Daniel in the lions' den

The story we read today takes us back to the mythical city of Babylon, that great capital on the banks of the Euphrates, acclaimed for those legendary hanging gardens that were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The prophet Daniel was transported there as a prisoner when he was only 12 or 13 years old, after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, in the year 587 BC, at the end of a terrible siege that lasted two years. His remarkable intelligence and supernatural gift to interpret king Nebuchadnezzar's strange dreams will open the way for him in his new city, Babylon, where decades later, being at the peak of his power and influence, he is betrayed and thrown into the lions' den.