Question:

1) At what age did Daniel die?
2) How did Daniel come to go to Babylon in 606/5 BC ?

Answer:

We know from Babylonian records that Nebuchadnezzar campaigned in Canaan
in 606/605 BC. His father died during that time. The evidence says that
Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, but the Jews chose to submit and give
tribute rather than fight. Daniel and his friends were taken as hostages
to Babylon against the anual tribute. I assume that they were children of
the aristocracy, as was the norm for such tribute hostages in the ancient
world. My guess is that they were teenagers–probably between, say 14 and
20. Therefore, Daniel was probably born about 620 BC. We know he
survived the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus in 538 BC. It is hard to guess
how long he survived this event, but let us suppose that he died somewhere
between 535 and 530 BC. That would make him about 85 to ninety years old
at his death.

Does this make sense?

John Oakes, PhD