# Daniel 5:1

> Later, King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine with them.

— Daniel 5:1, Berean Standard Bible

## When

- 539 BC (counted from the text)
- Date source: Daniel 5 tells of the night, not the year. The Cyrus Cylinder and the Nabonidus Chronicle date the fall of Babylon to October 539 BC.

## Who ruled

- **Belshazzar**, king of Babylon, 553-539 BC, named in the text · Source: The Nabonidus Chronicle and the tablets that name Belshazzar as son and co-regent. The co-regency explains why, in Daniel 5:7 and 5:29, the reward is *third* place in the kingdom and not second.
- **Cyrus the Great**, king of Persia, 559-530 BC · Source: Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum), which records the policy of sending peoples and their cults back to their own lands; Herodotus I

## See also

- Esther 1:3 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/esther/1/3
- Genesis 40:20 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/genesis/40/20
- Mark 6:21-22 — https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/mark/6/21

Cross-references: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.

## This document

- Canonical: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5/1
- Whole chapter: https://scriptoria.digital/en/bible/daniel/5
- License: Scripture: Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. Source: Scriptoria (scriptoria.digital).