Greeks and the Hellenistic Kingdoms
Alexander’s conquest and the kingdoms that came from it. Ptolemaic Egypt, then Seleucid Syria, ruled Judea until the Maccabees.
What the sources say, and how sure we are
- The text says
Daniel names no Greek ruler. It gives titles: “the king of Greece” (8:21), “a mighty king” (11:3), and the “king of the south” and “king of the north” (chapter 11).Dan 8:21–22; Dan 11:3–4; Dan 11:31
- Outside evidence
A Babylonian astronomy diary records the battle of Gaugamela (331 BC). The Rosetta Stone names Ptolemy V (196 BC). The Heliodorus Stele names the Seleucid king Seleucus IV. Babylonian diaries also name Antiochus IV.Babylonian astronomical diary (Gaugamela); Rosetta Stone; Heliodorus Stele; Babylonian astronomical diaries (Antiochus IV)
- Debated
Readers on both sides of the dating question link Daniel’s titles to Alexander and Antiochus IV; the names themselves come from history and from 1–2 Maccabees, which Protestant Bibles do not include. Scholars differ on whether Daniel was written in the 500s or about 165 BC.Dan 8:21; Dan 11