Bel and the Dragon

The narrative of Bel and the Dragon is incorporated as chapter 14 of the extended Book of Daniel. The text exists only in Greek (while the oldest copies of the Book of Daniel are entirely in Hebrew and Aramaic). The original Septuagint text survives in a single manuscript, Codex Chisianus, while the standard text is due to Theodotion, the 2nd-century AD revisor.

This chapter, along with chapter 13, is considered deuterocanonical: it was rejected by Rabbinic Judaism, and while it is viewed as canonical by both Catholic and Orthodox Christians, it is considered apocryphal by Protestants and typically not found in modern Protestant Bibles.

The work may date to the Persian period.

The chapter contains a single story that may previously have represented three separate narratives, which place Daniel at the court of Cyrus, king of the Persians: "When King Astyages was laid to rest with his ancestors, Cyrus the Persian succeeded to his kingdom." There Daniel "was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends" (14:1).

The narrative of Bel (14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. In it, the king asks Daniel, "You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?" to which Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered by bronze and thus cannot eat or drink. Enraged, the king then demands that the seventy priests of Bel show him who consumes the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set the offerings as usual (which were "twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine") and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring: if Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, Daniel is to be killed.

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