offered the privileges of full citizenship needed encouragement to refuse compromise with idolatry. In the last decade of rule of Antiochus iii, when Jerusalem was granted special rights and Dan 3(4)-6 was probably assembled, Dan 5 contributed to promoting the image of the Seleucid authority, acknowledged as a worthy representation of the Persian power who overthrows the sacrilegious Babylonian King Baltasar. Some time later, under Antiochus iv’s persecutions, the Seleucid monarch was no longer identified with the Persian ruler but with Baltasar himself. When Jonathan the Hasmonean was exalted as a key character for the stabilization of Judea among the inter-dynastic conflicts between Demetrius ii and Antiochus vi, Dan 5 introduced his wise protagonist as a better leader. The opportunity for an accommodating attitude toward the crown was finally felt by Jewish communities in Alexandria.