c. 553–539 BCE·Exile & Return·Person

Belshazzar

Scripture: Daniel 5; Daniel 7:1

Our verdict

Confirmed

Belshazzar was real and ruled Babylon in his father's absence, which may explain why Daniel offers the 'third' place in the kingdom. Daniel calls Nebuchadnezzar his father, though his actual father was Nabonidus.

Confirmed means: A person, place or event is named or directly attested in an authenticated source from outside the Bible, dated reasonably close to the time described. The identification is accepted by most specialists. How we judge

Spot an error? Report it Deep dive · 5 min readBelshazzar: The King Critics Called FictionDaniel 5 names Belshazzar as the king of Babylon on the night it fell. For most of the 19th century, no other source had heard of him. Then clay cylinders turned up in the ruins of Ur.Read the deep dive →

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Clay cylinder of King Nabonidus, Belshazzar's father, inscribed in cuneiform · Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source

The claim

Belshazzar holds a feast in Babylon and sees the writing on the wall the night the city falls.

What archaeology found

For a long time Belshazzar was known only from Daniel, and critics treated him as fictional. Cylinders of King Nabonidus found at Ur in 1854 name Belshazzar as his eldest son, and other texts say Nabonidus entrusted the kingship to him while he spent years in Arabia.

Where it was found

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Ur, Iraq (Nabonidus cylinders)View on OpenStreetMap

Sources

Raymond P. Dougherty, Nabonidus and Belshazzar, Yale University Press (1929)

Verdict history

Nov 10, 2026ConfirmedInitial verdict.