The Vision of Daniel

Unknown

Early 10th Century

About This Entry

The Vision of Daniel (Ḥazon Dani’el), a Hebrew text that survived in the Cairo Geniza, is a Byzantine-era apocalyptic work that contains subtle references to the Byzantine emperors Michael III (referred to as “A R B”; reigned 839/40–867), Basil I (“two Bs”; reigned 867–886), and Leo VI (here termed “Basil’s son”; reigned 886–912), as well as various events of the preceding centuries. Scholars disagree about the historicity of the Jewish persecutions referred to in these passages, with some suggesting that they were actually anti-Christian persecutions, as Michael III is known to have attacked Christians, not Jews, during his reign. Despite its often cryptic nature, the text remains valuable because of the general dearth of knowledge about Byzantine Jewry during the ninth and tenth centuries. Eschatological visions that centered on the biblical figure of Daniel persisted well into the medieval period and were strikingly cross-cultural, appearing in texts written throughout the Mediterranean world by Jews, Christians, and (to a lesser extent) Muslims.

This is the Vision of Daniel which was revealed to him in the days of Khosroes, king of Persia. And it is the vision of the fourteen.

I, Daniel, stood by the river Ḥebar, and the dread vision was heavy upon me, and I was amazed. And there came to me Gabriel, captain of the heavenly host, and said unto me, “Know, beloved man, and hearken: I have come to tell you that the Mighty Holy One commanded me, ‘Go, Gabriel, and reveal to Daniel what is to be at the end of days.’”

In those days there will arise a king, and the sign of his name will be the count A R B, and he will be given dominion. Good deeds will cease in his reign. He will be the blasphemer before God, and will deal scornfully with God’s congregation. He will make mock priests and will anger the Most High by his deeds.

And God will destroy him, setting another king in his place who will slay him for the evil of his doings. And this tribe will be exalted from its former state. The sign of his name will be two Bs. He will begin to build the synagogue which the tribe before him had scorned. He will enrich his kingdom with great riches, he will conquer nations and bring peoples under his sway. Then he will become surfeited with his goodness and will turn his face against the holy ones of the Most High. He will baptise them by force, against their will, and with much woe, and then he will sell them for slaves and for serving-maids. And he will die in his bed in great agony.

And he will pass his sceptre into his son’s hand for an inheritance, whose name will be the sign of royalty for beasts—“Leo.” He will make a release and give freedom to the holy nation of the Most High, and the Lord of Lords will increase his kingdom.

And there will reign together with him, but uncrowned, peacefully for the space of twenty-two seasons a dark one beloved by him; and after his death a man from Arabia will contend with him and overcome him and give him bad advice but not succeed—and in his days the lowly people will dwell in tranquillity.

And after there will arise a king who will persecute them by driving out and not by destruction but mercifully. He will set his face against God but he will not succeed. He and four other crowned kings will reign altogether for forty years, all from the same family. He will hurry to make changes in his kingdom, but he too will die.

Translated by Andrew Sharf.

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Credits

Unknown, “The Vision of Daniel,” trans. Andrew Scharf, in Andrew Scharf, “A Source for Byzantine Jewry under the Early Macedonians,” Byzantinisch-Neugriechische Jahrbücher, vol. 20 (1970): 302–18 (303–5). Used with permission of the translator’s estate.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.