Page "Book of Daniel" Paragraph 6

Norman W. Porteous was one of the first to postulate that an anonymous writer wrote the book during the persecution under Antiochus.

According to this theory, the anonymous author attributed these events to Daniel, as prophecies that were witnessed by this writer in the 2nd century BCE.

Paul Roche observes that the author abounded in mistakes and anachronisms, using Daniel as a symbol for the faithful Jew serving Yahweh, and the use of various pagan kings as symbols of heathenism.

Critics do, however, acknowledge that the author of Daniel was familiar with the history of Near Eastern imperial power from the sixth to the second centuries.

But, because the writer had an incomplete and erroneous view of historical details in the second half of the sixth century, Daniel ’ s era, such imbalances support the theory of a late date of writing.