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'''''Adversus Christianos''''', latin for ''Against Christians'', is a set of fifteen books written in Sicily by pagan philosopher [[Porphyrius]] ([[233]] AD -c.[[303]])<ref>The birthday is given in ''A New and General Biographical Dictionary'', where it's also said he lived about seventy years.</ref>, considered the most able and most bitter adversary the early Christians ever knew. These books were burned in [[448]] under emperor [[Teodosius]], after they were banned in the [[Council of Ephesus]].<ref name=blount>[[Thomas-Pope Blount]], ''Censura Celebrorum Authorum'', p.145 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=yMi2oarWKIsC&pg=PA145&f=false (latin text)]</ref> <ref name=dictionary>''A New and General Biographical Dictionary'', Volume X, p.1 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=eacDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2&f=false (english text)]</ref> <ref name=lynam>Rev. [[Robert Lynam]], ''The British Essayists'', Volume 23, p.48 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=JTxTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48&f=false (english text)]</ref>

'''''Adversus Christianos''''', Latin for ''Against Christians'', is a set of fifteen books written in Sicily by pagan philosopher [[Porphyrius]] ([[233]] AD -c.[[303]]),<ref>The birthday is given in ''A New and General Biographical Dictionary'', where it's also said he lived about seventy years.</ref> considered the most able and most bitter adversary the early Christians ever knew. These books were burned in [[448]] under emperor [[Teodosius]], after they were banned in the [[Council of Ephesus]].<ref name=blount>[[Thomas-Pope Blount]], ''Censura Celebrorum Authorum'', p.145 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=yMi2oarWKIsC&pg=PA145&f=false (latin text)]</ref><ref name=dictionary>''A New and General Biographical Dictionary'', Volume X, p.1 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=eacDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2&f=false (english text)]</ref><ref name=lynam>Rev. [[Robert Lynam]], ''The British Essayists'', Volume 23, p.48 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=JTxTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA48&f=false (english text)]</ref>

These books were soon refuted by [[Eusebius]] and [[Methodius]], and latter by [[Apollinarius]] (in [[345]]) and [[Philostorgius]] (in [[425]]); but neither the books nor the four replics have survived. Based on [[Hortensius]]'s biography of Porphyrius, it can be inferred that the purpose of these books was to prove that the [[Book of Daniel]] was not a prophetic text, but that it related events that happened to the kings of Syria and Egypt <ref>Respectively, the [[Seleucid]] and [[Ptolemaic]] dinasties that ruled these areas after the Empire of [[Alexander the Great]] was partitioned among his generals.</ref> and was written '''after''' the historical facts.<ref name=erskine>[[John Erskine]], ''Sketches Ad Hints of Church History, and Theological Controversy'', Volume 1, p.187 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=JOIsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA187&f=false (english text)]</ref>

These books were soon refuted by [[Eusebius]] and [[Methodius]], and latter by [[Apollinarius]] (in [[345]]) and [[Philostorgius]] (in [[425]]); but neither the books nor the four replics have survived. Based on [[Hortensius]]'s biography of Porphyrius, it can be inferred that the purpose of these books was to prove that the [[Book of Daniel]] was not a prophetic text, but that it related events that happened to the kings of Syria and Egypt <ref>Respectively, the [[Seleucid]] and [[Ptolemaic]] dinasties that ruled these areas after the Empire of [[Alexander the Great]] was partitioned among his generals.</ref> and was written '''after''' the historical facts.<ref name=erskine>[[John Erskine]], ''Sketches Ad Hints of Church History, and Theological Controversy'', Volume 1, p.187 [https://books.google.com.br/books?id=JOIsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA187&f=false (english text)]</ref>

Porphyrius, in the twelfth book of ''Adversus Christianos'', was the first to attack the authenticity of the [[Book of Daniel]] and his arguments have been repeated since that time by many scholars. The core of this attack is that Daniel's prophecies are exact to the minute details, so they are not prophecies at all, but they were written by some Pseudo-Daniel living during the time of these events. Daniel was written during the reign of [[Antiochus Epiphanes]], in Greek, and that "Daniel did not so much predict future events as narrate past ones". <ref name=john.king>[[John King]], translator of [[John Calvin]]'s ''Calvin's Commentaries'', ''Translator's Preface'', ''Authenticity of the Book of Daniel'' [http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc24/cc24001.htm (english text)]</ref>

Porphyrius, in the twelfth book of ''Adversus Christianos'', was the first to attack the authenticity of the [[Book of Daniel]] and his arguments have been repeated since that time by many scholars. The core of this attack is that Daniel's prophecies are exact to the minute details, so they are not prophecies at all, but they were written by some Pseudo-Daniel living during the time of these events. Daniel was written during the reign of [[Antiochus Epiphanes]], in Greek, and that "Daniel did not so much predict future events as narrate past ones".<ref name=john.king>[[John King]], translator of [[John Calvin]]'s ''Calvin's Commentaries'', ''Translator's Preface'', ''Authenticity of the Book of Daniel'' [http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/calvin/cc24/cc24001.htm (english text)]</ref>

Porphyrius's arguments, that survived only in the text of [[Jerome]],<ref name=john.king /> are: <ref name=jerome>[[Jerome]], ''Commentary on Daniel'' [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_daniel_02_text.htm (english text)]</ref>

Porphyrius's arguments, that survived only in the text of [[Jerome]],<ref name=john.king /> are:<ref name=jerome>[[Jerome]], ''Commentary on Daniel'' [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/jerome_daniel_02_text.htm (english text)]</ref>

* ''Daniel was not composed by the person to whom it is ascribed in its title, but rather by some individual living in Judaea at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.''

* ''Daniel was not composed by the person to whom it is ascribed in its title, but rather by some individual living in Judaea at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.''