In the Greek and Latin translations of the biblical book of Daniel appears a brief additional tale that ridicules the practice of presenting daily food offerings to the statues of the gods. According to this story, each day the statue of Bel (Marduk) in the temple in Babylon was presented with twelve bushels of the finest flour, forty sheep, and more than fifty gallons of wine. The prophet Daniel, a confidant of king Cyrus II (538–530 B.C.E.), determined to demonstrate to the naive king that in fact the temple staff of seventy priests and their families—not the deity— consumed the daily offerings. After the offering table had been set, Daniel ordered that ashes be sprinkled throughout the temple, whereupon the king closed and sealed the temple doors. When the temple doors were unsealed...