John on the Island of Patmos
John wrote the letter of Revelation from the island of Patmos (Rev 1:9). The island of Patmos is about 60 miles from the ancient city of Ephesus. Both are visible on this Google Earth image. The island of Patmos covers about 13 square miles and is home to a couple of modern villages. The two largest are Skala and Chora. Already by the 3rd century BC the island had an acropolis with defensive walls and towers. Little else is known about John’s stay on Patmos. Tradition holds that John was banished to......
A Den of Lions in Babylon?
In a previous post we argued that the most likely location for the events of Daniel 6 was Babylon, the place where Daniel had spent nearly his entire life. So what kind of den might have been located in Babylon? Lions do not naturally live in caves or dens. Their natural habitat is open grassland or open forest. Clearly the place where Daniel was to be executed was the place where captive lions were held. No such place has been found in Babylon (or elsewhere in the ancient Near East), but there......
Where Was Daniel’s Den of Lions?
The author of Daniel does not state where the events of Daniel 6 (Daniel in the lions’ den) took place. There are several possibilities, all shown on the map above, but one appears most likely. The answer to this question affects how we envision the den of lions. Ecbatana was the historical capital of the Median empire. Ecbatana is located about 250 miles to the northeast of Babylon, across some pretty rough and mountainous ground. If Darius the Mede ruled from the old Median capital, Ecbatana would be the logical location for......
