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Description
As touched on in yesterday's blurb, the Book of Daniel is a work of apocalyptic literature composed during the Maccabean Revolt. While the episode with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a giant statue is a fairly obvious metaphor for the events of the day, Daniel's own vision in Chapter 7 is much more elaborate. The narrative describes a scene of a raging ocean being disturbed by four horrendous beasts usurped by the kingdom of heaven. The metaphor seems to be the same as that of the statue, though. The four beasts represent the four consecutive kingdoms which oppressed Judah: Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece. The first monster is a winged lion, which is meant to represent Babylon, so I figure I should use this as a jumping off point to discuss this period in the history of Judaism.

The Babylonians stormed onto the scene in the 7th century BCE. Together with an alliance of Medes, the Babylonians ousted the Assyrians from power by destroying their capital, Nineveh, in 612 BCE. This established the Babylonians as the dominant power in the Mediterranean, challenging Egypt and her allies in 605 BCE. It is at this point that Jerusalem was threatened, and the Judaean king, Jehoiakim, knew where to place his bets. To preserve his city, the king paid tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, including offering hostages from the ranks of the nobility that they might be educated in Babylonian culture. One of these individuals was said to be the legendary Daniel. These cowardly actions drew the ire of the populace, including the prophet Jeremiah. When the king switched allegiances again, directly leading to Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem in 598 BCE, Jehoiakim died unceremoniously, and the people did not weep for his desecrated body. His son Jeconiah succeeded him, but was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar when the Babylonians breached the walls after just three months. He was replaced by his uncle, Zedekiah, who did not heed the counsel of his advisors. Calling upon the Pharaoh Apries for aid in 588 BCE, the combined forces of Judah and Egypt rebelled against the Babylonian war machine. It was not enough.

Jerusalem was laid siege to again, and there was no mercy this time. In 586 BCE, the walls were breached. The city was put the torch, her citizens massacred, her Temple destroyed. Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons butchered before him before his eyes were plucked out. The people that were fortunate enough to escape fled to Egypt, but they were few and far between. The rest were put in chains and exiled to Babylon, thus beginning a period of great woe for the people of Judah, still remembered and mourned by modern adherents to the faith to this day. For all intents and purposes, their God had abandoned them, and it is sadly a pattern which the Jewish people would continue to endure for… the entire rest of human history. While the Babylonian Exile would finally be ended by the Iranian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, Judah would not be an independent kingdom for another 372 years. The Maccabean Revolt, which the Book of Daniel is a metaphor for, was perhaps the first time… maybe only time… the Jewish people felt that most essential beating heart at the center of their culture and faith: hope.

Design notes, uhhhh… it's a lion. With wings. Yep. Not much else to go into really I threw that little sash thing you often see in Babylonian depictions of sacred bulls over its waist just cause I thought it looked cool and gave it a little personality. But other than that, yea it's just a lion with wings innit? I do like experimenting with designing monsters, though! I love animals and paleoart is just my absolute favorite thing in the whole wide world ^^ I try to make the monsters from mythology look biologically feasible whenever possible. I'm no anatomy expert by any means, but I think it came out pretty consistent. Tips and critiques are always welcome, of course. I'm still trying to improve my animal-drawing abilities

Description
As touched on in yesterday's blurb, the Book of Daniel is a work of apocalyptic literature composed during the Maccabean Revolt. While the episode with Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a giant statue is a fairly obvious metaphor for the events of the day, Daniel's own vision in Chapter 7 is much more elaborate. The narrative describes a scene of a raging ocean being disturbed by four horrendous beasts usurped by the kingdom of heaven. The metaphor seems to be the same as that of the statue, though. The four beasts represent the four consecutive kingdoms which oppressed Judah: Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece. The first monster is a winged lion, which is meant to represent Babylon, so I figure I should use this as a jumping off point to discuss this period in the history of Judaism.

The Babylonians stormed onto the scene in the 7th century BCE. Together with an alliance of Medes, the Babylonians ousted the Assyrians from power by destroying their capital, Nineveh, in 612 BCE. This established the Babylonians as the dominant power in the Mediterranean, challenging Egypt and her allies in 605 BCE. It is at this point that Jerusalem was threatened, and the Judaean king, Jehoiakim, knew where to place his bets. To preserve his city, the king paid tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, including offering hostages from the ranks of the nobility that they might be educated in Babylonian culture. One of these individuals was said to be the legendary Daniel. These cowardly actions drew the ire of the populace, including the prophet Jeremiah. When the king switched allegiances again, directly leading to Nebuchadnezzar besieging Jerusalem in 598 BCE, Jehoiakim died unceremoniously, and the people did not weep for his desecrated body. His son Jeconiah succeeded him, but was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar when the Babylonians breached the walls after just three months. He was replaced by his uncle, Zedekiah, who did not heed the counsel of his advisors. Calling upon the Pharaoh Apries for aid in 588 BCE, the combined forces of Judah and Egypt rebelled against the Babylonian war machine. It was not enough.

Jerusalem was laid siege to again, and there was no mercy this time. In 586 BCE, the walls were breached. The city was put the torch, her citizens massacred, her Temple destroyed. Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons butchered before him before his eyes were plucked out. The people that were fortunate enough to escape fled to Egypt, but they were few and far between. The rest were put in chains and exiled to Babylon, thus beginning a period of great woe for the people of Judah, still remembered and mourned by modern adherents to the faith to this day. For all intents and purposes, their God had abandoned them, and it is sadly a pattern which the Jewish people would continue to endure for… the entire rest of human history. While the Babylonian Exile would finally be ended by the Iranian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, Judah would not be an independent kingdom for another 372 years. The Maccabean Revolt, which the Book of Daniel is a metaphor for, was perhaps the first time… maybe only time… the Jewish people felt that most essential beating heart at the center of their culture and faith: hope.

Design notes, uhhhh… it's a lion. With wings. Yep. Not much else to go into really I threw that little sash thing you often see in Babylonian depictions of sacred bulls over its waist just cause I thought it looked cool and gave it a little personality. But other than that, yea it's just a lion with wings innit? I do like experimenting with designing monsters, though! I love animals and paleoart is just my absolute favorite thing in the whole wide world ^^ I try to make the monsters from mythology look biologically feasible whenever possible. I'm no anatomy expert by any means, but I think it came out pretty consistent. Tips and critiques are always welcome, of course. I'm still trying to improve my animal-drawing abilities