DEN OF LIONS, Aram. גֹּב, H10129, in the phrase גֹּ֖ב אַרְיָוָתָֽא, a pit or trenched out “den” of lions, mentioned ten times in Daniel 6:27-24. The Babylonians and Assyrians kept lions captured in the marshlands of the Near E as beasts for hunting and as pets. They are shown in the magnificent reliefs of the Neo-Assyrian rulers Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 b.c.) at Nimrud and Ashurbanipal (668-627 b.c.) at Nineveh. The later Medo-Persian rulers continued this practice. Although no visual representation of such a punishment has survived, the condemnation to a “trial by ordeal” has many precedents in Mesopotamian-Iranian law. When Daniel was spared his accusers were condemned to the same fate (Dan 6:24). The “lion’s den” is mentioned in other OT passages as a frightful and awesome place (Job 38:39-41).