Daniel, along with his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were young men from the Jewish nobility in Jerusalem. They had been exiled to Babylon in the first wave of the Babylonian captivity. Daniel 1:1-7 introduces these four young men and their background.
Three kings from the land of captivity are characters in the book. Nebuchadnezzar was the king who first placed these four Jewish men into civil service. Nebuchadnezzar was followed by Belshazzar as the new king of Babylon. At the death of Belshazzar, Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.
The entire story takes place in the land of Babylon, much of it in and around the royal palace.
