Why Susa?

Abstract Unlike other chapters, Dan 8 contains a long description that uniquely situates the seer in Susa, a city in Elam, by the river Ulai (Dan 8:2). These laboured and unprecedented details give the expectation of interpretive significance, which, as the chapter progresses, fails to materialise. After dismissing historical and literary reasons for Daniel’s location, the following article shall find answers in the chapter’s textual history. By identifying resumptive repetition ( Wiederaufnahme ) in 8:2 and comparing other ancient versions (especially OG and Θ ), the paper will conclude that the primary stratum of Dan 8 situated Daniel in his default location of Babylon and that a series of scribal reconceptions involving the words אבל city gate , יובל watercourse , אילם / אולם portico , עילם Elam , and אולי Ulai has led to the present MT reading. Earlier stages of these reconceptions are reflected in chapters 10–12, evidencing the dependency of the final apocalypse upon chapter 8.