5:1 King Belshazzar. The name “Belshazzar” means “Bel, protect the king” (not to be confused with “Belteshazzar,” the Babylonian name given to Daniel, 1:7 note). From Babylonian sources we know that Belshazzar was placed in charge of affairs in Babylon while his father, Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, spent extensive periods of time at Tema in Arabia. The events of this chapter took place in 539 b.c., the year of Babylon’s fall to the Persians, forty-two years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar in 563 b.c.