The Book of Daniel and the Appearance of Angels

Abstract

The biblical Book of Daniel is an epic and chronicle telling of the Succession of Kings in the Middle East after the Babylonian conquest of UrShalīm al-Kuds. It is narrated by “Daniel” who has a cyclic existence as a visionary who first supports the Babylonian King of Kings, and later Darius the Mede, the Median King of Kings. Important to this discussion on angels is the appearance of a divine being arguably a “proto-angel.” The rabbinic redactors of Daniel’s narrative, twelve chapters written down and recorded, describe but do not mention the name of the proto-angel arguably “Sraosha.” Sraosha as understood in this study is a divine being known to us through Mazdaism. The two angels Michael and Gabriel known to early Judaism are not clothed or otherwise described, and it is not until Daniel supports Darius the Mede that Daniel’s vision presents Gabriel as a “personage” who “flies.”

Keywords

• Book of Daniel
• the appearance of angels
• Sraosha and Mazdaism
• Gabriel and Michael
• Darius the Mede
• an Aramaic biblical text

References

1. Butt, A. (2021) Salim Barakat, Mahmud Darwish, and the Kurdish and Palestinian Similitude: Qamishli Extended: With Anthology of Poems. UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2. Butt, A. (2023) An Ancient Sung-Poem and Vehicle for Kabbalah: The Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible. International Journal of Kurdish Studies 9 (2): 71-97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21600/ijoks.1286730.
3. De Graef, K. (2022) Chapter 16: The Middle East after the Fall of Ur: From Ešnunna and the Zagros to Susa. In: The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East. Edited by Karen Radner, Nadine Moeller, and D.T, Potts. Oxford University Press: pp. 408-496. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190687571.003.0016 .
4. Konak, I. (2023) Arketîpê ȿarê kurdî: Medî. In: Xwebûn 14-20 Tebax 2023. Hejmar: 191 (online Kurdish news: xwebun.org).
5. Hamarash, S. (2022) The Lost and Untold History of the Kurds: Rediscovering the Beginning of the Western Civilisation and the Origin of the Indo-European Languages ca. 10000 BC-1300 CE. Slemany First Edition.
6. Meyerhoff, H. (1955) Time in Literature. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
7. Omarkhali, K. (2014) Religious Minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the Mainstream. Studies in Oriental Religions, Vol 68. Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz Verlag.
8. Waters, M. (2010) Chapter 7: Cyrus and the Medes. In: The World of Achaemenid Persia: History, Art, and Society in Iran and the Ancient Near East. Edited by John Curtis and St. John Simpson. Published by I.B. Taurus. Accessed in academia.edu.

9. Zargar, C. A. (2023) Godly Utterance or Angelic Intelligence: Ibn ʿArabī’s Theory of Revelation as a Response to the Philosophers. In: Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society, Vol 73. Published by the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society Oxford UK. Accessed in academia.edu