'Darius the Mede' is mentioned by this name three times in the Book of Daniel. Nowhere else in the Old Testament is he referred to by this name. Daniel 9:1 states that this Darius, the son of Xerxes, was made ruler of the Babylonian kingdom. It was Cyrus the Great who conquered Babylon in 539 BC.^[1] Furthermore, there is no mention of Darius the Mede in the historical timeline.^[2]

The first nine Achaemenid kings of ancient Persia: ^[3]

1. Cyrus the Great (600-530 BC)
2. Cambyses II (530-522 BC)
3. Smerdis (522 BC)
4. Darius the Great (522-486 BC)
5. Xerxes I (485-465 BC)
6. Artaxerxes I (464-424 BC)
7. Xerxes II (424 BC)
8. Sogdianus (424 BC)
9. Darius II (423-405 BC)

The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and in March 597 BC the city surrendered. Jeconiah, his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, were deported to Babylon. This event is considered to be the start of the Babylonian captivity. ^[4]

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it... Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility - young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace... Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. _{Daniel 1:1, 3-4, 6}

1. Daniel and his friends were young men when taken captive to Babylon about this date of 597 BC.
2. His actual age is unknown but he may have been a teen or twenty years of age at this time.
3. Daniel may well have known and, in fact, been a friend to Cyrus the Great.
4. Cyrus may have been the one who was tricked into casting Daniel into the lions den.
5. This is what the king declared when he found that God had delivered Daniel from the lions:
6. "I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel." _{Daniel 6:26}
7. What could have moved the heart of this heathen king except that he witnessed the power of Daniel's faith and deliverance.
8. This may be the reason that prompted Cyrus to issue a decree to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. _{2 Chronicles 36:22-23}
9. So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus^[5] the Persian. _{Daniel 6:28}

I conclude, therefore, from the evidence, both Biblical and historical, that it was Cyrus the Great that Daniel knew and wrote about in the book of Daniel.

Footnotes:

1. The Fall of Babylon
2. Darius the Mede
3. Achaemenid Dynasty
4. Siege of Jerusalem
5. Or the reign of Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus