The Book of Daniel was written about the same time as Maccabees II.  It would be best to listen to the Maccabees podcast before this one.  Remember that Maccabees II was a response to the Maccabees uprising, described in Maccabees I.  Daniel was placed in a much earlier time to conceal its contents as not being contemporary, even though it was.  This was a time when the literary style of the day was filled with poetry and metaphors and mystical symbolism.  Back in those days, everyone would have understood these to be symbolic, not literal.  If you were brought up in a tradition that treated these stories as if they were literal (as I was) then this will be a new approach for you, and a new way of looking at a biblical text.  Have fun.  ps.  This was a class lecture.  There is a little bit of interaction with the class (which was off in zoom land).  Sorry about that.