The AskHistorians Podcast is a project that highlights the users and answers that have helped make/r/AskHistorians one of the largest history discussion forum on the internet. You can subscribe to us via iTunes, Stitcher, or RSS, and now on YouTube. If there is another index you'd like the cast listed on, let me know!
This Episode:
/u/Husky54 returns to the podcast for an in-depth delve into Daniel, the Book of. Approaching the work as a historical text, this episode -- the first of two -- covers the relationship of Daniel to other works in the Hebrew Bible; the language and content of the first seven chapters; and situates the book within the historical context of the time it was written.
3:20 - Background and Dating the Text
16:50 - Chapters 1 & 2
33:35 - Chapter 3
41:17 - Chapter 4
48:53 - Chapter 5
54:20 - Chapter 6 & Darius the Mede
1:05:17 - Chapter 7
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Thanks all!
Coming up next fortnight: /u/husky54 continues in Part 2 of this episode, covering the later (in a variety of senses) chapters of Daniel, a couple apocryphal texts, and what all this means.
Hey guys. I'm around for any questions and comments. I'll likely post in here later with some corrigenda, addenda, and things of that nature!
Just an FYI, the chapter timestamps I gave in my intro spiel are off by about 3 minutes, because I forgot that my intro spiel would add 3 minutes. The more accurate numbers are above for those of you who just really want to jump to the part about the creepy hand writing on the wall.
Link the AskHistorians YouTube channel is included above.
I have a question about the language of Daniel, but probably Hebrew texts in general. I always just assumed that old testament books were written in Hebrew and sometimes Aramaic. I just finished Michael Law's book When God Spoke Greek and he said there was some indication that parts of Daniel may have originally been written in Greek.
Over on /r/middleeasthistory there's a post about some Akkadian tablets that talk about daily Jewish live. http://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleEastHistory/comments/2v3slq/the_reconstruction_of_jewish_communities_in_the/
It makes sense that there may have been a tendency to write first in Akkadian if that's the language you're writing in every day as part of your job.
I guess my question is, is there any evidence that some older portions of the Pentateuch or Tanakh were written in Akkadian and then translated into Hebrew after the Babylonian exile? I recognize that sources would be scarce to nonexistent so it would be mostly speculation if there was evidence, but on a scale of "selling a show on the history channel" to "widely accepted in the field" where is that level of speculation.
Thanks for this one - I really enjoyed it.
One book mentioned during the show was about Yahweh coming of age but I don't remember exactly when it was mentioned. Would anyone happen to know the title and author? It sounded very interesting.