There is evidence that Daniel was known prior to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes as far back as the Persian period. As I argue in “Old Testament References and Allusions to Daniel – Zechariah,” the structure and symbolism of Zechariah forms a “bridge” between Daniel and Revelation.
There is also a direct quote shared between Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 1, in which the language of an intercessory prayer is quoted exactly. I deal with this in “Old Testament References and Allusions to Daniel – Nehemiah.”
Daniel is alluded to extensively in the Book of Baruch, which is thought by some conservative Roman Catholic scholars to be a work compiled during the Persian period prior to 330 BC, although some liberals date it to the post-Maccabean period precisely because the text follows Daniel. My estimated date for the Book of Baruch is the early Hellenistic period c. 300 to 200 BC.
1 Maccabees chapters 1 and 2 are also reliant on Daniel – especially 1 Maccabees 2:59,60. The likelihood of Daniel being influenced by Baruch and 1 Maccabees, rather than the other way around is slim. Daniel was quoted as Scripture in commentaries found at Qumran and in the New Testament, while the Jews never accepted Baruch and Maccabees as canonical. This indicates a period of acceptance of Daniel prior to the composition of these dependent works.
In the section, “Old Testament References and Allusions to Daniel – Book of Baruch and Judas Maccabeus,” I argue that while the apocryphal Books of Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees were written in Hebrew or Aramaic, the only surviving copies from early on were in Greek. Since these books lacked a Hebrew pedigree, the Jews have never considered them to be canonical. However, Daniel has an early attestation in the Hebrew canon. Further, since both books share common material with Daniel, it is putting the cart before the horse to say that Daniel followed the apocrypha. It should be obvious that the apocrypha were influenced by Daniel.
We find Daniel’s influence on 1 and 2 Enoch of about that same era. There is a strong Daniel influence on 1 Enoch 83-90. In Daniel 4:13,17,23, there are references to a “watcher” and a “holy one” (“watcher,” Aramaic: `iyr; “holy one,” Aramaic: qaddiysh) – a class of angels that is further developed in the Aramaic books of 1 and 2 Enoch.
We also find Daniel referenced and alluded to in the Sibylline Oracles. For example, the imagery of one root being cut from ten horns is a reference to Daniel 7:7,8,20,24.
Producing one root which the bane of men
Shall cut from ten horns, and plant by their side
Another plant (Sibylline Oracles III.493-495, trans. M.S. Terry).
