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| Additions to Daniel | |
|---|---|
| Name | Additions to Daniel |
| Language | Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin |
| Date | 2nd century BCE – 1st century CE (composition) |
| Contents | Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Jews |
Additions to Daniel are a set of deuterocanonical and apocryphal texts associated with the book of Daniel that appear in some Septuagint manuscripts and in the Vulgate tradition. These compositions include narratives and liturgical poems traditionally appended to Book of Daniel episodes, and they circulate in diverse textual traditions such as the Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin recensions. Their transmission and reception intersect with traditions preserved by communities including Jewish groups, early Christian churches, and later Roman Catholic and Orthodox canons.
The corpus commonly called the additions comprises three primary pieces: "Susanna", "Bel and the Dragon", and the "Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Jews", which are inserted respectively at different points in Book of Daniel manuscripts used by the Septuagint, Origen, and Athanasius. These texts survive in major witnesses such as the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus, and they are reflected in Vulgate editions preserved by Jerome and medieval Catholic lectionaries. Variants also appear in Syriac, Coptic, and Georgian traditions.
Scholars commonly date the compositions to the Hellenistic and early Roman Imperial periods, with proposals ranging from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE. Linguistic and stylistic evidence draws on comparisons with Septuagint Greek, Maccabees, and Hellenistic Jewish works such as Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. Historical allusions and legal-ethical concerns invite parallels with texts from Alexandria, Judea, and the Jewish Diaspora, while redactional layers reflect influences from Philo and Josephus. Text-critical analysis often invokes methodologies associated with scholars such as F. F. Bruce, E. P. Sanders, and Martin Hengel.
Reception history is complex: the additions are canonical in the Orthodox, Catholic, and some Oriental Orthodox canons, but they are excluded from the Masoretic Text and most Protestant canons following the Reformation and the influence of figures like Martin Luther. The Council of Trent affirmed the canonical status of texts incorporated in the Vulgate, whereas the Jewish canon codified in the Masoretic tradition omits them. Early Christian authorities including Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Athanasius treat these materials with varying degrees of authority.
"Susanna" narrates the false accusation of adultery against a woman and her vindication by Daniel, engaging themes also found in Book of Esther, Proverbs, and Solomon-type wisdom traditions. "Bel and the Dragon" offers polemical narratives against idol worship, echoing motifs from 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, and Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha anti-idol polemic, while the "Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Jews" inserts liturgical praise comparable to hymnic passages in the Psalms, Isaiah, and Exodus traditions. Ethical concerns such as justice, piety, resistance to idolatry, and divine deliverance resonate with material in Daniel and with Second Temple Judaism theological currents.
Manuscript traditions reflect multiple languages and recensions: principal Greek witnesses include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus; Latin witnesses derive from the Vulgate and Old Latin versions; oriental witnesses appear in Peshitta Syriac, Coptic, and Ge'ez manuscripts. Hebrew and Aramaic fragments have been advanced in debate following finds in the Qumran corpus and other Dead Sea Scrolls-era materials, though direct identification remains contested by scholars such as John J. Collins and James C. VanderKam.
Liturgical traditions adopted the additions in diverse ways: the "Prayer of Azariah" and "Song of the Three Jews" are integrated into Orthodox liturgical cycles and Byzantine chant, "Susanna" informs medieval liturgical drama and hagiography, and "Bel and the Dragon" figures in iconographic programs in Byzantine art and Renaissance art collections. Artistic representations appear in works by Giotto, Caravaggio, and manuscript illuminations produced in Monte Cassino and Lindisfarne scriptoria. Liturgical lectionaries from Rome and Constantinople attest to periodic reading of these additions during feast days and penitential observances.
Contemporary scholarship debates provenance, original language, and canonical implications, with methodological contributions from textual criticism, source criticism, and reception history. Key debates involve the priority of Greek versus Semitic originals, the relation to Second Temple apocalypticism, and the implications for understanding Daniel in Jewish and Christian history. Major commentators and institutions engaged in these debates include Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Society of Biblical Literature, and scholars such as Sidnie White Crawford, Michael A. Knibb, and Nils Dahl. Ongoing discoveries and digital editions housed by institutions like the British Library, Vatican Library, and Israel Antiquities Authority continue to inform textual reconstructions and interpretive models.