Daniel 9:1

What Daniel did and saw in this chapter dates from 538 B.C., the first year of Darius the Mede’s (Cyrus’) rule as king over the former Neo-Babylonian Empire (cf. Ezra 1:1). [Note: See my comments on 5:31 and 6:1 for explanation of the identity of Darius the Mede.] This means that Belshazzar’s feast (ch. 5) occurred between chapters 8 and 9. We cannot date Daniel’s experience in the lions’ den (ch. 6) as accurately. That may have happened before or after the events recorded here.