is the re-dedication of the Temple and restoration of sacrifices in 164 BCE, the starting point would then be the murder of the high priest Onias III in 171, another notable year in the events leading up to the desecration. Christian eschatological readings The Book of Daniel, and along with Revelation, formed one of the foundations of Christian eschatology. The authors of the Gospels identified Jesus with Daniel 7's "one like a son of man", and by the 3rd century CE the stone of Daniel 2 and the fourth figure in the furnace in Daniel 3 were interpreted as Christ, the fourth kingdom of Daniel 7 was Rome, and the "little horn" was the Antichrist (his identification as Antiochus was denied by Jerome in a famous exchange with the pagan philosopher Porphyry). Daniel's timetable was reinterpreted to fit Christian expectations: the prophecy of 70 weeks in , for example, was commonly held to end either with the life and death of Christ or with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In the Middle Ages dissident Catholics, and later Martin Luther, identified the pope as the Antichrist, while the "little horn" included Mohammed, Antiochus, and the papacy, depending on which chapter of Daniel involved. In the 17th century the English Puritans interpreted their struggle in terms of God's army (themselves) battling the Antichrist (the pope) and his ally (the king), and the Fifth Monarchy Men took their name and ideal of government from Daniel 7. As late as the 18th century no less a figure than Isaac Newton could still read Daniel as a coded prediction of the future, but already this approach was in decline. A few 17th century scholars had begun saying that Daniel referred only to Antiochus, and in the 19th century this and the 2nd century date of the book became the scholarly consensus. Nevertheless, the traditional "historicist" interpretation continues in popular culture, and conservative scholars continue in its defence. For example, the Daniel manuscripts discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls led many scholars, such as Roland K. Harrison, to conclude that the second century B.C. dating could no longer be sustained. There simply was not enough time for compositions at that late date to be circulated and venerated as Scripture by a Maccabean sect at Qumran. See also Abomination of desolation Day-year principle Four kingdoms of Daniel Notes References Citations Bibliography Further reading Louis F.