ROSSINI : CIRO IN BABILONIA

Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare
Cyrus in Babylonia (or the fall of Belshassar)

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
LIBRETTO (Italian)

HISTORY
Read the true history of King Cyrus (Koresh)  of Persia and his conquest of Babylon (the city) and Babylonia (the land), in his own words, and his appearance in the Bible (Isaiah, Ezra, Daniel) with my comments. Daniel 5 has the story of Belshassar's feast, and the writing on the wall (telling him that his number was up); the end of the chapter (5:30-31) says that Belshassar was immediately slain, and Darius the Mede took over the empire; that is the author's special name for Cyrus of Persia. Because the prophet Jeremiah had said the Medes would conquer Babylon, Daniel had to refer to Cyrus the Persian as Darius the Mede, but in one place he shows that they are the same person (6:28)
My study of this was published here:
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 56 (1992) 113-126
Brian Colless, Cyrus the Persian as Darius the Mede in the Book of Daniel.