person
Belshazzar
בֵּֽלְאשַׁצַּר, בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר
Belshazzar, the last Emperor of Babylon, is mentioned in the book of Daniel as the son of Nebuchadnezzar (though historically known as the son of Nabonidus).
- verses
- 8
- first named
- Daniel 5:1
- last named
- Daniel 8:1
- period
- Exile and Return
- tribe
- Mesopotamia
Description
Who was Belshazzar?
Belshazzar is a prominent figure in the book of Daniel, mentioned in chapters 5, 7, and 8. He is introduced as the king of Babylon and the son of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan.5.1, 22), although historical records identify him as the son of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Belshazzar is known for holding a great feast, during which he and his nobles drank from the sacred vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem (Dan.5.1-4). During this feast, a mysterious hand appeared and wrote a message on the wall, which only Daniel could interpret (Dan.5.5-28). The message foretold the end of Belshazzar's kingdom, and that very night, Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom (Dan.5.30-31). Belshazzar is also mentioned in Daniel's visions (Dan.7.1; 8.1), providing a historical context for the prophetic revelations. Belshazzar's reign and his sudden downfall serve as a powerful reminder of God's sovereignty over earthly kingdoms and the consequences of disregarding God's authority.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
The 10 best-attested of 15 are drawn. All 15 are listed below.
Places
Where this happens
A person is placed by the events they take part in, and an event has to clear three things to place them: it must say where it happened, that place must be one the gazetteer can put a coordinate on, and the verse must report it rather than foretell, command or ask it. Nothing anchored here clears all three. Where the text names a setting no gazetteer surveys — a vineyard, a palace, a plot of ground — it is left off rather than guessed at; where a place is named only in a prophecy, the map does not draw what was said to be coming as though it had happened; and a place reached only through a relation is not inherited, because standing beside somebody is not being somewhere.
No verse Atlas has read as a report puts this person anywhere.
Not read yet
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 8, across 1 book.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
Chapter by chapter
Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
- Daniel 5Belshazzar held a great feast, drank from the vessels taken from Jerusalem, faced the writing hand, rewarded Daniel, and was slain that very night.
- Daniel 7Belshazzar reigned over Babylon when Daniel received the dream.
- Daniel 8Belshazzar’s reign supplied the year in which Daniel received the vision.
Sources