Page "Book of Daniel" Paragraph 2

Though many evangelical commentators still defend the traditional sixth century date for the book's composition, the scholarly consensus is that it is a product of Maccabean times.

The common view is that the court tales represent a stratum of older, traditional stories, while the visions and final redaction of the work date to the second century BCE.

The visions describe the national crisis that occurred under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid king who attempted to introduce Hellenistic religious practices, including the worship of idols, into the temple and the Jewish religion more generally, sparking outrage from Biblical authors.