Daniel in the lions' den is a narrative in chapter 6 of the Book of Daniel. Modern scholarship agrees that Daniel is a legendary figure.[3] The book of which he is the hero comprises two parts, a set of tales in chapters 1–6, and the series of visions in chapters 7–12:[4] the tales are no earlier than the Hellenistic period (323-30 BC), and the visions date from the Maccabean era (the mid-2nd century BC).[3] The stories were probably originally independent, but were collected in the mid-2nd century BC by the author of chapter 7, and expanded again shortly afterwards with the visions in chapters 8-12 to produce the modern book.[5]