Bel and the Dragon

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Bel and the Dragon is an apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel that recounts stories of the prophet exposing the falsity of idol worship and miraculously surviving a dragon and a lions’ den.

All labels observed (3)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf addition to the Book of Daniel
apocryphal text
biblical narrative
deuterocanonical book
associatedWith Greek additions to Daniel
Song of the Three Youths
Susanna
featuresCharacter Babylonian king
Daniel
Habakkuk
King Cyrus
linked to: Cyrus the Great

priests of Bel
genre didactic tale
religious narrative
hasCanonicalStatus apocryphal in most Protestant traditions
deuterocanonical in Catholic tradition
deuterocanonical in Eastern Orthodox tradition
hasLanguage Greek
Koine Greek
hasSetting Babylon
hasTheme critique of idolatry
divine deliverance
exposure of false worship
faithfulness to God
includedIn Septuagint
Vulgate
likelyCenturyOfComposition 2nd century BCE
literaryFunction appendix to the Book of Daniel
narrativeElement Daniel cast into lions’ den
destruction of an idol called Bel
exposes fraud of Bel’s priests
miraculous feeding of Daniel by Habakkuk
slaying of a living dragon
notIncludedIn Hebrew Bible
linked to: Tanakh

Jewish Tanakh
linked to: Tanakh
partOf Book of Daniel
Greek Daniel
Septuagint Daniel
linked to: Book of Daniel
periodOfOrigin Hellenistic period
purpose to demonstrate the power of Israel’s God over idols
to encourage fidelity to the God of Israel in exile
religiousTradition Catholicism
linked to: Roman Catholicism

Christianity
Eastern Orthodoxy
scripturalLocation Daniel chapter 14 in Catholic Bibles
Daniel chapter 14 in Orthodox Bibles
Daniel chapter 14 in Vulgate tradition
titleVariant Bel and the Dragon (KJV Apocrypha)
linked to: Bel and the Dragon

The History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon
linked to: Bel and the Dragon

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (7)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Eastern Orthodox canon includesBook Bel and the Dragon
Apocrypha (in early editions) containsWork Bel and the Dragon
Book of Daniel includesText Bel and the Dragon
Bel and the Dragon titleVariant Bel and the Dragon (KJV Apocrypha)
linked to: Bel and the Dragon
Bel and the Dragon titleVariant The History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon
linked to: Bel and the Dragon
Deuterocanonical books contains Bel and the Dragon
Greek Daniel hasPart Bel and the Dragon