Bel and the Dragon
The narrative of Bel and the Dragon is incorporated as chapter 14 of the extended Book of Daniel. The original Septuagint text in Greek 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 unknown to early Rabbinic Judaism, and while it is viewed as canonical by both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians, it is considered non-canonical by most Protestants and is found in the Apocrypha section of 80 Protestant Bibles. Date. The work  may date to the Persian period. Summaries. The chapter contains a single story which 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). Bel. The narrative of Bel (Daniel 14:1–22) ridicules the worship of idols. 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. Daniel then uncovers the ruse (by scattering ashes over the floor of the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually consumed at night by the priests and their wives and children, who enter through a secret door when the temple's doors are sealed. The next morning, the king comes to inspect the test by observing from above. He sees that the food has been consumed and points out that the wax seals he put on the temple  doors are unbroken, and offers a hosanna to Bel. Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple floor; which the king then realizes by seeing footprints, along with more slender ones and smaller ones, shows that women and children also participated in the gluttony. The priests of Bel are then arrested and, confessing their deed, reveal the secret passage that they used to sneak inside the temple. They, their wives and children are put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple. This version has been cited as an ancestor of the  locked-room mystery. The dragon. In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon (Daniel 14:23–30), "There was a great dragon which the Babylonians revered." Some time after the temple's condemnation the Babylonians worship the dragon (presumably a snake or lizard). The king says that unlike Bel, the dragon is a clear example of a live animal. Daniel promises to slay the dragon without the aid of a sword, and does so by baking pitch, fat, and hair ("trichas") to make cakes ("mazas", barley-cakes) that cause the dragon to burst open upon consumption. In other variants, other  ingredients serve the purpose: in a form known to the Midrash, straw was fed in which nails were hidden, or skins of camels were filled with hot coals, or in the Alexander cycle of Romances it was Alexander the Great who overcame the dragon by feeding it poison and tar. Earlier scholarship has suggested a parallel between this text and the contest between Marduk and Tiamat in Mesopotamian mythology, where the winds controlled by Marduk burst Tiamat open and barley-cake plays the same role as the wind. However, David DeSilva (2018) casts doubt on this reading. As a result , the Babylonians are indignant, and threaten the king if he does not give them Daniel. Daniel is handed over, and thrown into a lions' den. The prophet Habakkuk is miraculously recruited and brought to share a meal with Daniel in the den. When Daniel is found alive in the den seven days later, the king throws his persecutors to the lions. The lions' den. The third narrative (14:31–42), Daniel in the Lions' Den, may be a retelling of the incident in Daniel 6:1–28, or may describe a separate incident. It has been made into a consequence of the preceding episode , but the Septuagint precedes it with the notice, "From the prophecy of Habakkuk, son of Joshua, of the tribe of Levi". Daniel remains unharmed in the den with seven lions, fed by the prophet Habakkuk, who was taken to the lion's den by an angel. The story continues: