SOURCE: Porteous, Norman W. Introduction to Daniel: A Commentary, pp. 13-21. London: SCM Press, 1965.

In the following essay, Porteous offers an overview of the major scholarly questions about The Book of Daniel, including the issues of its authorship, its classification, and its status as a work of literature.

The Book of Daniel contains twelve chapters, the first six containing stories about a Jewish captive, Daniel, and his three young compatriots at the court of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors Babylonian, Median and Persian, and the last six containing a series of visions which came to Daniel and were interpreted to him by angelic agency. The first of the visions (ch. 7) has its parallel in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (ch. 2) and links the two parts together. Another feature of the book is that ch. 2.4a-ch. 7 is in a late (not earlier than third century b.c., perhaps second century) dialect of Aramaic...