Daniel 5:10

The queen. From the time of Josephus (Antiquities x. 11.2) commentators have usually taken this “queen” to be the king’s mother or grandmother (see PK 527). According to Oriental custom none but a ruling monarch’s mother would dare to enter the presence of the king without being summoned. Even the wife of a king endangered her life by so doing (see Esther 4:11, 16). Babylonian cuneiform letters written by kings to their mothers show a remarkably respectful tone and clearly reveal the exalted position in which royal mothers were held by their sons. This high position of a queen mother can also be deduced from the fact that when, in 547, Nabonidus’ mother, Belshazzar’s grandmother, died at Dur Karashu on the Euphrates above Sippar, there was an extensive official court mourning. The fact of her death prior to the events of this chapter was unknown to commentators who identified the “queen” as Belshazzar’s grandmother.

O king, live for ever. For this common salutation see on ch. 2:4.