Daniel 3 and 5 as historiography

Recent re-assessment of Akkadian historiographic sources prompts re-evaluation of the nature of historiography in Hellenistic Babylonia. Features in Daniel 3 and Daniel 5 find parallels in the historiographic writings from the recently identified circle of Hellenistic Babylonian historians. These shared features, including the narratives’ overall efforts to explain the shifts in imperial power and the ways in which they construct their stories about the past, are consistent with the motives of historical writing during the Hellenistic period.